Good morning
Welcome back. This is your house.
The lens is on. See it differently.
"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any."
— Alice Walker
✦ Where are we headed?
Community
News
Wellness
Library
Create
Events
Therapists
Support
✦ Therapists
Find someone who gets it
without explanation.
Your healing deserves someone
already fluent in your context.
All therapists are vetted, culturally competent, and Black-affirming. TLDR; they get it. Filter by insurance, specialty, or lived experience.
Dr. Marcus Reid, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist · Atlanta, GA (Virtual)
"Dr. Wallace helped me understand that my anxiety wasn't a character flaw — it was a response to living in a world that asks Black people to constantly justify their existence. For the first time, I didn't have to explain the context. She already knew."
Racial TraumaAnxietyIdentityAetnaBCBS
Marcus Johnson, LCSW
Houston, TX
CignaSelf-PayAccepting Clients
TraumaMen's MH
Dr. Tanya Brooks, Ph.D.
Chicago, IL
AetnaUnitedHealthcare2 Spots Open
IdentityCouples
Darius Reed, LPC
New Orleans, LA
MedicaidSliding ScaleAccepting Clients
AnxietyGrief
Amara Cole, LMFT
Los Angeles, CA
BCBSCignaVirtual Only
Racial TraumaIdentityKevin Matthews, LCSW
Memphis, TN
HumanaAetnaAccepting Clients
AnxietyRelationshipsSimone Washington, Ph.D.
Oakland, CA
KaiserSelf-Pay3 Spots Open
GriefComplex TraumaLive Sessions — Coming Soon
One-on-one video sessions with Rose Colored therapists, directly in the platform. No third-party apps, no new accounts. Just you and someone who gets it.
✦ Community
Your people. All in one place.
Your people are already here. Come as you are.
The living room, the ask, your groups, your city.
Living Room
The Ask
Groups
Near You
247 in here rn
✦ the room woke up
okay it got quiet for a second — real quick: living single or girlfriends? no wrong answers but also there are wrong answers
JT
jasmine.t
2m ago
made my grandma's oxtail for the first time by memory and it actually slapped. she passed last year so i was shaking the whole time tbh ✦
reply
DR
dee.real
8m ago
why does my therapist keep asking me "how does that make you feel" like sir i came here BECAUSE i don't know how i feel 😭
reply
KM
k.creates
15m ago
nobody told me that healing would make me grieve the version of myself that survived by staying small. that part.
people felt this
reply
me
anyone dealt with a therapist who wasn't a good fit? how did you bring it up without making it weird?
Black women in Atlanta — who is your ob/gyn and do they actually listen to you?
is it normal to feel guilty for setting boundaries with your parents even when you know you're right?
first time freelancing — when do y'all actually start charging what you're worth and how did you get there?
okay it's time. definitive Beyoncé era ranking. go. I'll start — Renaissance is her most underrated and I will die on this hill 😶
How do you find a therapist who actually understands racial trauma without having to explain everything from scratch?
I'm tryna start a personal library — what are your top 3 books you'd press into someone's hands? any genre, no wrong answers
Healing Brotherhood
✦ 234 Members
For Black men who are doing the work — together.
Black Women Unbothered
✦ 618 Members
Because "strong" isn't the only thing we are.
First Gen Therapy
✦ 142 Members
Navigating being the first in your family to go to therapy — the guilt, the growth, and the grief.
Queer & Healing
✦ 201 Members
Queer, Black, and fully here.
Grief & Going On
✦ 88 Members
Processing loss — of people, of dreams, of versions of ourselves.
Youth & Young Adults
✦ 367 Members
Ages 18–30. Mental health, hustle culture, social media, and figuring it out.
✦ Request a Group
Don't see your community?
Tell us what you need. We build what the community asks for.
✦ Members Near You
Full Color members who have chosen to share their location.
Not your city?
Share your location to connect with members near you.
✦ News, Reframed
The same world. A different lens.
The world hasn't changed — but how you see it has.
Every headline, run through a lens that centers your life. Plus what you can actually do about it.
✦ Live Lens — Powered by AI
Paste any headline. Get the reframe.
Drop a headline or article excerpt. We'll run it through a lens that centers Black humanity, not deficit narratives.
Original
Through the Rose Colored Lens
All Topics
NPR Health · Today
Black Americans 40% more likely to develop high blood pressure, study finds
Researchers point to systemic stressors including chronic exposure to discrimination as a primary driver.
