'We Mind, We Matter' — A New Mental Health Mixer Born From Casual Coffee Shop Conversations

by Troy Landrum Jr.

On Saturday, June 22, at The Station Coffee Shop's new Columbia City location, Jeffrey Cheatham and Kelvin Peprah will be hosting "We Mind, We Matter," a new BIPOC mental health mixer, with free admission for the community.

Cheatham is an award-winning children's book author, actor, and community organizer. Peprah is a therapist and founder of Peprah Counseling and Consulting.

The "We Mind, We Matter" event will feature a special guest panel hosted by Dr. Priscilla Lui, a clinical psychologist from the University of Washington. The discussion, led by mental health leaders, will focus on destigmatizing BIPOC mental health. It will be followed by a networking mixer with food, drinks, music, and a raffle. The mixer will focus on building an empowering space for the community to talk and walk toward wellness.

"'We Mind, We Matter' is the beginning of many more events like this to come," said Peprah. The duo hopes to continue hosting these mixers and to bring more people into spaces where they can talk about mental health. Their goal is for participants to build the courage to find the right mental health professional for their individual healing journeys.

"The stigma is that if you are seeing a therapist, you are crazy, or something is wrong with you," said Cheatham. "We want to change that."

Cheatham has a history of hosting community events in Seattle. He is the founder of the Seattle Urban Book Expo, but it was his work as an author and actor that sparked his curiosity to better understand other people in his community and planted the seeds for creating this new event. When he met Peprah, who shares these curiosities about better understanding people and explores them professionally, the two had an instant connection.

As their friendship blossomed, they each watched the growth happening in their respective fields — Cheatham as an organizer and Peprah in his private practice. And as they continued to have meetups, they did so in a place that is special to the community — The Station Coffee Shop.

The Station has become more than just a caf. It's a place that fosters community building. It provides joy through delicious cups of coffee and serves as a meeting space where community members can have important conversations. In a city where there are limited places for BIPOC folks to commune together and create, The Station has played a pivotal role in being that place for a long time.

And this is why Cheatham and Peprah knew The Station would be the perfect venue for their event. As they continued to meet at The Station, their conversations culminated into one big idea — an event, at The Station, that can help connect BIPOC people who need therapy to BIPOC therapists.

"Some of the clients that I would meet would express relief for finding a Black therapist, specifically a Black male therapist," said Peprah. "My goal with this event is trying to help build that bridge that can connect folks in the community, especially folks of color, who are trying to look for therapists of color."

Finding a BIPOC therapist who can provide a space for clients to feel seen and heard, especially through a cultural lens, is critical to dismantling the negative stigmas that exist around mental health. Fortunately, two Black men meeting at a coffee shop, connecting through shared interest in mental well-being and community building, have planted the seeds of a new event aimed at supporting people in this critical, and often overlooked, area of their lives.

"We Mind We Matter" will be at The Station Coffee Shop in Columbia City on Saturday, June 22, at 6:00 p.m. Register for the free event online.

📸 Featured Image: The "We Mind, We Matter" event will be held at The Station Coffee Shop's Columbia City location on Saturday, June 22. (Photo: Alex Garland.)