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This month, we will discuss our reflections & gratitude for 2024 with April Jackson and Wesley Hamilton.

Each month we share stories and individual experiences from the intersections of race and disability while exploring healing + wellness tools for mind and body.

Disabled But Not Really's mission is to empower and inspire individuals with disabilities to overcome challenges and reach their potential by fostering a mindset of courage, confidence, and competence. They aim to educate individuals and their communities on ways to help improve the overall quality of life for people living with a disability.

You can view these episodes with ASL interpretation on Open Up's YouTube channel. Catch episode previews and more information about Sunday Safe Spaces and other Open Up programming by following us on social media @openuppgh.

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This month, we welcome Virginia Cumberbatch, equity leader, creative activist, scholar, storyteller, educator and CEO and Co-Founder of Rosa Rebellion, a platform for creative activism by and for women of color.

Each month we share stories and individual experiences from the intersections of race and disability while exploring healing + wellness tools for mind and body.

Disabled But Not Really's mission is to empower and inspire individuals with disabilities to overcome challenges and reach their potential by fostering a mindset of courage, confidence, and competence. They aim to educate individuals and their communities on ways to help improve the overall quality of life for people living with a disability.

You can view these episodes with ASL interpretation on Open Up's YouTube channel. Catch episode previews and more information about Sunday Safe Spaces and other Open Up programming by following us on social media @openuppgh.

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This month, we welcome Chimeria Terrell, a registered nurse at Pittsburgh Mercy, and the owner of Steel City Healthcare Training. A Pittsburgh native, Chimeria grew up in the Beechview neighborhood of the city and graduated from Pittsburgh CAPA high school. Chimeria completed her ADN at CCAC South Campus in 2013 before graduating with a BSN in 2018 from Western Governors University.

Chimeria has been practicing nursing at her long-time employer Pittsburgh Mercy where she supports and cares for patients with mental health diagnoses and intellectual disabilities. While working at Pittsburgh Mercy, Chimeria discovered a new passion, during her time leading weekly health and wellness groups. This passion was education. She found that educating people about the importance of health and wellness extremely rewarding. In 2020, Chimeria was inspired to open her company Steel City Healthcare Training where she could instruct life saving techniques to both healthcare workers and lay rescuers.

To date, Chimeria has trained more than 2000 people in CPR/First Aid. She has added active shooter, OSHA workplace safety training, and other safety trainings to her course offerings.

When she is not caring for and educating the masses, Chimeria enjoys spending time with her 3 sons Tayshaun, Jayden, and Kyren, being a die-hard foodie, reading, and traveling with her family.

 Each month we share stories and individual experiences from the intersections of race and disability while exploring healing + wellness tools for mind and body.

Disabled But Not Really's mission is to empower and inspire individuals with disabilities to overcome challenges and reach their potential by fostering a mindset of courage, confidence, and competence. They aim to educate individuals and their communities on ways to help improve the overall quality of life for people living with a disability.

You can view these episodes with ASL interpretation on Open Up's YouTube channel. Catch episode previews and more information about Sunday Safe Spaces and other Open Up programming by following us on social media @openuppgh.

Send us a text

This month,  April Jackson and Wesley Hamilton discuss their reflections & gratitude for 2024.

Each month we share stories and individual experiences from the intersections of race and disability while exploring healing + wellness tools for mind and body.

Disabled But Not Really's mission is to empower and inspire individuals with disabilities to overcome challenges and reach their potential by fostering a mindset of courage, confidence, and competence. They aim to educate individuals and their communities on ways to help improve the overall quality of life for people living with a disability.

You can view these episodes with ASL interpretation on Open Up's YouTube channel. Catch episode previews and more information about Sunday Safe Spaces and other Open Up programming by following us on social media @openuppgh.

Send us a text

This month, we welcome Sharise Nance, LCSW, Entrepreneur, Speaker 

Sharise is a highly educated and deeply experienced Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Trauma Specialist, Workshop Facilitator, Global Speaker, Award Winning and Serial Author and Entrepreneur. She is the co-owner and founder of HandinHand Counseling Services, LLC. Sharise and her partner started the private practice due to the mental health disparities for Black people, as well as their own experiences with pay disparities as mental health therapists and social workers. With over 20 years of experience assisting individuals, couples and families to see beyond energy depletion, hopelessness, panic, guilt and feeling overwhelmed, Sharise assists them in making a shift to a place of peace, joy, clarity, and satisfaction. 

Having dealt with her own compassion fatigue and burnout, Sharise also dedicates her efforts to running Vitamin C Healing, LLC, an organization that helps companies prevent Leadership Burnout and Compassion Fatigue using a trauma sensitive and systems approach to create a supportive work culture that prioritizes work life balance and integration. Known as the Compassion Fatigue Lady and Compassion Stress Coach, Sharise has become one of the pioneers of Compassion Fatigue in Western Pennsylvania. She has considerable experience speaking at keynotes, workshops, and seminars for helping professionals, mental health leaders and entrepreneurs across the globe. She strives to equip individuals with tools to tolerate the high demands of work and life, imposter syndrome, as well as managing and preventing compassion fatigue and burnout in order to live happy, fulfilled lives and careers. 

Sharise is the founder and creator of the S.W.A.G. Awards: Social Worker Appreciation of Greatness Awards, to honor the “heart work” of local social workers in the Greater Pittsburgh area who are often unappreciated and unrecognized.  

