LaVante’ Dorsey shatters stigma of mental health with women-focused business

LaVante’ Dorsey spends many of her free days at Battery Park in New Castle, where she sets up a chair and a little table with a sign that says “Need to talk it out? Have a seat.”

It’s the latest example of her dedication to civil and social service, coming on the heels of her winning the 2024 Minority Small Business of the Year Award from the Small Business Administration for her company, LaVante N. Dorsey & Associates. 

“This really is the work that I love to do, allowing people to have a release,” she said. “Every 100 minutes, a teenager dies from suicide, and my goal is to shatter that statistic.”

Since starting the therapy business at the end of 2018, Dorsey and her team of seven licensed therapists have helped  nearly 2,000 people, about 70% of whom are teenage girls.

On a typical week, the private mental health practice works with an average of 120 Delawareans, primarily women and teenage girls. 

“Life can be pretty tough at times through anxiety, depression, social transitions that our teenagers go through, as well as transition to motherhood and new jobs or relationships for women that sometimes don’t transition or adjust to them as one would want to,” she said.

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Dorsey also won the Great Dames Remarkable Ideas Competition, which she says allows her to further her mission in mental health by providing financial resources to expand the business’s community outreach and business coaching.

She won for her “True to You Mental Health Initiative,” which offers a comprehensive, three-tiered approach to address teen girls’ mental health needs:

• Interactive Mental Health Assemblies: Engaging assemblies within school settings, addressing critical topics like self-care, stress management, and cultivating healthy relationships. These assemblies normalize mental health discussions and equip participants with practical tools.
• Girls Academy Facilitated Support Groups: Create safe spaces for peer connection and facilitated discussions. Led by trained professionals, these groups foster a sense of belonging and provide valuable social support.
• Personalized Therapy Services: Offer individual therapy options for those seeking deeper support. This allows girls to address individual challenges and develop effective coping mechanisms.

“I met LaVante’ Dorsey nearly 10 years ago when she shared her vision for her company, True to You Mental Health Initiative, to address one of the most pressing concerns of our time: youth mental health,” said Sharon Kelly Hake, CEO and president of Great Dames.

She said Dorsey knows that mental health challenges can deeply affect young women’s self-esteem, relationships, and overall well-being, but traditional approaches often fall short in providing accessible, in-depth support for this vulnerable population.

“The True to You initiative is not only innovative; it’s life-changing for the girls it reaches,” Kelly Hake said.

Dorsey did not receive any money for the SBA award but pocketed a $25,000 award from Great Dames – $10,000 cash and the rest in coaching and mentoring.

Dorsey has a bachelor’s degree in human services from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. 

She grew up in the Dunleith area of New Castle County, where she still attends church and is a proud alumna of Colonial School District’s William Penn High School. 

Her whole life has been dedicated to social life, but she always wanted to own a private practice where she would have the freedom to create opportunities for women and young ladies of Delaware in her own way.

Some of her professional work that led her to start her business include:

• Working for United Cerebral Palsy, she helps individuals with disabilities find housing in a challenging housing market. 
• Running an after-school program at Be Ready Church on 4th Street in Wilmington, where she helped at-risk youth with life skills understand their mental health and encouraged them to see more of what Delaware had to offer in every aspect of life.
• Working at Child, Inc.’s children’s shelter.
• Working at the Center for Child Development, a mental health private practice in Newark. 

“I had an amazing mentor at the Center for Child Development, Lisa Savage,” Dorsey said. “She saw and knew that I wanted to open my own practice, encouraged me to do so, and gave me tips. And from there, I spent a few years with her before opening my own private practice.”

A huge daily motivation for her is her 2-year-old son, who she joked made his “big screen debut” recently in a commercial for Delaware EARNS, a new retirement savings program sponsored by the Delaware Office of the State Treasurer.

Her business contracts with the Charter School of New Castle, where it carries out its True to You program.

She said societal attention towards mental health is crucial, now more than ever.

“Especially during Covid, with everyone being isolated, with the uncertainty of what was happening in the world, and people losing loved ones, we saw a serious increase in the mental health need, from the increase in depression, grief, and loss,” she said.

People were really struggling, she said, and her company was able to provide an outlet. 

“When the world was closed down, people could still get on with us virtually, and even now virtually, to just talk out what they’re feeling,” she said. “We hold a lot in as human beings, emotionally, and that’s not healthy for us.”

She said she loves Delawareans and wants to create a safe space for them. 

“It’s okay to not be okay,” she said. “It’s okay to talk about your feelings, and it’s okay to release those things that we typically were going to hold in.”

Being a female business owner, she said she’s fighting every day to learn knowledge that is not easily accessible to her. 

“However, when it comes to barriers, I’m a fighter,” she said. “I do not like getting stuck.”

She believes Delaware has amazing organizations like True Access Capital and the Women’s Business Center that connect female businesspeople to resources. 

“For me, it’s about connecting to those and shattering that feeling that women-owned businesses face,” she said.

As for anyone, it is challenging to manage all tasks in life, she said, however, the business just opened when the pandemic hit and then she became a mom and experienced postpartum depression. 

“It was a lot to manage but I pressed through,” she said. “It has always been challenging just knowing what to do next, or how to manage the business finances or even offering benefits.”

It often feels like the knowledge and resources are challenging to access, but she said the doors began to open when connecting to the Women’s Business Center and Great Dames.

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