Photo courtesy of Gentamu “Jen Jen” McKinney.

“The journal/workbook is divided up into trips. Safety Plan helps readers develop a plan in case of a mental health crisis. Pre-Trip Anxiety helps them get to the root of their anxiety. Daily Check-In is for the recording of emotions, intentions, and affirmations. Daily Trip Breakdown is for breaking down what happened and why. These are just a few of the sections included.”

Jen says one of the reasons books like hers are so necessary is due to the lack of diversity in travel books, with very few being written by people of color. She has made it her mission to create creative therapeutic mental wellness tools and make them more accessible to minority travelers–travel books that are for us and by us.

“Travelers of color have completely different travel experiences than our white counterparts that are layered like an onion. Due to slavery and continued racism worldwide, our journeys across the globe are filled with joyous adventures but in that same breath an overwhelming amount of anger, grief, shock, and sometimes guilt or sadness. Although there are travel books out there, there are still not a lot of travel books featuring travelers of color or helping travelers of color mentally prepare and break down their journey in a healthy manner.”

pasadena