GirlTrek is a major national health initiative aimed at getting black women and girls walking together, and was featured during our recent “Movement is Life” conference. They have nearly 250,000 followers on Facebook.
We caught up with Onika Jervis from GirlTrek after the conference to learn more about the initiative. Onika had given an inspiring talk at the conference, describing how walking together leads to change – both healthy change and social change. We were keen to hear more about the Girl Trek vision. In her talk, Onika discussed how you choose to deal with stress is crucial to health.
“Moving is important for our bodies, our hormones, our adrenaline, and that is what gives us that shine, that energy. But we have to ask why-why is it that we see health problems in our communities? We need to recognize that for people of color we have a certain kind of internal stress because racism is part of how society is structured, and that affects us every day.”
Onika describes how in communities of color the stress levels are high, income is lower than average, and opportunities to exercise and eat well are limited. And the history of emancipation for people of color means there has been an accumulated burden over many years, accumulated stress that weighs people down and gets in the way of a healthy lifestyle. Because of this, living healthily can be regarded as a revolutionary act.
Learn more about Girl Trek on Health Unlocked:
GirlTrek is a major national health initiative aimed at getting black women and girls walking together, and was featured during our recent “Movement is Life” conference. They have nearly 250,000 followers on Facebook.
We caught up with Onika Jervis from GirlTrek after the conference to learn more about the initiative. Onika had given an inspiring talk at the conference, describing how walking together leads to change – both healthy change and social change. We were keen to hear more about the Girl Trek vision. In her talk, Onika discussed how you choose to deal with stress is crucial to health.
“Moving is important for our bodies, our hormones, our adrenaline, and that is what gives us that shine, that energy. But we have to ask why-why is it that we see health problems in our communities? We need to recognize that for people of color we have a certain kind of internal stress because racism is part of how society is structured, and that affects us every day.”
Onika describes how in communities of color the stress levels are high, income is lower than average, and opportunities to exercise and eat well are limited. And the history of emancipation for people of color means there has been an accumulated burden over many years, accumulated stress that weighs people down and gets in the way of a healthy lifestyle. Because of this, living healthily can be regarded as a revolutionary act.
Learn more about Girl Trek on Health Unlocked: https://healthunlocked.com/startmoving/posts/137248296/movement-on-mondays-happy-hour-anyone-a-conversation-with-onika-jervis-from-girltrek-with-ted-talk-link
