Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.Dwight White works on a drawing at his studio in Chicago on May 31, 2023. White went from starring as a college athlete to becoming a creative mental health advocate and activist.that forced Dwight White, then a defensive back on Northwestern University’s football team, to change his trajectory.
“I always had an academic/mentor/counselor through athletics, but tried to point me in the direction of mental health counseling, actual therapy,” White said. “I remember very clearly, me rejecting it. I was like, ‘This is not going to do anything for me.’ I grew up with tough love, like a lot of us do. I did things and overcame things alone ... and I was comfortable with that, personally, until I realized I wasn’t.
“One thing that has been special about the collective of creatives that I’ve been able to work with is a lot of us, including myself, are open to talking about our mental health journeys because it’s so prominent in our daily practice as artists, entrepreneurs, as Black people,” White said. “We’ve been there and we all have that mindset of struggle.
“I definitely couldn’t picture anything beyond football. A little over 30 and still a lot of life to live but I don’t know how to live it or how to navigate it,” he said. “Also going inside my family, there were a lot of things on the chronic health side of things. I was in networks and relationships to understand business, entrepreneurship.