Leela Willard is driven to help people in marginalized communities have access to better mental health care.

Willard got into becoming a therapist at Kente Circle after she went to a mental health care conference hosted by Kente Circle. Willard said that was the first time she had a feeling that being a therapist was for her, especially after she learned about Kente Circle’s mission and purpose. When there was a spot open for associates at Kente Circle, she went for it.

Willard became a therapist so she could help create a safe space for people of color to share their stories, as well as getting them through their difficult times and trauma.

Willard also works with Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Gender Health Service division to get health care to people who are nonbinary and transgender.

Willard is a therapist for Kente Circle. Kente Circle is a mental health agency in South Minneapolis founded in 2004 that provides culturally relevant therapy for families, couples and individuals.

“I just really want to create safe connections, help people be introspective about their life,” Willard said. They also wanted to help people “really be able to learn how to authentically show up and work through trauma and difficult times.”

With Kente Circle being in such a culturally dense area, just near blocks from George Floyd Square, their work directly addresses the racial disparities in therapy.
Based on the current U.S Census Bureau report, 83% of therapists are white, while the other 17% of therapists are from minority groups.

KFF Health News reports that over 50% of the white community are looking for therapy, while only 39% of African Americans, 36% of Hispanic/Latinos, and 25% of Asians are seeking mental health treatment.

Additionally, “people don’t have access (to mental health care) due to not having access to financial means,” Willard said.

Not only is this about how many different racial or ethnic groups are therapists, but it is also about how Kente Circle and Willard are addressing disparities in mental health care. Offering a safe space to talk is one of the many ways they are addressing it.

“We get to have a conversation and you get to tell your story, and I can help you see parts of that story, where maybe you’re able to have some insight or maybe be able to reframe things or restore things, reimagine yourself, like reimagine who you are as a person and the ways you show up in the world,” Willard said.

Another way Kente Circle wants to address disparities in mental health care in the future is to train barbers in therapeutic practices. This way, African-Americans would have a safe area to tell their stories. Barbers and hairstylists could even be trained to be counselors.

Willard hopes marginalized communities see the benefit in therapy and how it helps people.

“I think that it’s more about helping people see the benefit of therapy and actually talking about what it is and what it isn’t,” Willard said.

Additional reporting for this story was done by Alexis Aryeequaye and Amira Mohamud.     

About this report

This story was produced as part of ThreeSixty Journalism’s Multimedia Storytelling Institute for high school students in partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. ThreeSixty is a nonprofit program dedicated to offering technical, ethical and entrepreneurial training for fulfilling careers in storytelling and civic leadership.   

Today is Saturday, Aug. 31, the 244th day of 2024. There are 122 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed as the car she was riding in crashed on the Pont de l’Alma bridge in Paris; her partner Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul (who was found to have been intoxicated at the time of the accident) also died.

Also on this date:

In 1881, the first U.S. tennis championships (for men only) began in Newport, Rhode Island.

Related Articles

Today in History: August 30, hundreds rescued across flooded New Orleans in wake of Hurricane Katrina

Washington County Historical Society to host rural-school reunion

Today in History: August 29, John McCain picks Sarah Palin for running mate

Today in History: August 28, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers “I Have a Dream” speech

Today in History: August 27, Krakatoa erupts, causing tsunamis

In 1886, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of up to 7.3 devastated Charleston, South Carolina, killing at least 60 people.

In 1962, the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago became independent of British colonial rule.

In 1980, Poland’s Solidarity labor movement was born with an agreement signed in Gdansk (guh-DANSK’) that ended a 17-day-old strike.

In 1992, white separatist Randy Weaver surrendered to authorities in Naples, Idaho, ending an 11-day siege by federal agents that had claimed the lives of Weaver’s wife, son and a deputy U.S. marshal.

In 1994, Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics after half a century.

In 2006, Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream” was recovered by Norwegian authorities after being stolen nine days earlier.

In 2010, President Barack Obama announced the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, declaring no victory after seven years of bloodshed and telling those divided over the war in his country and around the world: “it’s time to turn the page.”

In 2019, a gunman carried out a shooting rampage that stretched ten miles between the Texas communities of Midland and Odessa, leaving seven people dead before police killed the gunman outside a movie theater in Odessa.

Today’s Birthdays:

World Golf Hall of Famer Isao Aoki is 82.
Violinist Itzhak Perlman is 79.
Singer Van Morrison is 79.
Rock musician Rudolf Schenker (The Scorpions) is 76.
Actor Richard Gere is 75.
Actor Stephen McKinley Henderson is 75.
Attorney and author Marcia Clark is 71.
Olympic gold medal hurdler Edwin Moses is 69.
Rock singer Glenn Tilbrook (Squeeze) is 67.
Rock musician Gina Schock (The Go-Go’s) is 67.
Singer-composer Deborah Gibson is 54.
Queen Rania of Jordan is 54.
Golfer Padraig (PAH’-drig) Harrington is 53.
Actor Chris Tucker is 53.
Actor Sara Ramirez is 49.
Former NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is 41.
NBA All-Star Jalen Brunson is 28.

