Healthcare SPOTLIGHT
By Brenda Beveridge

In early 2020 Rico Ricketson was watching the news and, like everyone else, was alarmed at the spread of the Corona Virus in China. But what really caught his attention was the spread and subsequent lockdown in Italy and the standstill that happened in that country. He knew it would happen here too.

Ricketson has a master’s in biology and studied neuroscience and has worked in healthcare advertising for 21 years. With his knowledge he culminated how the human brain would struggle if a lockdown happened in the United States. He did not have to wait long. When the US went into lockdown, his work began.

“With my studies and real-life issues, I’ve dealt with a lot of things. Everything from domestic violence to racial hate crimes and I don’t think a lot of people know what that fear is like. I knew people were going to experience that for the first time because they were going to be trapped at home. And we all had to go through the pandemic whether you were white or red or black, or poor, we were all affected by this big time,” Ricketson said. “What I did was take a good look and realize that in the mental health landscape, what was really missing is diverse mental wellness.”

Diverse mental health care is a newer concept but necessary according to Ricketson, founder of MH3, Mind, Body and Spirit, a subscription-based platform for mental health education. MH3 works to destigmatize mental health by including health and wellness experts from different fields and culturally diverse backgrounds.

“We need to learn to catch changes in our mood, energy levels and sleeping patterns before they become something more serious.” Ricketson said. “It could be daily mental wellness if you are a respiratory patient or a person dealing with a chronic disease or HIV. Or someone dealing with mental health, like anxiety, depression, racial trauma. The categories are very large regarding what we can talk about and the reason is because our diverse experts allow us to not only reach a wider audience but audiences that have often been ignored. Our contact is really for that one person in the back that may have not been in attendance and that is who we want to connect with. And we want that person to know that everyone is capable of healing. And that could be a physical issue or a spiritual issue or it could be a mental or an emotional issue.”

The multimedia delivered by MH3 connects diverse experts with similar audiences and members to discuss the impact stigmas that affect that demographic.

“We partner with corporations, such as CVS Health, to provide mental wellness on demand for the audiences they serve. Our products and services include: 1. Online video sharing platform with 2000+ minutes of exclusive mental health education 2. Immersive Workshops for the mind, body, and spirit. 3. Custom mental and behavioral health offerings and programs.”

To learn more about MH3, visit mh3.co.