00:00
Hello everybody, thank you for watching the Healthy Project podcast. I'm your host, Corey Deion Lewis. I got the homie, the legend. Oh my gosh, yeah. So many, there's so many adjectives. I thank you for that. You wanna know, you're the reason why we have a mental health panel? Did you know that? No, I did not know that. Let me tell you the story. Tell me about it. So when Larry, the homie, were organizing My City, My Health, it was

00:29
The community panel was the first one. The prevention panel in that was.

00:37
the culture and healthcare. We only had the three panels. Okay. And we're having a meeting and he was like, hey, you know, Corey, I got an idea. I think we need to have a mental health panel. And he was like, you can't do it without Breanne. Wow. And that's when he connected us on LinkedIn. Okay, yes, I remember that. Yeah, and then I ended up meeting you at your office and I was like, oh, so you're the very first person that I reached out to about having a mental health panel and we organized it around you.

01:06
Wow Yes, okay, yes Yes, yeah and that panel first of all, you know before we get into it all you know I can we can just talk but tell the people a little bit about yourself and And yeah, what was your first experience like with my city my health Wow, so

01:35
Brand ward here. Those of y'all who don't know me, I am a licensed mental health counselor in the state of Iowa. I rock in Des Moines, Iowa. Own a group practice, forward consulting LLC. That was a labor of love. It really, I was on my way to enter into having labor with my son. Really? Yeah, August 2014. I am big and pregnant.

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And as clear as day we talking, I hear forward consulting and I'm like, hmm, so what do you want me to do with it? He was like, just hold on to it, you're gonna need it. I'm like, okay. So I decided to make it an LLC, you know, just to keep it primed for whatever God had for it. And fast forward, have my baby in September and I get my first gig in 2015. Training, yeah, training EFR about Christ's intervention and trauma. And I thought I was balling. That was my first $200 check.

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I'm about to blow up. And held onto it. And then in 2019, it became my bread and butter. And COVID really solidified that we were necessary. Oh my gosh. Definitely. So when I am always asked like, hey, we want you to be on this panel. Hey, we want you to be. I count it as an honor and a privilege. Because sometimes I'm so focal pointed on my purpose.

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forget that people are seeing me and seeing the impact of what's going on. So being asked to be a part of the mental health panel was actually an honor. And my, first of all, my experience at My City My Health, I'm listening to the music as I'm walking down. And I'm like, are we doing this today? Oh, okay. So it was so awesome to know that I was represented, that I didn't have to come in and be anything but me.

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authentic. Period. So it was really nice to be able to do that and then to see the healthy options to eat and to kind of nurture yourself before you actually had to be a nurturer. That was really, really good for me. So I enjoyed my and then my homies on the panel with me. I had Tim with me. I had Kayla with me. So I felt really, really comfortable because they get it. I didn't have to feel like I had to explain anything because we're talking the same language on the panel. And then my girl, you know, Ray.

04:05
Spigner she's she's the one who's orchestrating this thing so I'm just seeing me talking about us freely it was good yeah it was so good it was good and we I came back to you humbly to run it back yeah the mental health yeah the mental health panel was so good it was the most popular panel last year wow and the conversation was so rich

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that you can just, you probably didn't notice it because you were in your moment. You were in the zone. It was your, you know, it was fourth quarter, Michael Jordan. You were doing your thing, right? But looking at the crowd, because it was our first conference running. So like, I'm just looking at the crowd, make sure like what people are thinking, like what's going on. And like this intense focus on...

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every word and really soaking in what you guys were saying was so real. Like it was like, you can't even, I can't even really put it into words. Yeah. And so it was like, I had to have you guys back, but also, you know, now we have Teresa Zilk as the moderator and who was a beast of her own. I call her the silent assassin. Man.

05:24
for real. Yeah. And we have Gabe Martinez, who's you know, who's on there. And I think it's going to be just so impactful. And I'm curious to see like, okay.

05:40
There's a whole year has gone by a whole year of mental stressors and different types of mental health issues are at the forefront now. What that conversation is going to be like, because I know that you have, um,

05:56
You have your own lane, but also we had a conversation on another show that should be coming out soon about the impact of our youth and what, I know that was really pulling at your heart at one point. It was, still is. Yeah, so tell me, what kind of conversations are you wanting to have this year that you hope that we can share with the audience to take back to the community? Absolutely. I've been on this kick about increasing human value.

