Get to Know Daisy Ozim, the Force Behind Resilient Wellness!

Resilient Wellness is an innovative, cooperatively-owned healthcare system providing holistic medicine and health education to marginalized communities.

Hi Daisy! Tell us about Resilient Wellness.

Resilient Wellness is a holistic healthcare and health education system based in Oakland, California with plans to expand to other urban centers around the United States. We offer a straightforward, yet innovative approach to health that uses community-based solutions and existing community resources. Marginalized communities and low-income neighborhoods get affordable access to preventative and holistic health services they wouldn’t have otherwise. And by helping empower people on their own health and wellness, we are also helping to heal multigenerational trauma that’s resulted from the barriers of exclusion and discrimination within the mainstream healthcare system.

How does the model work?

We organize a network of alternative and conventional service providers in holistic health, such as yoga teachers, acupuncturists, nutritionists, and massage therapists. This network operates as a cooperative, offering accessible, affordable holistic medicine services to low income and historically marginalized communities. Many individuals we work with have experienced high levels of trauma and chronic illness. They need these deeper alternative medicine services to heal their trauma but haven’t had access to them or haven’t had the information to understand the power of these techniques. So, in addition to giving people pathways to these services, we are also promoting community resilience and self-empowerment.

That’s powerful. How do you make this affordable for people with low income?

We’re innovating to provide new ways of giving and receiving to build supportive networks, such as a shared-profit cooperative structure and new technologies. Holistic health professionals join the cooperative by agreeing to provide their services on a sliding scale. We take a portion of the provider fee to support the business’ operations, and at the end of the year, they get a portion of the business’ profits. As a result, they own a portion of the business, and are deeply invested in our mission and success.

Our TimeBanking platform allows both service providers and consumers to list the services/products they are willing to provide in exchange for a timed service. When a service provider completes a service, they receive time on their Timebanking account, allowing them to trade their hours with other service providers or consumers in exchange for services.

Tell us a little bit about you. How did you come to this work?

Growing up between the Bay Area and Lagos, Nigeria, I experienced various forms of trauma such as homelessness, racism, sexism and poverty. While I remained resilient, these negative childhood experiences impacted my ability to live life to its fullest potential. As an adult, these experiences inspired and fueled my passion and commitment to transform myself and my community. Later, when I worked in public health policy at the national, state and local level, I saw the limitations in our current healthcare system. I saw reluctance to address how adverse childhood experiences and barriers to access can affect a person’s health over their entire lifetime.

I founded Resilient Wellness on my understanding of the larger role mental health plays in our society and my deep faith in holistic health as a catalyst for social transformation.

What kind of advice do you have for Smart Girls who are reading this article and thinking of ways to provide alternatives to a dysfunctional system?

It can be overwhelming and even intimidating to try to find solutions outside a system that isn’t working. That feeling is normal, but don’t let it overpower you. Instead, use it to catalyze you into action. Learn how to stay with your fear, learn how to use it to build a muscle for facing what feels scary and overwhelming. Then it becomes your strength — it becomes the thing that navigates and drives your passion.

Learn more about Resilient Wellness by visiting their website. Or, follow their progress and impact on Twitter.