I started Beyond Grey right in the midst of the# pandemic.

I was doing a lot of mental and physical healthcare practices that were really helping me# get out of feelings of anxiety and depression.

And I started the platform really to share ways# that mental and physical health was helping me.

It later grew into creating programs# for recipients here in South Florida, and we have a therapy program that's curated for# college students to receive one-on-one therapy.

And we also have a half marathon sponsorship# program to run your first half marathon.

If you're a college student, you're enrolled in# a South Florida college, you can go straight to our website to apply for our program.

And if you# don't have access to mental healthcare, we will connect you to one of our therapists in network,# and you'll receive nine sessions with a therapist to use within 90 days.

And then from there,# after your 90day program, we also offer group therapy.

We act as your beneficiary, we cover# the cost with our therapists.

A lot of the times, we're working with students that are not very# familiar with mental health, which is also one of the reasons why we started Beyond Grey.

For me,# I didn't know what mental health really was until I had no other option.

So really our goal is to# create this awareness around mental health before it's essentially too late.

When we're looking# for a community partner, our main focus is, first of all, noticing what separates them# from the others.

Here at Open Door Yoga, we really focus on creating a safe space for# everyone that walks through the door.

And for Beyond Grey, that's the most important thing,# to make sure everyone feels safe and welcome for them to heal and to connect, and to process# their emotions and their feelings.

When we're looking for new therapists, we like to check and# see also what differentiates them.

So for example, one of our therapists, Carolina, she works through# somatic healing, and she also does art therapy.

I think while mental health is something that is# so important, it's unfortunately something that can be challenging to get access to, whether that# be because of pricing, whether that be insurance, whether that be cultural factors if people are not# really understanding what the experience is.

And so when Bianca from Beyond Grey came to me with# this idea for this program to provide free therapy for college students, I thought it was just such# a great idea because that time in college is such a formative time for all of us.

It's when we# tend to really focus on finding ourselves, on figuring out who we are, what we wanna be.

And# that can be challenging when we have experiences from our past that we're still holding onto.# The way that I like to describe art therapy, it's that the use of artmaking and the creative# process.

So anything in the visual arts related to drawing, painting, coloring, collage, etc.# really helps to enhance the client's experience in their process of healing.

Somatic healing is a# mindfulness-based practice that allows for us to come into our physical bodies to understand its# sensations, its experiences, and its memories.

Generally speaking, we always start the practice# with finding a sense of safety within the body, feeling grounded, really knowing where we are# in that time and place.

And then from there we shift into some exploration, right?

So what are# the sensations that are coming up in the body, starting to get curious about what some of those# can mean, and then really listening to the desires of those experiences, right?

So what does that# sensation want?

How does it wanna move?

What does it wanna say?

To really bring that sense of# clarity, and over time using that for tools to then help us keep using it in everyday life.

The first workshop we ever hosted and the introduction to our therapy program was# with Carolina, and she hosted a art therapy workshop.

It was a group therapy event called# Create Color.

We were able to connect to color pencils and markers and pastels, and we started# by doing a somatic healing meditation to get into our bodies.

And then from there, we colored with# the markers, the color pencils, and the pastels, sort of like how we were feeling.

And# then as a group, we were each able to explain a little bit more about our drawing.

Everyone had their own journals, there was art materials spread out throughout the table, and I# just started us all with a mindfulness practice.

So really coming into the body, noticing where# we were, what we were feeling in that moment, and then from there coming up with images,# visualizations through that practice that then the students were able to draw, create# within their journals.

It was so beautiful to see the students really open up about their# experience, things that they were noticing that they hadn't really thought about in awhile, really# finding a way to connect with the art material, with each other, with themselves was just# something really special to experience.

I've had people come to their first day, or one# of our first work, or one of their first workshops that they're attending, and they've told me things# like, "Oh, it was a lot for me to show up here, but I'm so happy I showed up today because I'm# feeling so much better."

And then I've seen them like to continue showing up for themselves.# Now there's some students that are looking into becoming yoga instructors, and also bringing# their friends along with them.

So by showing up for yourself, you're also guiding the way for# someone else.

A line that's always helped me is, "Right now is, and not later."

So if you're# feeling something right now in this moment, just know that you're not going to be feeling# this in a few hours, a few days, a few weeks, a few months.

There is always a different# lining, there's always a Beyond Grey.