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We have to figure out how to increase human value, but in order for us to understand it we have to define human again There has been so many Places that I've seen Dehumanization man talk about it, and it's not That it's just you know just

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grotesque and in your face and you know direct right there's been so many indirect things that have impacted dehumanizing people

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with our youth, you know, there's all these memes about, you know, them having hoodies on in 90 degree weather and wearing these, you know, little stocking caps and things, but there is language behind that. There's so much language behind that. And it's this idea of, I already feel like I'm dehumanized. I don't even wanna be seen by y'all no more. Y'all ain't gonna do nothing. So y'all out here talking about me, but you ain't gonna do nothing.

07:22
That speaks to me. I had the opportunity to go to a art showing.

07:32
Andrew Wright, he's out of Waterloo and the Quad Cities, but he has this initiative called Humanize My Hoodie. And to be able to see what he has done with hoodies to have a conversation about youth, it's crazy to me. And so I feel like we need to talk to youth more to increase their value as a human because they don't feel like they have any. Right. Nor anybody's pouring into them as well. So I don't wanna take away from those

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doing things. Right. You know, but there's this consensus around our youth in Polk County that they're lost and that you can't save them. That's a lie. Yeah. A bold face lie because like you said, you pointed out, there are people who are doing the work. I wonder if we're getting to the youth that need to hear it though. Yeah. Yeah.

08:32
You know, like is there, you're always gonna have those kids that are more receptive to adult wisdom or to somebody that's reaching out to them. You know what I'm saying? But you also have those that because of their circumstances ain't trying to hear it. But they need to hear it. I always call it like a live wire. Like you see like it needs attention, but if you touch it, you might get hurt.

09:00
And so people use a lot of times of voluntary ignorance to that. Like if I don't touch it, if I don't see it, if I don't say anything about it, then I don't have to do anything for it. I don't have to do anything to resolve it. And that's that that has to stop in our community and voluntary ignorance is not working. No, it's not working. Yeah. Where do you where do you go though? Like like.

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Where is...

09:30
where is the middle ground? Because it feels like there are, again, there are a lot of people who have great hearts that wanna do good work, who wanna reach those live wires.

09:47
Right. And I don't necessarily think there are a lot of people who have good hearts that understand the language of those kids. Can I agree with that? Can we talk about that a little bit? Like, um, speaking with you, speaking with Kayla and other, um, other therapists, it's like, there are those that understand how to talk to them. They can be 10, 20, 30, 45. It don't matter who it is.

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you know how to speak that language. Yeah. And for a long time, speaking that language was like, oh, you're not educated because you're talking this type of way, right? But really what we know now is that is a way of getting to the youth or getting to the root. How do you utilize language to get to the solution? Absolutely.

10:46
the Make It Okay campaign together. Yes. Back to Black. Yeah. Through the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative. And so my big thing was if we're going to get to youth, we have to have a list of colloquialisms that will grab their attention. And so I am a big, I am big on learning the new sayings like what's out there? What does it mean? You know, what is all this? Like I have my, my son, God bless his little soul, he's eight. He's going around saying, um, HGL.

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HGL and I'm like, what is HGL? And I forgot what the acronym is, but he says it all the time and he thinks he's so cool because he's saying it Any of y'all who know HGL go ahead and put it

11:31
But I think language is huge because language is what speaks to us. Right. You know, there are certain languages in music and music transcends to all cultures, you know, all variations of people because of the language that's within it. And so for me, I think I also need to be aware of themes, you know.

11:55
Being a mental health provider, you see themes all the time with people. Some people can call them patterns or whatever you wanna call it. You know, those speak to us. Those speak to me. And so I need not only know the language, but the themes in which language is being used. When I hear certain things that because you're in poverty, when I hear certain things that because you have purpose or you need to figure out how to find success, like language speaks to you and it tells you what phase a person is in

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they're coming out of or what pattern that they're working through. And so if I know the language, but then I can piggyback it on a theme that's going on within them, that gives me a leverage to kind of come in and be accessible to them and say, Hey, it looks like this ain't working no more. Cause I'm hearing it. Where are you trying to be? Where are you trying to go? What's trying to do? Let's change the language to change the narrative. And it's so empowering for people to change that. So empowering. So that's where I'd be at. Right. No, that's so true though.

