Since learning to swim, I have become an advocate for others who want to feel more at ease, especially in the deep end.
I feel immense joy when previously hesitant swimmers, both adults and teens, refuse to get out of the pool at the end of class, having found comfort in a space that once brought anxiety.
I’ve also become more aware of the efforts, both locally and internationally, to reduce social and systemic barriers—and to help women of African descent reconnect with their ancestral legacy of swimming. We weren’t always afraid of the water. There was a time when our people swam freely, celebrated in rivers, and gathered at the water’s edge with laughter and song.
Books like Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora have helped illuminate that lost history. So has the modern movement to reclaim it.
Recently, I read Catherine Joy White’s This Thread of Gold and was moved by her story. Catherine Joy White leads Kusini Productions, an acclaimed company she founded to center and celebrate the voices of Black women. In addition to her work as a filmmaker, she is also a writer and actor dedicated to storytelling that empowers. As a child in Great Britain, far from her mother’s Jamaican roots, her early efforts to learn to swim were thwarted. I felt a deep kinship with her, especially as she described returning to the water in adulthood and discovering solace there after the death of a beloved uncle.
When I found out that her documentary Swim Sistas would be showing at a film festival at the IFC in Greenwich Village, I made plans to travel to New York City with a friend. I wasn’t going to miss it.
That winter-like evening, I found myself in a room filled with warmth, reflection, and shared resonance. The film captured the intimate stories of four Black British multigenerational swimmers navigating their own journeys: a 54-year-old woman bravely entering the water for the first time; a former elite athlete seeking new joy in sport; a gifted teen swimmer inspired by Alice Dearing, Great Britain’s first Black female Olympic swimmer—who, despite her talent, had to push through barriers inside and outside the pool on her way to representing Great Britain at the 2021 Olympics.
(Image Credit: Swim Sistas, directed by Catherine Joy White. Featured in “Shorts: She Stories” at DOC NYC 2025. Source: https://www.docnyc.net/film/shorts-she-stories-2025/swim-sistas/)
We cheered and applauded as we watched Swim Sistas. It was more than a film—it was a mirror, a collective celebration.
One of the most powerful moments came near the end, as the film’s narrator—a deep, resonant voice—spoke directly to the fears of beginning swimmers: “Trust that Mami Wata will hold you.”
That line stirred something ancient in me.
It was a full-circle moment, standing in a theater in Greenwich Village, listening to a call that transcended geography and time. A reminder that healing doesn’t just happen in the body. It happens in community, in memory, and in water.
At Transcultural Clinical Services, I engage your cultural values, your language, and your stories as essential parts of your healing journey. Therapy should never ask you to leave yourself at the door—it should help you come home to who you are.
Whether you’re stepping into the water or into healing, you don’t have to do it alone. If you’re ready to explore what reconnection might look like for you, I invite you to start with a 15-minute conversation.
