Welcome to the Movement: Invest in Student Wellness

Led by wellness visionary and educator Akua T.J. Robinson, the Alaafia Student Wellness Initiative is on a mission to bring healing, hope, and mental wellness to Black students across
the country.

In a world where stress, burnout, and trauma are all too common, Alaafia creates a
safe, affirming space for students to reconnect, reset, and restore.

Students walk into classrooms carrying invisible weights: intergenerational trauma, cultural isolation, academic burnout, and systemic neglect. They’re told to succeed, to strive, and to lead—without ever being given the tools to breathe, to feel, or to heal.

The Alaafia Student Wellness Initiative exists to change that. We offer more than just a break from daily stress—we deliver a spiritually nourishing, culturally grounded, and deeply affirming experience for students. It is our mission that students remember that God has breathed life into them. That they are purposed, loved and necesary.

“Alaafia” is a Yoruba word meaning peace, wellness, and inner alignment. Our retreats are radical sanctuaries of renewal, where students are invited to reconnect with themselves, their ancestry, and have connect with God; the source of their strength. Through prayer, fitness, wellness sessions, journaling, and community connection, we affirm the brilliance, beauty, and boundless potential of students.

We’re launching this annual campaign to raise $25,000 to fully fund three wellness retreats in 2025-2026, build our mentorship programs, deliver self-care kits, groceries and to provide scholarships and expand the Alaafia Student Initiative nationwide. When you give, you are not only supporting a program—you are becoming a co-creator of a legacy rooted in healing hope and purpose.

What Your Gift Makes Possible

With your help, we will:

Host 3 immersive, transformative wellness retreats for Black students across the U.S., providing sacred spaces for them to reflect, reset, and rise together in spiritual and emotional unity.
Provide free travel, lodging, meals, and wellness materials to eliminate financial barriers and ensure every participant experiences wholeness and dignity from the moment they arrive.
Offer monthly mentorship, virtual care circles, and ongoing spiritual support to keep students connected to the Alaafia community year-round, ensuring they never feel alone in their healing journey.
Equip students with self-care wellness kits containing journaling materials, affirmation cards, essential oils, herbal teas, and other culturally affirming tools to sustain their mental and emotional health after the retreat.
Develop storytelling materials and video content to raise awareness, attract sponsors, and elevate the lived experiences of our students through their own powerful voices and testimonies.

Your support allows us to pour into the hearts of those who will one day lead classrooms, movements, businesses, and communities—with compassion, courage, and clarity.

Why Alaafia? Why Now?

Black students are experiencing a wellness crisis:

Suicide rates for Black youth have nearly doubled in the last decade, yet culturally competent mental health services remain scarce and underfunded.
Campus wellness centers often lack cultural understanding, representation, or safe spaces for vulnerable conversations and communal healing.
Black students are frequently criminalized or stigmatized for behaviors that are trauma responses—rather than supported through care, compassion, and connection.

Alaafia is the community-led solution. It’s not therapy—it’s purposed transformation. It is a spiritual reclamation of wellness, grounded in God, culture and community that affirms our existence.

We focus on helping students understand, release, and rewrite the internalized messages that tell them they are not enough. We restore their joy and help them recover the right to rest, reflect, and rebuild.

“After meeting you, I’ve been sober for 60 days. You changed my life.”
“This retreat was the reset I needed. I left lighter, freer, and ready to dream again.”
"I came in heavy. I left with hope—and a plan."

Through:

Breathwork and Meditation that reconnect students with their bodies
Prayer and Affirmation Circles to heal spiritual and emotional wounds
Journaling, Art Therapy, and Music to awaken self-expression and release trauma
Mentorship and Career Empowerment to build tools for navigating life beyond the retreat
Community, Culture, and Spiritual Grounding that offers a rare sense of safety, belonging, and ancestral wisdom

Alaafia is wellness on our terms—for our people, by our people. And the time is now.

How Funds Will Be Used

Your donation will directly support:

Expense Category	Allocation
Retreat travel, lodging & meals	$10,000
Wellness kits & healing tools	$5,000
Marketing & donor materials	$5,000
IRS nonprofit registration & grant support	$3,000
Campus ambassador stipends & mentorship	$2,000

We believe in radical transparency and radical generosity. Every dollar will go directly toward the students we serve and the systems we are building to support them long-term. Your contribution isn’t just financial—it’s spiritual. It signals belief in a world where our students no longer have to choose between survival and self-care.

Ways to Give

Whether it’s your first gift or a returning act of faith, your support is sacred:

💸 One-Time Gift: Any amount, big or small, brings us closer to our goal. Every single gift is part of our healing circle.
🤝 Sponsor a Student: $500 covers an entire retreat experience for one student—including their travel, stay, food, materials, and mentorship.
💖 Monthly Supporter: Join the Alaafia Circle to create sustained support and become a founding partner in long-term student wellness.
📦 In-Kind Gifts & Partnerships: Sponsor meals, travel, swag, or curriculum. We’re also seeking media and wellness brand partnerships. Email us!

All donations are tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, Natural-WE.

This is an invitation to not just donate—but to take ownership in a new future for Black student healing.

Our Vision: Beyond the Retreat

This isn’t just about one moment of rest. It’s a long-term strategy to transform how wellness is accessed, felt, and owned by Black students in every phase of their journey.

We are building toward:

A network of Alaafia-certified campus ambassadors leading peer-to-peer support systems
A robust digital content hub with affirmations, mindfulness audio, culturally grounded wellness modules, and journaling prompts
A student-led healing curriculum that can be shared in high schools, colleges, and community centers across the country
Hosting the first National Black Student Healing Summit by 2026, bringing together students, healers, educators, and advocates to celebrate, uplift, and strategize the future of wellness for our people

We are not just creating retreats—we’re building a movement. A culture. A model for what’s possible when care becomes collective.

Be Part of the Healing

The movement has begun. You can be a founding donor to a vision that will outlive us.

If you've ever asked, "How can I support our youth? How can I give back with meaning?" — this is your answer. You can help restore peace. You can protect dreams. You can plant hope.

Support the Alaafia Retreat. Restore our students. Reclaim wellness as a right—not a luxury.

Donate today. Share widely. Be part of something sacred.

🌐 www.tjswellness.com
📩 info@tjswellness.com
📱 Instagram: @tjswellness

Rooted. Restored. Rising.

Wellness Is Our Birthright

By T.J.'s Wellness

Wellness Is Our Birthright

The Alaafia Student Wellness Initiative