For Black WomenRoots Community
Wellness, culture, learning, experiences and community designed with Black women at the center.
Wellness, centered on us.
Explore Roots
Roots of Healing Wellness · New Orleans
More life
looks good on us.
Wellness is more than a routine.
Roots of Healing Wellness creates opportunities for Black women to experience more of life through wellness, culture, learning, movement, recreation, community, and shared experiences.
New Orleans•Black Women•Wellness•Culture•Experiences
Our approach
Wellness is bigger than self-care.
Wellness isn't only what we eat, how often we exercise, or whether we remember to take a break.
It's also the quality of the lives we live.
Do we have meaningful relationships?
Do we experience joy?
Do we move? Do we learn?
Do we participate in our communities?
Do we have somewhere to belong?
Do we have things to look forward to?
At Roots of Healing Wellness, we create opportunities to experience wellness in everyday life.
Move
Movement, recreation, and outdoor experiences.
Learn
Workshops, conversations, and opportunities to discover something new.
Experience
Culture, food, art, travel, activities, and new experiences.
Connect
Community, relationships, and meaningful social connection.
Contribute
Volunteerism, community involvement, and opportunities to pour back.
Live
Joy, play, curiosity, and experiences that make life feel full.
A life well-lived is a wellness goal.
We believe wellness should help us do more than function.
It should help us live.
Try something new.Explore somewhere different.Learn from somebody.Move your body.Share what you know.Experience your culture.Laugh.Create.Contribute.Rest.Gather.Live.
Why this matters
There's public health behind this.
Our health is shaped by more than what happens inside our bodies.
The people around us, the communities we live in, our opportunities for recreation, social connection, culture, learning, movement and participation all contribute to quality of life.
Roots of Healing Wellness brings those ideas out of textbooks and into everyday life.
Healing asks us to look inward.
Public health asks us to look around.
What wellness can look like here.
Real experiences. Real life. Not another routine to keep up with.
Wellness walksCultural experiencesBook discussionsOutdoor experiencesWorkshopsCommunity conversationsVolunteeringExploring New OrleansCreative experiencesFamily experiencesYouth experiencesTrying something completely new
Roots of Healing Wellness
One village.
Three communities.
Roots of Healing Wellness brings wellness into different parts of life through three connected communities.
For Black Women
For Black MothersMoms of Color
Experiences that recognize the mother AND the woman — because motherhood should not erase her own life, interests, wellness or identity.
More than motherhood.
Explore Moms of Color
For YouthL.U.M.I.
Culture, creativity, exploration, leadership, community and real-world experiences that give young people more ways to engage with life beyond a screen.
Childhood should be experienced.
Explore L.U.M.I.Roots of Healing Wellness is the home of all three communities.
Women find wellness and community through Roots.
Mothers find added connection through Moms of Color.
Youth experience community through L.U.M.I.
One village. Different ways to belong.
For mothers
Mothers deserve to experience life, too.
Not everything a mother does for herself needs to be called self-care.
Sometimes she isn't recovering. Sometimes she's living.
Trying something new. Learning. Traveling. Creating. Laughing. Exploring.
Having experiences that belong to her.
Motherhood is part of her life. It doesn't have to become all of it.
Across generations
Wellness moves through generations.
When youth, adults, and elders have real opportunities to learn from one another, wellness reaches beyond any one person.
Stories get preserved. Culture gets passed down. Knowledge gets shared that you can't get anywhere else.
A community stays well when its generations know each other.
“There is knowledge sitting at our kitchen tables that no textbook contains.”
New Orleans
Our city is part of our wellness.
Wellness lives in our neighborhoods — on porches, under oak trees, in courtyards, at the park, around the table.
The culture, food, music, traditions, stories, and people of New Orleans are part of what makes life here feel full.
Roots experiences happen in and with the city we call home — not apart from it.
The founder
Built with purpose.
Created with community in mind.
Roots of Healing Wellness was founded by Lakischa Smith, MPH, a community wellness advocate who believes health and quality of life are deeply connected to culture, relationships, belonging, and the communities we create around us.
Meet our founderExperience more of life.
More learning.
More movement.
More culture.
More laughter.
More connection.
More experiences.
More life.
Roots of Healing Wellness | New Orleans
Stay Connected
Get the latest from Roots.
Upcoming gatherings, experiences, stories, and ways to get involved — delivered to your inbox.
Join the NewsletterNo spam. Just community.