“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.” - Toni Morrison
Mental health is trending. At first I was excited. Finally, the field is getting noticed as integral to health. Then I felt a tremendous amount of responsibility and pressure as the demand for a Black and often Black and Queer provider kept pouring in. It further highlighted the ways the demand was more than what was available and the ways the system was unchanging. This angered me.
I rushed through my doctorate program like a slave escaping a plantation. I then spent years afterward recovering from the impact of being in a white institution. And by recovering it was digesting the micro- and blatant aggressions, reclaiming identity, realigning with the truth of holistic healing, and weaving back the spirit-body. I know many who have been through similar experiences and never got to name it because they were one of the few Black beings present and then they kept it moving.
Over the years I decentered the label of clinical psychologist and centered the ways of a healer. This way honored holistic approach, connection with ancestors and spirit, of community, of emergence, and de-centered Eurocentric norms of diagnosing, of problem-focused and often inhuman approaches.
This is an on-going process and one that cannot be without acknowledging the space of power and privilege I hold in having a doctorate in the hierarchy of mental health. I want to use that power and privilege to bridge the conversation across all disciplines of mental health from social work to marriage and family, from psychotherapy to guides to address being a Black mental health provider in these times. There are so many divisions in how we regard health and these power dynamics and capitalist-bound divisions continue to truncate the overall health of the people we serve.
What it is:
- collective discussion on mental health
- intersectional Black identity in mental health
- de-centering Eurocentric norms in mental health
- roles of ancestor and spirit
- and all that emerges in the discussion
What it is not:
- supervision towards licensure
- space for solving problems
- space for case consultation
Join me online Tuesday October 4, 2022 at 4PM PST/ 7PM EST in collective discussion on how to honor and be in collaboration with the gifts of our field, discuss the identity of a health professional in these times, discuss Black identity in offering health.