Through the Lens⌄
Your body is not the problem — it is responding intelligently to a world that asks a lot of it. That distinction matters deeply.
Your Action⌄
Schedule a blood pressure check with a culturally competent provider. Consider adding one stress-reduction practice this week — even 10 minutes of intentional stillness counts. Find providers through the Rose Colored directory.
The Root · Yesterday
Senate votes on mental health funding bill affecting underserved communities
Advocates say the bill falls short on culturally competent care provisions specifically needed in Black communities.
Through the Lens⌄
When the system under-funds what you need, community fills the gap — and always has. Your advocacy shapes what comes next.
Your Action⌄
Look up your state representative and send a one-line message calling for culturally competent care in mental health funding. Support the Loveland Foundation, which funds therapy directly for Black women and girls while policy catches up.
Essence · 2 days ago
The rise of Black therapists on social media is changing how a generation seeks help
A new cohort of Black mental health professionals is meeting people where they are — breaking down stigma one reel at a time.
Through the Lens⌄
If a reel is your entry point into therapy, that is not a lesser path. That is exactly how access should work — meeting people where they already are.
Your Action⌄
Follow 2–3 Black mental health professionals whose content resonates with you. Normalize sharing their content with someone in your circle who might need it. Representation in your feed shapes what feels possible.
The Guardian · 3 days ago
Report: Black patients receive less pain medication than white patients, even for same diagnoses
Medical bias in pain management continues to manifest at alarming rates, a new systematic review confirms.
Through the Lens⌄
Your pain is real, measurable, and deserving of proper treatment. You are allowed to advocate loudly in medical spaces — for yourself and for others.
Your Action⌄
Before your next medical appointment, write down your symptoms and how they affect your daily life. Bring someone with you if possible. If dismissed, ask for the reason in writing. You can file a complaint with your hospital's patient relations office.
Bloomberg · 4 days ago
Black-owned businesses report revenue growth despite tightening credit markets
Entrepreneurs cite community investment networks and alternative funding as key to navigating traditional barriers.
Through the Lens⌄
This is what community capital looks like — and it has always been one of our greatest assets. Your dollars in community compound in ways traditional institutions never will.
Your Action⌄
Identify one Black-owned business in your city you haven't supported yet and make a purchase this week. Share it publicly. Consider redirecting one regular subscription or purchase to a Black-owned alternative — even one swap creates real impact.
HBCU Digest · 5 days ago
HBCU enrollment hits record high for third consecutive year
Experts attribute the surge to increased aid awareness, a desire for community, and growing disillusionment with PWI campus climates.
Through the Lens⌄
Young Black people are choosing spaces where they don't have to shrink to succeed — and choosing in record numbers. This is a generation deciding what their education is allowed to feel like.
Your Action⌄
If you have a student in your life considering college, introduce the HBCU conversation. Share one HBCU's scholarship resources with them. If you attended an HBCU, consider giving back — even $10 to the alumni fund signals that community investment is generational.
Essence · Today
Quinta Brunson makes history again as Abbott Elementary sweeps the Emmys for the second year running
The show about a Philadelphia public school — and the people who refuse to give up on it — just became the most-awarded comedy in a decade.
Through the Lens⌄
This is what it looks like when Black artistry refuses to be categorized — and wins anyway. Quinta didn't wait for permission to tell a story about Black educators who love their students. Let this remind you what's possible when you stop asking for the room's approval and just build.
✦ Your Move⌄
Stream Abbott Elementary tonight. Leave a review. Send this article to your group chat with zero context and watch what happens. 🏆
The Root · Yesterday
Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show is already being called the most culturally loaded performance in the event's history
From the dancers to the set design to the song choices — nothing was accidental.
Through the Lens⌄
When Black artists get the biggest stage in the world, they don't use it to assimilate — they use it to testify. Every intentional choice last night was a reminder that Black creative vision doesn't shrink to fit the room. It redesigns it.
✦ Your Move⌄
Pull up the set. Watch it again but this time look for the details — the shirt, the dancers, the song choices. Nothing was an accident. Then add "Not Like Us" to whatever playlist you're building this week. 🎤
Blavity · 2 days ago
Cleo Sol's new album is quietly becoming the most-shared piece of music in Black wellness spaces this year
No press run. No promo tour. Just the music finding the people who needed it.
Through the Lens⌄
Some things don't need to be marketed to find their people. They just need to be true. Cleo Sol made something honest, and the community carried it everywhere it needed to go. That's not an accident — that's what it looks like when art is made from the inside out.