She is the proud wife of William Nance, and during her spare time she enjoys running half marathons, reading, watching sports, traveling, and trying new foods.

Each month we share stories and individual experiences from the intersections of race and disability while exploring healing + wellness tools for mind and body.

Disabled But Not Really's mission is to empower and inspire individuals with disabilities to overcome challenges and reach their potential by fostering a mindset of courage, confidence, and competence. They aim to educate individuals and their communities on ways to help improve the overall quality of life for people living with a disability.

You can view these episodes with ASL interpretation on Open Up's YouTube channel. Catch episode previews and more information about Sunday Safe Spaces and other Open Up programming by following us on social media @openuppgh.

Send us a text

This episode, we welcome Sheba Gittens, anti-racist heArtivist, art educator & creative consultant and Alana Griffin, community advocate & entrepreneur. Discussing the Power of Community Care with our hosts April Jackson and Wesley Hamilton.

Each month we share stories and individual experiences from the intersections of race and disability while exploring healing + wellness tools for mind and body.

Disabled But Not Really's mission is to empower and inspire individuals with disabilities to overcome challenges and reach their potential by fostering a mindset of courage, confidence, and competence. They aim to educate individuals and their communities on ways to help improve the overall quality of life for people living with a disability.

You can view these episodes with ASL interpretation on Open Up's YouTube channel. Catch episode previews and more information about Sunday Safe Spaces and other Open Up programming by following us on social media @openuppgh.

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This month, join our host April Jackson for a thoughtful conversation on growth, community, and the world around us. A bonus of a meditation led by April invites you in to be present and relax into the moment.

Enjoy!

Each month we share stories and individual experiences from the intersections of race and disability while exploring healing + wellness tools for mind and body.

Disabled But Not Really's mission is to empower and inspire individuals with disabilities to overcome challenges and reach their potential by fostering a mindset of courage, confidence, and competence. They aim to educate individuals and their communities on ways to help improve the overall quality of life for people living with a disability.

You can view these episodes with ASL interpretation on Open Up's YouTube channel. Catch episode previews and more information about Sunday Safe Spaces and other Open Up programming by following us on social media @openuppgh.

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This month, we welcome Gina Winstead. A nonbinary member of the LGBTQ+ community as well as a multiracial person, Gina is committed to disrupting systems and building creative solutions that advance education, leadership and access to diverse networks. A native of the Pittsburgh region, she has wide-ranging expertise in community development, nonprofit leadership and local entrepreneurship. Gina is  the Carnegie Museums' first vice president for inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA)

Disabled But Not Really's mission is to empower and inspire individuals with disabilities to overcome challenges and reach their potential by fostering a mindset of courage, confidence, and competence. They aim to educate individuals and their communities on ways to help improve the overall quality of life for people living with a disability.

You can view these episodes with ASL interpretation on Open Up's YouTube channel. Catch episode previews and more information about Sunday Safe Spaces and other Open Up programming by following us on social media @openuppgh.

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This month, we welcomed  Royce Andrews Porter - a father, designer, investor, therapist, and social wellness entrepreneur. He founded Sensory, a collaborative mindfulness studio and wellness platform supporting BIPOC communities in processing unresolved trauma. Sensory focuses on transforming emotional and relational wounds, into connection through collaborative healing & spiritual partnership using mindfulness, movement, music, and community — both on & offline.

Born in Los Angeles and having experienced foster care, Royce understands the needs of underserved communities. With nearly a decade of experience in meditation, yoga, and breathwork, he attributes his profound transformation to cultivating a spiritual practice, which he calls deep intimacy with God. Formerly a designer and small business owner, Royce pivoted into the wellness space after a traumatic season led him to reassess his repressed emotions, unconscious beliefs, & behavioural patterns. Since then, he’s partnered with organizations like Soho House, Reclamation Ventures, and Austin Community College to support others on their healing journey, who share similar experiences.

Royce’s journey has given him an extraordinarily impactful worldview. It’s the culmination of a person who’s overcome trials and risen out of darkness, navigating entrepreneurship steeped in spiritual alignment, from the lens of the Black American experience. His work is rooted in broad cultural research that embraces a multiplicity of perspectives, centering the lives of BIPOC communities, globally. Bridging an intersection of identities, to achieve healing & connection for generational change.

Disabled But Not Really's mission is to empower and inspire individuals with disabilities to overcome challenges and reach their potential by fostering a mindset of courage, confidence, and competence. They aim to educate individuals and their communities on ways to help improve the overall quality of life for people living with a disability.

You can view these episodes with ASL interpretation on Open Up's YouTube channel. Catch episode previews and more information about Sunday Safe Spaces and other Open Up programming by following us on social media @openuppgh.

Send us a text

This month, we will check in to see what's happening in the community and cover some hot topics.

Disabled But Not Really's mission is to empower and inspire individuals with disabilities to overcome challenges and reach their potential by fostering a mindset of courage, confidence, and competence. They aim to educate individuals and their communities on ways to help improve the overall quality of life for people living with a disability.

You can view these episodes with ASL interpretation on Open Up's YouTube channel. Catch episode previews and more information about Sunday Safe Spaces and other Open Up programming by following us on social media @openuppgh.