Why Healing Is Not Always Pretty with Alandra Chuney and the Truth About Mental Health

“I didn’t have a choice but to lean into what I already had.” Alandra Chuney’s journey from Detroit’s east and west sides to opening The Sister’s Couch on Grand River is a story about trusting your gifts, honoring your roots, and creating space for Black women to heal. A Detroit triplet and Cass Tech graduate, Alandra traces her family history back six generations, including a great-great-great-grandmother remembered as an early Black woman realtor near Tireman and Beechwood. Her path through Michigan State, social work, therapy, and nonprofit leadership eventually brought her back to a childhood love of art and creativity. “The shit’s not glamorous. It’s hard,” she says about healing, challenging the polished version of mental health presented on social media. From building a business to honoring her grandfather Thornton Jackson, whose love for Detroit shaped her own, Alandra reminds us that community care begins with knowing ourselves. Hear how family legacy becomes a foundation for creating something the next generation can inherit.