✦ Your Move⌄
Put the album on. Not as background noise — actually sit with it. Then send it to the one person in your life who needs to hear it right now. You know who. 🎶
✦ Wellness Tools
Tools for the daily work of being whole.
Take care of yourself. We made it easy.
The Lens, the journal, soundscapes, affirmations, and more. Pick what you need today.
✦ How You've Been
✦ Choose a tool
The Lens
Got a thought that won't leave you alone? Let's work on it.
Visual Cleanse
Something beautiful to land on when it's all too much.
Affirmations
Words that were written with you in mind.
Journal
Prompts that go where most journals won't.
Noise Cleanse
Quiet the noise. Literally.
Noise Cleanse
Pick your vibe. Let everything else fall away.
Rain
Forest
Ocean
Fire
White Noise
Morning Birds
Thunder
Soft Jazz
Volume60%
No soundscape playing
Visual Cleanse
No algorithm. No noise. Just something beautiful to rest your eyes on.
▶
Lo-Fi Hip Hop
Chill study beats
▶
Rain on Glass
Ambient rain
▶
Fireplace
Warm crackling fire
▶
Forest Morning
Birds & nature
▶
24/7 Lofi Radio
Always on
▶
Ocean Waves
Deep coastal calm
Daily Affirmations
Culturally grounded — not generic platitudes.
"My healing does not have to look like anyone else's. My pace is my own."
Journal
Today's prompt — or skip it and write freely.
"What version of yourself have you been performing lately, and what would it feel like to set them down?"
The Lens
Limiting beliefs, rewritten. See what's already been transformed — or submit your own.
✦ Returned Through the Lens
"I'll never be as successful as I should be."
"You were taught to measure yourself against a standard never designed with you in mind. Your success doesn't have to look like theirs to be real, significant, or earned."
✦ Create
Black creative expression — in every form.
Your art is part of the living. Share it here.
Photography, writing, painting, video — if you made it, it belongs here.
Portrait Series, Vol. 1
Brotherhood — Untitled Joy
Color as Language
We Were Always Here
Crown Series: Hair as Resistance
On Being Seen Without Explaining Yourself First
✦ Submit Your Work
Your expression belongs here.
Photography, writing, painting, video — all mediums welcome.
✦ Library
Reading that sees you in the subject.
Knowledge written with you in mind.
Articles, essays, and reads written with you at the center. Not as an afterthought.
All Topics
✦ Featured · Trauma
The Body Keeps Score — And So Does the Community: Understanding Racial Trauma
Racial trauma isn't metaphorical — it's physiological. This piece traces the science, the history, and the daily lived experience of being Black in a body that has learned to brace for impact.
12 min read
Anxiety
Hypervigilance Is Not a Flaw — It's a Survival Skill That Outlived Its Purpose
Why Black people often experience anxiety differently, and what that means for treatment.
8 min read
Stress
Weathering: The Hidden Cost of Racism on the Black Body
Arline Geronimus's theory of weathering explains accelerated biological aging — and what we can do.
10 min read
Identity
Code-Switching as a Trauma Response: Reclaiming Your Full Self
Many of us learned to perform different versions of ourselves as a matter of safety. Unlearning that is different work.
7 min read
Grief
Mourning What You Never Had: Grief for the Childhood You Deserved
Many Black adults are grieving parents who couldn't give what they didn't have — and a childhood shaped by survival, not ease.
9 min read
Joy
Black Joy as a Political and Personal Act: A Reclamation
Joy is not naive. It is not denial. In the face of everything, choosing joy is an act of radical self-preservation.
6 min read
Relationships
Loving While Healing: How to Navigate Intimacy During Your Mental Health Journey
Therapy changes you. Sometimes that changes your relationships. Here's how to navigate that shift with care.
11 min read
Trauma
What Intergenerational Trauma Actually Looks Like in the Body — and the Home
It's in the things your family didn't say, the needs that were never named, and the patterns that are yours to break.
13 min read
Identity
On Being "Too Much" — and How That Narrative Was Built to Contain You
Black people are often told they are too loud, too emotional, too sensitive. This examines where that comes from.
8 min read
Anxiety
The Anxiety That Comes from Always Being Watched: A Guide to Public Hyperawareness
Shopping while Black. Jogging while Black. Existing while Black. The mental load of navigating public space.
7 min read
✦ Support & Rights
You don't have to carry this alone.
Resources organized so you can find what you need, when you need it — without having to read everything.