12:55
You gotta be able, I can say the same thing in two different ways and have my daughter who's a teenager looking at me like, what? And say how she accepts it and she's like, oh, okay, why didn't you say that? Exactly. Right. Yeah. You know, one thing, you know, I've been...

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really interested in is how we make mental health therapy equitable. I feel like there are, yeah, because for real, because there are a lot of people that I believe, and you can shed some light on this because I'm gonna act like I know everything, but I feel like that...

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someone within the black community or whatever community may say to themselves, man, I wish I had somebody to talk to, but I don't have insurance, but I can't afford it, but I don't know who to talk to. I'm going to start running around this studio. Yeah. How do we, and maybe this is, I know this is a loaded question, but how do we make mental health equitable for especially people in the black community?

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So this is my soapbox in this season of my life. Okay, talk about it. Okay, so how do we make mental health more equitable? One, we have to talk about the language of mental health. So we gotta introduce it in a way that is possible. We also have to make sure that we're going in the spaces where we see mental health disguised or deemed as something else.

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and for me because my platform, my husband's a pastor, what up, Moses Ward, senior, how you doing? Okay, shout out to Moses. All right. No, but I think...

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He has given me a space in the church to do more education, but in a way that's more policyable for people to understand it. So he has allowed me to have mental health panels. He's allowed me to have a platform to talk about helping someone when they're in distress, figuring out what the signs are within that. But I have to go in where it's disguised or where it's called something different. And it's usually within the church, right? Right.

15:26
finding out it's in community centers or you know it's an after-school programs right and so we have to go where it's at because if there's already barriers and challenges they're not going to to out think those challenges they're gonna be focusing how to survive right right and so we got to make moves to say well they need to come to us no sometimes we need to go to them to make it more equitable right and policyable and another thing I think we have to do is we have to

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taboo type of thing. That part. Right? And so for me when I think about making mental health more equitable I gotta also see when I'm going into those spaces what are the challenges and the barriers that people are talking about? Are people can't come to therapy because they don't have gas money? Are people not able to come to therapy because you know they have to go to work to make sure their babies are eating? You know? So I think we have to be very clear about it's not they don't want it it's just there's too many things in the way.

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of it. Right. And if we can remove some of those things easily, let's do it. Churches, you have benevolence funds. Can you provide sisters so and so with the gas card? You know, after school program, you had an influx of food. I'm so grateful for the more in public schools. They're giving it out during summer, you know, even when there's not school in session, that takes a huge barrier away from people who are struggling. Yes, you know, yeah. So I'm thinking to me for me in order for mental health to be more equitable. First of all, we

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We gotta go to where we know mental health is needed. We gotta see how it's being disguised. And then we also have to talk about the barriers and how we can find solutions for that. So mental health is not even a question anymore. Right. Wow, that's so real. I love that term, find out where it's disguised because it's everywhere. We just gotta know where to look for it. Yeah, go to a mall. It's over there.

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I watch, I love to watch young people and security guards. I know that's sick. So yeah, yeah, tell me about this. Walk me through this.

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I'm an observer by nature. You know since I was a little girl I've been observing people and I think that's why I got to give me the gifting to be a therapist because I observed first and I talked later got you But I love to watch Young people minding their business being young doing them right because I remember me being that Merle Hay thinking I'm grown Oh, yeah, but I love to watch sometimes how security car just kind of watch them and kind of you know

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be accessible to them. Just in case something pops off. You know? Right? Oh yeah. Right? And so in my mind, I'm like, that's what we should be doing. It shouldn't be a security guard being accessible to them. It should be us being accessible to them. One day I watched a little girl, I think I was at the Dollar Tree or whatever, and I watched her stuff and stuff in her backpack.

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And she's like, oh, you're so pretty. And I'm like, you want me to pay for that for you? I can get that for you. Ain't no problem. What you need? And she just kind of looked like you saw me. Baby, I saw you. But I'm not communicating or punishing her for it. I want to gift her.

