A local organization wants to equip the community with resources to understand and heal from trauma, helping people make healthier, more informed decisions.
Mane Up Memphis offers individual counseling, trauma-informed care, youth support, and more to help the community navigate responses to life. Their team of licensed therapists support individuals through mental health and financial reosurces.
Racheal Shantel, founder and executive director of Mane Up Memphis, founded the organization based on her understanding and research of city planning. She learned a city’s sustainability is impacted by healthcare, education, family structure, and more.
Shantel said Shelby County coexists with challenges above the national average such as poverty and food insecurity. These issues caused Shantel to intervene from a community standpoint as opposed to the private sector — which she was initially primed to do.
“The private sector and the community sector always have people at the table,” Shantel said. “It’s very rare to actually have the public or citizens represented at that table.”
Mane Up Memphis was expected to be a singular program in 2020, however the community’s response prompted Shantel to expand its reach.
Shantel’s background in urban planning and affairs is what she attributed to the uniqueness of Mane Up Memphis. The organization focuses on making people feel accepted through the concept of community.
The founder noted the human experience is based on layers, which are a mixture of hobbies, interests, and other decisions. However, as she was developing Mane Up Memphis, she realized it can be difficult for people to make good choices if they are unaware of their trauma or mental capacity.
“[A person’s] lived experience is only going to take them so far,” Shantel said. “How do you help the person who wants better in life, who has the ambition and drive but not the resources? Where does that individual go?”
These individuals are often caught in a gray area, Shantel said, which can prompt an examination into their mental health. While the state and federal government only intervene in extreme instances, Shantel said it’s important to recognize each cry for help.
“That is where we have a lot of individuals in this county — the gray area,” Shantel said. “The state and federal won’t provide resources to them because they’re not too far gone, but our local government gets their money from the state and federal. If those gray areas aren’t a priority of who funds our local government do you think they’re going to pick up that problem? No.”
Mane Up Memphis seeks to be a place for individuals to take control of their mental health and regulate their emotions. Individuals are also taught how their decisions inform decision-making and how to heal their trauma.
Shantel said they’re not a crisis center, but want to let people know they don’t have to reach crisis mode to seek help.
“We try to teach anybody that comes through our doors that you control your narrative,” Shantel said. “Do not give your pen to someone else — you control that. You can’t control what someone else does, but how you respond and how you react, that is 100 percent your responsibility.”