✦ If you need help right now
BlackLine
1-800-604-5841
Prioritizes BIPOC. 24/7. Staffed by people who understand racial trauma.
Crisis Text Line
Text HOME to 741741
Free, confidential via text. 24/7. For those not ready to speak aloud.
988 Lifeline
Call or Text 988
National mental health crisis line. Free, confidential, 24/7.
The Right Response
therightresponse.org
Directory of community response teams across the U.S. — alternatives to police for mental health crises.
✦ What do you need?
Know Your Rights
Knowledge is a form of protection. Tap any section to expand.
During a Traffic Stop
- Pull over safely and promptly. Keep hands visible on the steering wheel.
- You are required to provide license, registration, and proof of insurance.
- You have the right to remain silent beyond required documents. Say: "I am invoking my right to remain silent."
- You do not have to consent to a vehicle search. Say: "I do not consent to this search." Compliance preserves safety and legal options.
- Document everything immediately after — badge number, car, names, time, location.
- Contact a civil rights attorney if rights were violated. ACLU and NAACP Legal Defense Fund provide resources.
As a Bystander Witnessing Police Contact
- You have the right to observe and record police activity in public. Stand at safe distance. Do not interfere.
- Your presence as a witness and documentation is your contribution.
- If approached, ask: "Am I free to go?" If yes, leave. If not, you have the right to know why you're detained.
- Upload footage to a secure location immediately. Do not delete under any pressure.
Housing Discrimination
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and familial status.
- Document all interactions — emails, texts, verbal statements with dates and times.
- File a complaint with HUD at hud.gov or call 1-800-669-9777.
- Contact the National Fair Housing Alliance (nationalfairhousing.org).
- You may have grounds for a private lawsuit. Consult a civil rights attorney.
Medical Discrimination & Patient Rights
- You have the right to ask for a different doctor, second opinion, or patient advocate at any time.
- If dismissed, document what you were told and by whom, immediately after.
- File a complaint with the hospital's patient relations department. Ask for written response.
- File with the U.S. Office for Civil Rights (OCR) if race-based: hhs.gov/ocr
- Bring someone with you to appointments when possible.
Workplace Discrimination & Racial Harassment
Title VII protects employees from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
- Document every incident immediately outside of work devices — dates, times, witnesses, exact words.
- Report to HR in writing. Keep a copy.
- File with the EEOC at eeoc.gov. Time limit: typically 180–300 days from the discriminatory act.
- Retaliation for reporting is also illegal. Document any adverse actions taken after you report.
✦ Shop
Wear it. Gift it. Live it.
Rose Colored merchandise and curated gift boxes — launching Summer 2025.
Coming Soon · Summer 2025
Rose Colored Crewneck
From $58
Journal — Lined
$34
Healing Gift Box — Standard
From $68
Rose Colored Tee — Unisex
$38
Healing Gift Box — Premium
From $124
The Lens — Candle
$28
Affirmation Card Deck
$24
Gift Box — Corporate & Group
Custom Pricing
✦ Events
Show up. In real life and beyond.
The lens travels with you everywhere.
Workshops, panels, community nights, and more — all built around you.
All Events
Thursday · 7:00 PM EST
Sista Check-in: Real Talk, Real Support
Hosted by 1M4
A recurring virtual gathering for Black women and girls to come as they are — vent, laugh, breathe, and be held by community. No agenda, no performance required.
Saturday · 1:00 PM EST
Writing as Healing: A Workshop for Black Creatives
Facilitated by Kezia Thornton
A 90-minute writing workshop exploring memoir, grief, and storytelling as self-healing. Includes guided prompts and live feedback.
Saturday · 4:00 PM · Houston, TX
The Whole Self: A Wellness Day for Black Women
Rose Colored HTX
A full afternoon of breathwork, journaling, panel conversations, and community — designed specifically around the Black feminine experience.
Saturday · 12:00 PM EST
Generational Healing Panel: Breaking Cycles in Real Time
Rose Colored Community Panel
Four community members share their experiences interrupting generational trauma — grief, silence, money, and more. Open Q&A to follow.
Friday · 7:30 PM · Chicago, IL
Art as Archive: A Gallery Night by Black Creatives
Rose Colored Chicago
An intimate gallery showcase featuring work from Rose Colored Create members. Photography, painting, mixed media. Wine and conversation included.
✦ Host an Event
Want to bring your city together?
We support community-led events that center Black joy and wellness. Submit your idea and we'll help you make it happen.
Rose Colored