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So many times I think when we go in spaces where you say, oh, these people is crazy or they need help or this, that or the third, what's going on, Cory, is that what you're saying is there is a barrier that I see, but I feel incompetent or I feel in equipped to feel it. So I'm gonna use voluntary ignorance to be like this, because I don't wanna touch it. Right. The issue here is if I need to make mental health equitable and accessible, I need to make myself accessible.

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I need to make sure that I have all of my barriers and all my biases checked Before I say something about a situation I can be the solution for oh And you were the solution. I'm the solution. Yeah walk in so we are walking solutions Yes, all of us because just imagine if you would have reacted Going back that story about the Dollar Tree if you'd have been like girl. I know you got in your pocket

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in a negative way. You know better. Your mom taught you better than that. Yeah. I don't know that to be true. And got no home training. Look at you. But I don't know that to be true. You don't know that to be true. And what you could have done, you probably changed that girl's life by reacting in a way that was more caring and like, hey, we don't do that. You know what I'm saying? Let me get that for you. Yeah. Let me get that for you. And that sir is how you increase human value.

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Man. That's it. I humanized her.

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You humanized her. Yep, because she could have been getting snacks for her brother and sister who ain't been eaten. You know what I'm saying? I don't know her situation, so I'm using a trauma-informed response to come to her to gift her. Versus to create this wedge in community, like see, they think we criminals. No, I wanna lessen that gap and say, I see you. I know you're struggling, but let me help you. Right. Yeah. And even if she was out here walling, it still, it was the right approach.

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changed. Oh my gosh. That's great. You know, somebody thinking about sometimes Brianne is when it comes to mental health and mind you, everybody, I'm not a mental health therapist. That is not my lane. I know some stuff.

21:07
Not even that I know some stuff, but like I feel like I've I talked to you I talked to Kayla a lot of the the content and the projects I've been close to lately have been around mental health So that's just where my mind has been. Yeah, you know what I mean? And I started to think about You know how we've been

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education and like what were some of the things that I saw in school growing up in and that That um, here's a story. I'll tell you this one time. This is an example

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The reason why I love exercise so much is because in third grade, a gym teacher playing dodge ball, I got out and I'm like, man, I'm sweating. And she was like, sweating is good. That means you're working hard. That's good, Corey. And ever since then, I'm like, ooh, okay. So if I'm actually from sweating, I'm doing something good that stayed with me. And I'm like, what if we had people in the schools that could be maybe not even a teacher? Yeah.

22:11
Yeah, but could just yeah talking about them cuz especially in our in our public schools We have so many kids that we don't even I couldn't even imagine living their life if I'm being honest Some of the stories I've heard just from my little time working at Orchard Place and reading files. I'm like, yeah. Yo, yeah Can we have somebody in these schools that can be not even just be just there for encouragement but

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who understands, hey, somebody's coming from, someone came to school, ain't had none since lunch yesterday. Of course they're walling out, right? How can I be there? Are there trainings for teachers that can do that? I don't know. Should we be training our teachers to be more empathetic to their students and maybe...

23:05
We need more mental health education in schools at a lower level. That's where I'm getting at. Long story short. Absolutely. But how do we do that? Not even mask it, but how do we start to incorporate that into our education systems at an early age so these kids are growing up understanding language, understanding themselves more. Cause I don't feel like it's being taught.

23:30
Yeah, yeah, I have a litany about this because this is my soapbox as well. I just I am passionate about mental health and I am passionate about helping humans. I think that's why God ain't made me a millionaire because I would be broke. I'd be getting money out everywhere. Like you said, you said, you said what? Your car broke down boo? Oh, shoot, buy a new one. So there is a training called Lemonade for Life.

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It was founded and constructed at the University of Kansas. So basically what it does is it takes you past, when you learn somebody's adverse childhood experience score, you know, those of you who are not familiar with it, from zero to 18, there's a 10 item questionnaire that a person is supposed to take. And if you score, you know, four or more, then we start talking about you've experienced a lot of adversity in your life as a child. And then, you know, many people would do

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that scale with people and be like, okay, so what do I do now? I mean, it's like doom, like what do I do? And the whole preface is how do you build hope in somebody again? So they take you through the idea of how to create hope mapping, how to share hope. Dr. Shane Lopez is someone who did research around hope. If one person has it and gives it to one other person, they're gonna give it to three other people. And so when we get done with that training, we're called hope ambassadors. That's exactly what the community needs.

