Supporting Mental Health with the Power of Storytelling

In the summer of 2020, racial and social tensions were high. On top of the national anxiety surrounding COVID-19, it also marked a year of unrest following the murder of George Floyd. Following that tumultuous summer, Emory University established the Arts & Social Justice Fellows Program. The initiative pairs Emory faculty with Atlanta-based artists to incorporate creative elements into various courses to inspire students to reflect on social inequities and promote change. Elizabeth Walker, PhD, teaching associate professor of behavioral, social, and health education sciences, participated in the inaugural cohort in fall 2020.

“Everything happening in the world at that time had a big impact on mental health, both broadly and for students,” says Walker. “I wanted to do the fellowship to use art to think through these difficult topics through a public health lens. It provided a way to help students create community and get them through this difficult time as well.”

Walker was paired with Okorie Johnson, a local cellist and composer, to teach the course, Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Disorders. In this course, students learned about the risks and protective factors that influence mental disorders and explored how art can be used to change the narrative about mental health, build community, and bolster resilience. As a culminating project for the class, Johnson helped students write a poem based on class discussions about mental health and social justice. He then set it to music he composed and created a stirring video featuring students from the course.

By being vulnerable and creative together, students were able to build community, feel comfortable sharing their stories, and process difficult events.

“Stories and lived experiences are really powerful and important for the work that we do in public health,” says Walker. “And art is just another way to be able to powerfully share people's stories.”

Closer Look Summer Indie Artist Spotlight: OkCello

The cello is a unique instrument. It fits perfectly with the shape of the human body, making it easy to cradle and natural to embrace. Few other instruments boast a range of pitches as wide as that of the cello. And the warmth of its tone often elicits a pure and visceral experience for the listener.

>> Check out more from Closer Look’s Summer Indie Music Series here.

It is for these reasons and more Atlanta-based OkCello artist has chosen the instrument as his partner since he was just 6 years old. He joined us in-studio for our latest installment of Closer Look’s Summer Indie Music Series.

“You can create really rich dynamics with an instrument,” OkCello told Rose Scott while giving a demonstration. “I’m able to create a huge dynamic range within one bow, some instances.”

OkCello, whose real name is Okorie Johnson, is a master of his instrument. As he walks the listener through the technical complexities of the cello, it becomes clear such movements are second nature for him. But, as he mentions, it’s not the point.

“You want to learn the technical stuff so that you can communicate,” OkCello said. “So you can say things that are human and emotional and really connect with people. You spend a lot time playing scales, in the beginning.”

Video: https://youtu.be/WKvPQB8dQD8

While OkCello has learned to love his instrument, they came together purely by chance. As he tells the story, Orchestra was the only music class that had room.

“I knew I would play an instrument, but I didn’t really have any designs on any particular instrument,” OkCello remembers. “And the only one that made sense in terms of availability and wasn’t going to drive my mother insane – I think I could’ve done drums, but she wasn’t going to have that – was the cello.”

OkCello admits the union was meant to be. However, his relationship with the cello has not always been harmonious.

“I’ve probably put my cello down four or five times in my life, which is interesting because it’s the only thing I’ve been doing since I was 6,” OkCello said. “I think it’s the only thing that allows me to be speak really vulnerably and honestly. But being a musician is not always the most – at least to the rest of the world – practical or lucrative.”

When OkCello graduated from Morehouse College, his plan was to work at a car wash by day and perform music by night. His mother, he remembers, was not thrilled about that plan.

But then, nearly five years ago, OkCello stumbled upon a technique that would open up his world: Looping. Using an assortment of pedals and electronics, he figured out how to create an ensemble with just himself and a cello.

“So I can create a song, and then create a bass line, and create some interior parts – solo over top of it. It’s amazingly freeing,” OkCello said.

He remembers his 40th birthday, when life was not going as planned. He picked up the cello once again, plugged in the looper, and it changed his life forever.

“I think I’ve got a bad memory, which is part of the reason why I keep putting the cello down, or I have put it down in the past. Because I forget how important it is to me,” OkCello said. “So when I’m having a difficult moment or things are going kind of sideways in other spaces – when I pick up my cello, I’m like ‘wow, why didn’t I do that earlier?’ And very frequently, something productive and valuable comes out of that experience.”

OkCello released his first album “Liminal” in 2016, which can be heard on his website. His second album, “Resolve,” is slated for release on Oct. 9. You can also see OkCello live at City Winery on Aug. 1 as part of his series Epi.phony. More info and tickets can be found here.

60 Voices: Atlanta’s rising creative class is gaining new recognition on the national scene

Cellist and Reynoldstown resident Johnson and his wife, Heather Infantry—the executive director at Atlanta city-planning think tank Generator—met in Atlanta when Johnson was at Morehouse. They bounced between his hometown of Washington, D.C., and Atlanta before deciding that the combination of affordability, a nurturing community, and a past, present, and future of Black creativity have made this city the right place to raise their two daughters and carve out careers in the arts. Of primary importance to Johnson is holding onto that affordability that once lured him to Atlanta but has become imperiled by the city’s rapid growth and gentrification.

It’s not cheap. And that’s going to change things. It’s going to change who can come here and experiment and grow and fly and test their wings, so that’s something that’s changing. I think the great tragedy would be if somehow the city became so expensive that it lost its creative class. Right now, Atlanta is the heartbeat, the pulse of the country, and that kind of life is fragile. And the lifeblood of that is affordability.

This is a place where people from all across the country—but particularly African Americans from all across the country—can come for some opportunity and possibility for success. But I don’t hear the same kinds of stories particularly for migrating African American communities and families about other cities. So, that’s one of the things that I think we’re going to have to preserve is making this an affordable city.

There’s no other city in which I can imagine myself becoming the person that I am. This is the place that makes me feel like I have a future: a creative and fertile future. I haven’t had that feeling of possibility in any other city like I’ve had here in Atlanta.