via Essence
Licensed Therapist and serial entrepreneur Nina Westbrook is on a mission to make people well again through her growing mental health empire.
Nina has been known to mean “full of grace.”
There’s no more befitting name for Mrs. Westbrook, who, since being in the public gaze for nearly two decades, has been a pillar of centeredness.
From the court as a star collegiate basketball player. To the walls of her home, as a doting mother of three. To the court side, lending a watchful eye to her NBA superstar husband Russell Westbrook from the sidelines. Her calm is ambidextrous yet consistent. Soothing and strong.
She’s carried that calm to the boardroom as a founder, first at the helm of her own practice as a certified marital and family therapist, then as a brand builder with her sustainable children’s apparel company Minibrook among other commercial ventures. Now, she is bringing her talents to the digital space.
Bene By Nina, Nina’s digital-based wellness platform launched in 2022, providing mental health courses and self-care services for women, is one of the most recent endeavors she’s leading. It’s an amalgamation of the core tenets of her life: family, faith and health. The name itself, Bene, comes from Latin, where it has the meaning well.
“One of the major pillars of the Bene brand is raising mental health awareness and providing tools to embrace mental health,” she tells ESSENCE. “Focusing on mental health in communities of color, is something myself and my husband are staunch advocates for. He has actually been really outspoken about his mental health journey and has celebrated how therapy has helped him. So, we try to lead by example and change the narrative around mental health in Black communities.”
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The self-funded endeavor is a labor of love and an extension of Nina’s extensive therapeutic background that includes stints in hospital inpatient treatment, geriatrics, community work, family therapy and youth counseling. Her sweet spot, though? Helping us fine tune our relationships with ourselves. Although we’re seeing a surge in online lifestyle self-help hubs like Kourtney Kardashian’s Poosh and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, Bene sets itself apart.