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We need people who are ambassadors. Yes. Right? Being able to know what trauma is, what it looks like, understanding the symptoms of it in a human. And it's going to be different for everybody. But being able to create hope in somebody. And so that's exactly what you were when you were speaking about going into school. That's exactly what my mind was thinking. But I'm also thinking about this idea of stereotype threat. And I think I share it everywhere I go. Probably said it at the last panel, my city, my health.

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But Dr. Claude Steele is the founder of that term and what he found was that when you treat people according to the stereotype you think they fit, it impacts the human's mental health.

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badly. And they start to underperform because they're already assuming you're going to judge me anyway based on how you see me. So let me just live up to your expectation. Yeah. Some people call it self-fulfilling prophecy, whatever. But for us in our community, you know, of color, stereotype threat is real. It's real. Yeah. Give you an example. I had a young man come into my office. He had a litany of charges and he was on his way to being 18 and

26:04
Just real, just real reckless lifestyle, real reckless. When he came into my office, he was higher than a kite. He hadn't eaten in a long time, but to me that's depressive symptoms, you know? Right. Real tall, real scrawny, and his clothes didn't fit. Had a head full of hair, but had his hood on, and he came in with his head down. And so,

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I assumed that he thought that I was going to judge him based on the dialogue his mother had already given me, you know, a precursor about what was going on. Maybe I had touched his parole probation officer already and I got a chart on him already. He was right about some of those things. I had some of those things. Right. I didn't bring it to the session.

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One of the things that he did, he was a very closed answer type person, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. No. That makes it hard. Yep. And so I said at the very end, cause I, I wasn't going to keep it in here for what? A, an hour. Are you kidding me? That's torture for both of us. Right. We was in there for about 30 minutes and towards the end of that, I told that young man, I said, young man, you probably assume that I think that you're a criminal, that you're a drug user, that you are a gang banger. That's your.

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violent, you know, that you are someone that don't have a future. I said, that's what possibly you think that I think about you. I said, I don't think none of that. So I think you have a bright future. I said, you even coming into my, so I'm doing all this. Right. Giving him all of this, right? So I said, you have to come back and see me. Your court ordered to be here. But I said, I just want you to know I don't see that. I see you. He came back.

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Within three months, this young man got a job, broke up with his toxic partner, started to learn deep breathing, got him a job at a factory, and told me that he needed a vacation because he needed to get away from and de-stress from his life. Yo. And he did all of this because he knew the age of 18 was coming and he wanted to be successful. Man, that's real. Hope does so much.

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Accessibility to mental health services can do a lot. And to have a young man to see himself sit down.

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That is how you restore mental health in our community. Man. I gotta let that sit a little bit because you think about all at a young age. Yeah. You said before 18? Before 18. All was on his head. Yeah, all of it. All that he was thinking about. Yeah. Right, and for someone just to be like, I don't see any of it. Right.

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man. I see what you could be and can be if you choose to be. Right. So you want to roll with me or not? You know, I kind of gave him like, this is up to you. You can do it and I'm here for you. I'm ready when you're ready. Right. And so because I said that, not only did he do all those things, but he was able to talk to me about some of the confusion he had regarding, you know, just his life, you know, just the relationship that he had with his parents. And all of these great things

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see you. Right. Why are we so why? Why are we so afraid of mental therapy? Right. So I will tell you there's a lot of good reasons. But I will tell you some of the things that even come from my mouth. Not now. I got. Yeah. But before just thinking about man, I have some there are some childhood things I need to work out.

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but I don't need nobody in my business. Yeah. Right. But that was, but just even saying it out loud right now, I can, I can picture multiple.

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scenarios of being a shorty and my mom or somebody being like, we don't need a, I don't need a body in my business. Not even talking about mental health therapy. Just period. Just stay out of my business. Right. How do we break that? How do we get out of that cycle of quote unquote staying out of my business to

30:33
getting help and getting some business. Hey, that's the truth. OK, so let's go the historical route, and then let's go a modern day route. So for me, one of the things that I know to be true is that

30:51
If you as a black person say, I need help, that means that you're not doing life right. And you already have a negative cognition about who you are in this thing called life. If something doesn't work out or if something...

