San Diego Veteran, Licensed Social Worker and Therapist Team Up To Combat Black Female Mental Health

SAN DIEGO - July 25, 2020 - PRLog -- July is Black Mental Health Awareness Month and Navy Advancement exam results hit the internet streets Thursday morning to ruin the realities of many hoping to move up the ranks of their Navy career. Advancement exams can make or break a career and the emotional toll it takes on a sailor can be paramount, in either direction. According to the Navy's official online magazine, All Hands, there was an overall decrease in advancement for the most emotionally vulnerable sailors, E-4 through E6. E-4 advancement opportunity decreased 1.94 points; E-5 advancement opportunity decreased 2.93 points; and E-6 advancement opportunity .66 points.

To address the emotional trauma, Barracks To Baller will hold a week-long Instagram Live event highlighting the emotion of failure and how to turn career lemons into lemonade! Headed by an all-star cast of mindful, millennial entrepreneurs, most of whom are US Navy Veterans, each hour-long conversation will dive deep into what makes each guest fight through adversity and lend inspiration to the community of melanated military women that Barracks To Baller serves. Guest include US Navy Veteran and millionaire entrepreneur Johann Balbuena as well as a licensed social worker, therapist, and clinical director of Transcend Therapy, Cecille Ahrens, LCSW, CEAP and US Navy Veteran and viral make-up artist, Denzel "Glam God" Johnson.

Barracks To Baller (http://www.barrackstoballer.com/) is a result of intense soul searching and self-reflection; a place for all women, but especially Black military women, to come and explore new ways of thinking, developing compassion and grace, and the ultimate goal of engaging in mindful meditation. According to the 2019 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report (https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/docs/data-sheets/2019/201...), (https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/docs/data-sheets/2019/2019_National_Veteran_Suicide_Prevention_Annual_Report_508.pdf) the number of Veteran suicides exceeded 6,000 each year from 2008 to 2017. 45,390 American adults died from suicide in 2017, including 6,139 U.S. Veterans. We want to help change this.

About Gabrielle Pickens and Barracks To Baller
Gabrielle Pickens (http://instagram.com/gabriellepickens) is the creator and founder of Barracks To Baller (http://instagram.com/barrackstoballer), an online community of melanated, military women. A US Navy Veteran, Gabrielle served for six years on Active Duty, deployed to the Middle East and Asia, and accumulated a host of top military accolades, including Junior Sailor of the Year and three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.

Her goal is to introduce meditation to Black women, who will naturally influence and inspire the world to do the same.