Our Team
Dr. Layla J. Bonner
Founder + President
As an African American woman, Dr. Bonner has a strong desire to make an impact in her community by providing resources that help her community to overcome the many burdens that it faces. Having personally experienced the financial strain and burden of the costs of graduate education and professional licensure, she wants to ensure that those like her have the assistance that they need to better focus on their career, personal, and financial goals. She also finds great purpose in working to increase the numbers of Black mental health professionals in the field of counseling, reducing the stigma around mental health in the Black community, and increasing accessibility of professional mental health services.
Dr. Bonner earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Counseling, Teaching, and Supervision, and is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Approved Supervisor with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. She has 20 years of professional experience during which time she has worked in public school systems, colleges/universities, and counseling practices. Dr. Bonner currently serves as a full-time Tenured Assoociate professor in a graduate counseling program in Tennessee. She also has her own consulting and private practice. She regularly serves as an educational consultant and subject matter expert for various organizations and has authored peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters on the topic of race and trauma, gendered racism, grief, and Black mental health.
Dr. DeAndrea N. Witherspoon Nash
Founder + Secretary
Dr. Witherspoon Nash believes it is essential that we have a greater representation of Black professionals in the mental health field and in academia. The financial barriers often experienced by people of color create challenges to seeking higher education, obtaining licensure, and meeting continuing education requirements. She desires to educate the community on the necessity and substantial impact of reparations in empowering the Black community.
Dr. Witherspoon Nash earned her M.S. in Counseling Psychology from Tennessee State University and her Ph.D. in Clinical Counseling from Trevecca Nazarene University. She is an assistant professor in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) program and lead faculty for the addiction specialization at Lipscomb University. Dr. Witherspoon Nash is also a licensed professional counselor-mental health service provider in Tennessee and a nationally certified counselor with professional experience in the areas of substance use disorder treatment, child and adolescent therapy, depression, and anxiety.
Rev. Dr. Daniel Bryant
Founder + Treasurer
Rev. Dr. Daniel Bryant serves as one of the pastors at St. Mary of Bethany Parish in Nashville, TN and as Athletic Director at Intrepid College Prep in Antioch, TN.
In 2020, St. Mary’s began a reparations initiative as a response to the need to repair systems that have led to the disparity that exists in the number of Black and white mental health counselors. He is hopeful this foundation can be an example of the fruit that can grow when seeds of repair are planted.