31:09
is unsuccessful under your watch. You're already talking about yourself because historically, if you're not doing well, if you can't get over little Johnny being sold off, if you can't get over...

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little big Sally coming back after being raped all night. If you can't get over that, like this is what we do. This is what happens, right? If you just can't get over that, then you ain't made for this. You just weak. You gotta be strong to get through all of this. Right? And if no one is breaking that message historically for us, then it's going to be transcended to us in various ways. And so it was funny, I just had a conversation with my mommy about this, cause you know, the idea that black women

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shouldn't need nobody. That's historical. Black women was made to be strong because of slavery because we didn't know if your son or your husband was going to be sold off. Man, that part. So you got to learn all the tricks of the trade, be the master of all of them just in case stuff goes crazy. Let's go back, so let's come down to modern day. So now we're in a place where it's being introduced into our culture as it's something that we probably should be doing. But the message behind it is you got to be scared

32:24
make the call. Like I was watching like, uh, that's so, yeah, like I have no other options. I'm so scared. I think I better call right now. Right. So there's this fear based that goes with it. Right. Have you ever seen some of these app commercials? Oh my God. Yes. They'd be so sad. Like, and the music be all so sad. So sad. And right. I have no other options. Right. Right. Right. And hear me when I say I get it. Right.

32:53
But at the end of the day, I think we have to start to normalize the behavior to ask for help. Right. Whether it's therapy or not, we have to normalize that we as people of color need help.

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We as poor people need help. We as whatever caveat comes your way, we need help because it's just a human response. We were made to ask for help. We were made to look for help, period. It's biblical and it's natural however way you want to look at it. So for me, I think in order to reframe this

33:35
Assess what is it?

33:38
Mmm, because for many years we've been told we we've been the guinea pigs Right the help that we need and this is how in trinic this isn't in me and it innate it isn't me So me and my husband took a trip to Duluth, right? We went to the railroad exhibit museum or whatever and They have these like little Corner stores or these little storefronts that you can look in and learn the history, right? Oh right on It's soon as I saw like the doctor

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into, oh, I know how you got your stuff. You had my ancestors with their legs open, with no anesthesia. You was just poking and prying and making them cry and cutting them and stuff. You didn't care. That's how you got here. Like my mind went straight there. Straight there. Boom. And so for me, I'm thinking that's what people's mind probably goes with mental health therapy. You're gonna drug me. You're gonna give me all this medicine. You're not gonna give me any help. You're gonna take my kids away. You're gonna get me fired because now I gotta take time off of work to get here, right? Right. All of these automatic thoughts.

34:38
come. And so that's why I'm trying to do more, you like Facebook, you know, video, just like, Hey, yeah, hey, we have a mental health moment, just so I can introduce them. This is what it looks like. Yeah, you know what I mean? So I think it's just kind of changing the automatic response or thought to what mental health treatment could be. Right. Now, Lisa, my next question about, you know, we were kind of talking about this before we started recording is you,

35:07
as a therapist, right? And even outside of therapists, like you gave me a word, I didn't know what to do with myself. Like before we started, I'm like, I don't know what to do with my hands. It threw me off. It threw my brother, man. It threw me off. But you know, what do you do? I see you doing these mental health moments and still, that still encouraged somebody that may not ever meet you. Yeah. But...

35:34
As you're pouring like you said as you're pouring into somebody else's cup and pouring out of your own How do you pour?

35:43
back into like how do you get refilled? Yeah, yeah, I that used to be a question that used to stump me but now I'm so intentional about it. I know what I need, you know, and I think I've been privileged enough to have this space to figure that out and so what I find for me is I have to be by water.

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and I have to be by vibrant colored plants or flowers. Like that's my thing because it helps me ground again. Like I put my feet in water and I feel like I'm.

