Sabrina Burress of Virginia among USA TODAY’s Women of the Year
Sabrina Burress, co-founder and Executive Director of ARROW Project, a Virginia organization that works to address mental health needs, is one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year.
- Burress founded the ARROW Project in 2018 to provide mental health services to uninsured individuals in the Shenandoah Valley.
- Beyond mental health, Burress advocates for diversity and inclusion as the chair of the Staunton Black Business Collective and former chair of Staunton’s DEI Commission.
- Burress emphasizes the importance of self-care, highlighting cooking and sleep as her preferred methods for stress relief.
STAUNTON, Va. – There is a mental health crisis sparking across the United States. Many who need help are unable to afford it and they live hurting − embracing despair, hopelessness and nihilism.
Sabrina Burress, though, devotes her time to connecting these people to the resources they need.
Burress was chosen as the Virginia honoree of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year for her efforts to expand mental healthcare access to those who cannot afford it and working to make life more inclusive in the Shenandoah Valley.
Burress started her career in business administration but shifted her focus when she learned how limited access was to mental health treatment in the community. In 2018, she formed the ARROW Project, which provides services to those without insurance in Staunton, Augusta County and Waynesboro.
“We connect folks to counseling when they need it, but we meet them where they are in the community, and we provide them some supports that help them maintain mental health stability,” she said in a 2019 interview.
More than two in five Americans say they don’t seek professional help for mental illnesses because they can’t afford the care they need. With insurance, 17% still can’t afford treatment. As measured by the U.S. Census Bureau, poverty increased in 2022 and 2023. For a one-person household, the weighted average threshold was an annual income of $15,480 or less, nearly $10,000 less than the annualized average national rent of $24,348. Reduced funding is also threatening the ARROW Project.
Burress also serves as chair of the Staunton Black Business Collective, a collection of stakeholders in Black-owned businesses. She was the chair of Staunton’s DEI Commission, holding listening sessions and interviews with many groups of Staunton residents to promote diversity in the city. Burress, as chair of the commission, presented the results to the Staunton City Council, which then turned the temporary DEI Commission into a permanent board.
Who do you look up to?
“I really love Resmaa Menakem, who’s a social worker. He does a lot of teaching around somatic abolitionism. We have generational trauma – as a Black person, as someone from the LGBTQ community, there is a generational impact to our lives. He teaches how to harness that trauma, shift it, in a way that you can do good in the world. I did classes with him in 2022 and 2023. There is so much freedom in saying ‘the world is broken and it is having this horrible impact on us but also we can grow and shift and change.’”
How do you overcome adversity?
“It’s about acknowledging what the adversity is, right? In my therapeutic world, we say, “See it, name it, change it.” If you can see what it is, if you can name this as an adversity, then you can work to change it.
“The other thing I would say is understanding what’s in your control and what isn’t in our control. Locus of control – these are the things I can change, these are the things I can’t. Having an understanding of that is really helpful when you’re looking at things that are adversities. There’s something that feels relieving when we can say ‘this is something that I control. This is something I can’t.’”
What advice would you give your younger self?
“This is the therapist’s brain in me – it’s OK to not be OK. I grew up needing to look a certain way and feel a certain way and do a certain thing and there was no room, no flexibility to not be OK.”
How do you relieve stress?
“Cooking, hands down. Myself and my sisters spent two days cooking for Thanksgiving. Then we spent so many hours cleaning, then went and ate again. There’s something that’s really beautiful about giving back in this way. We nurture our bodies. I love to cook. I’m also probably the only human being adult who sleeps an average of 10 hours a night. Most of us don’t do that, but I respect that sleep is restorative. So I sleep.”
What’s the best advice you received from your mom?
“I think the best advice from generationally is to trust your worth. This world is not built to build us up. I think that there’s a lot of value in trusting who you are. That’s something I learned very young. Trust your talents, trust your value, trust your morals, trust who you are.”
Lyra Bordelon (she/her) is the public transparency and justice reporter at The News Leader. Do you have a story tip or feedback? It’s welcome through email to lbordelon@gannett.com. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.