The Saints dropped the first game of Friday’s doubleheader 6-5, despite outhitting the Omaha Storm Chasers, but won the second game 8-3 on the road at Werner Park.

In the first game, Omaha got on the board first with two runs in the first inning. The Saints tied the game 2-2 in the third, with a groundout from Brooks Lee that scored Anthony Prato and a double from DaShawn Keirsey Jr., scoring Michael Helman. Saints tied it again at 4-4 in the fifth, but Omaha again answered with two of their own and the Saints’ last seventh-inning run couldn’t bring a third tie, giving the Storm Chasers a final 6-5 victory.

Randy Dobnak started and allowed four runs in four innings. Giovanny Gallegos (0-2) took the loss after surrendering two runs — one earned — while getting just two outs and walking four batters. The two runs scored on a wild pitch from Gallegos and a throwing error by catcher Jair Camargo.

Yunior Severino had three hits for St. Paul.

In the second game, Andrew Morris threw five shutout innings, earning his first Triple-A win.

Patrick Winkel gave the Saints their first run with a single to right in the second inning. Prato’s walk loaded the bases and Payton Eeles tripled on a line drive to right that gave the Saints a 4-0 lead.

The Saints doubled their lead in the third inning, thanks partly to Carson McCusker’s three-run homer, his second in three games.

The Storm Chasers added runs in the sixth and seventh, but couldn’t come near the Saints.

They meet again tonight at 6 p.m.

Related Articles

Saints come out swinging, beat Omaha

Burnsville native Rozek is bright spot for Saints in loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

Three-run homer in 9th sends Saints to 6-3 loss to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

A streak of a different kind: Saints beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for third in a row

Dobnak back with Saints while thankful for return to Twins

For a while there in the ’90s, it looked as if Nirvana changed music forever. And they did, at least for a few years.

But then a new generation of bar bands that got lucky brought back middle-of-the-road mainstream rock, called themselves alternative or post-grunge and sold millions of CDs in the process. Think Hootie and the Blowfish, Counting Crows and the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand’s Friday night headliner Matchbox Twenty.

More than 12 million people bought the band’s 1996 debut “Yourself or Someone Like You” and chances are many of the 12,774 people at the show were among those who did. Its hits — “Push,” “3AM,” “Real World” and “Back 2 Good” — clogged the airwaves for a good two years and every one of them got a hero’s welcome Friday.

Then again, the crowd seemed to love it all, even “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” a single from 2023’s “Where the Light Goes,” the group’s first album in a decade that made it all the way to No. 53.

To be sure, the band gave the sort of energetic, engaging and showbizzy performance that works well at the Grandstand on a Friday night, particularly after a few beers. Lead singer Rob Thomas and company are almost all in their 50s and radiated Minnesota Dad vibes, the type who grew up on college rock and want to tell you how great the Replacements were. (Thomas gave a shoutout to them, as well as Prince, Semisonic and Tim Walz.)

That said, it sounded as if Thomas wasn’t kidding when he sang 2003’s triple platinum hit “Unwell.” The guy who started a solo career after his 1999 Santana collaboration “Smooth” attained supernova status often sounded hoarse and seemed to be struggling to hit the right notes. He didn’t come off like a guy who lost his voice, rather a guy who caught a bug of some sort.

Many of Matchbox Twenty’s catchy, midtempo songs do have darker lyrics than one might imagine, like their 1997 breakthrough hit “Push,” a jaunty little number about an emotionally abusive relationship. Thomas introduced “Back 2 Good” as “a song written by younger, angrier men,” and he wasn’t kidding.

Occasionally, the band hit it out of the park, as they did with 2003’s “Bright Lights,” a Stones-esque gospel rocker that gave guitarist Kyle Cook the opportunity to shine. For the final song of the 85-minute set, the guys covered Simple Minds’ 1985 hit “Don’t You (Forget About Me).” The rasp in Thomas’ voice worked well with the song, an anthem of sorts to the Gen Xers who loved it in “The Breakfast Club” and loved it again Friday night.

Related Articles

Grandstand review: Motley Crue’s soggy show sunk even further by vocalist Vince Neil

Review: Jon Pardi brings the party to the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand

Begin the weekend: Five free music events happening Thursday in St. Paul

Grandstand review: T-Pain and Ludacris draw huge crowd with fun, nostalgic show

Mixed Precipitation’s latest Pickup Truck Opera perfectly pairs Depeche Mode, ‘Faust’