36:15
I'm touching something like I'm grounded again. And it just, and I let water speak to me. Like water can have a whole conversation with me. Yo, okay. So I love nature. Nature is what talks back to me and fills me back in. Also being kid-like. So I love to go roller skating. Okay. I bought me some skates from Amazon with the lights on the wheels. We just got some for Vivian for her birthday. Love them. Listen, here. Skate South on Wednesday nights. Meet, that is my place where it,

36:45
Going around, you know, I feel like everything that I just had is just like floating off of me in the wind Yo, right. So being active is good for me I love me some good old hip-hop fit and just moving my body and exerting things out of my body So that's what that's what pours back into me. I also have girlfriends That that pour into my spirit, but also hold me accountable to making sure I take care of myself Yeah, and we do that for every one of us because one one month is me

37:15
You know, next month is her. Yep. Right? So I just gotta have me some accountability partners and people who love me authentically, right? Where I can just, you know, put my wig off and be like, this is what's going on today. But with saying that, what I have realized is that where I do therapy...

37:35
that is where people get that space and that permission to figure out what to do for themselves. So I always like to cater that because it speaks back to me like Brian, you got to do that for yourself when you're done here. Remember that okay. But how I usually do therapy sessions there. I do them in fifth. I always say think 1515 in the in the at the beginning. I'm like recapping our last time how are things been going checking in right? Next 15. Okay, let's see how that intervention I told you to do last week was working for you. Introduce you to something new if you need it.

38:05
that last 15 minute, what are you gonna do for yourself? It's called forward language, forward thinking. Forward thinking, okay. Or your nexting language, what's next for you? Because I always want you to see there's hope and there's future for you, even if it sucks right now, it's only gonna last for a little bit. You have hope and you have future, what it looks like. So 15 is how I get it done in my office. And it seems to work, because people come back, so. Yeah. They be booking and stuff, so. They be booking.

38:35
You see I think Having a community of people Whether it's a when I say community it could just be two cats. I'm just saying but those are your people Your it is so my god

38:51
It's it's a cheat code that everybody needs to have I'm so serious Man, it's just something about having that something that one person that rocks with you that doesn't look at you differently Which with like Brienne looking at me? Greatly, I know my head looks crazy My barber he out he on vacation until next week I got stuck it out

39:19
Oh my goodness. And by my... I ain't even checking for that. I feel like I got a fresh lineup right now. I know I don't. Yeah, yeah man. But it's something about having those people in your corner that is just, it's a battery in your back. No matter how you're feeling. Absolutely. I feel like we need to have workshops on just how to get a group of people together. Because that is...

39:48
So it's been so good for me. And I know it could be good for a lot of people. Absolutely. You know, we do...

39:56
therapist of color meetup now. And so we've been doing it for about two years now. And that's the whole preface. If you don't have people, just come here. We'll be your people today. There's food here. There's R&B going through the speakers. I haven't been successful at bringing games because people just need a space to vent. We never get to the games. Because people just need to be just lifted up. Just held for a minute. So yeah, I believe in holding space

40:26
and you know people who don't have people there are these awesome things called support groups now you got a bit but if you need support

40:40
Go and get it. What's the song that Rihanna said, get it how I live it. Isn't that it? Go get it so you can live. Oh man. If it's through a support group, get it. If it's through AA, get it. If it's through a Zoom link, get it, get it. If it's NA, whoever, get it. Cause you deserve it. Man. I'm gonna stop right there.

41:07
You know, we can go all day, man. Brianne. Thank you so much for being on the podcast with me today. Thank you again for being a panelist at this year's my city, my health, November 17th, um, for those that are listening, that are watching that want to be like, Hey, where, where's she at? Where can they find you?

41:30
Yeah, you can find forward consulting in various places. You can Google forward consulting LLC or Brianne Ward and things will pop up. But I am located on 43rd and University here in Des Moines, 4309 University Avenue. I am currently taking new clients. So if you're looking for just to kind of check this out and see if this is something that you wanna do, absolutely come and interview me before you even say I want you to be my therapist. Cause you have that right, that's your patient right. You can find me on Facebook.

42:00
I'm trying to enter into this thing called Instagram. I know don't be talking about me And so you can find me there on a Facebook business page go ahead and look up for consulting LLC Awesome again, thank you so much. Thank you brother Everybody thank you for listening to the healthy project podcast. I'll let you next time