Session 42: Race-Related Stress

Published Jan 31, 2018, 8:00 AM
This week's episode features Crystal Joseph, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Licensed Professional Counselor, National Certified Counselor, & Board-Certified Case Manager. Crystal and I discussed what race-related stressors look like, stages of Wokeness, and how she works with her clients to manage some of these stressors including her use of music and pop culture.

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Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast, where we discussed all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. I'm your host, Dr Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. To get more information and resources, visit the website at Therapy for Black Girls dot com. And while I hope you love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with a licensed mental health professional. Hey, y'all, thanks so much for joining me for session forty two of the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. In session twenty one, I discussed how racism impacts our mental health, and today I wanted to dig a little deeper into a discussion about race related stressors and how therapy can be used to heal from them. For today's episode, I'm joined by Crystal Joseph. Crystal is a licensed clinical professional counselor in the State of Maryland, licensed professional counselor in the Commonwealth of Virginia, National Certified Counselor, and Board Certified case manager, holding a Master of Arts and Counseling psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Crystal's clinical training includes cognitive behavior therapy and Black psychology within individual, family and group therapy settings. Crystal specializes in anxiety, depression, racial identity formation, and cultural trauma in African Americans. Her love for psychology began in high school. After completing college level psychology classes, she obtained a Bachelor of Arts and develop of Mental Psychology from the College of William and mary with a secondary major of Black studies. As the author of Conversation with a Clinician of Color, Likeness Lucy and Lemonade, Crystal hopes to break down the stigma of seeking mental health treatment in the black community with first person commentary. Psyche Your Mind is an improved CEU provider by the Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists. A quarterly training entitled Absorption of All Colors is provided to license mental health professionals to explore racial identity development models, cultural trauma, and best practices for treatment interventions. During my time with Crystal, we discussed what race related stressors look like, stages of wokeness, and how she works with her clients to manage some of these stressors, including her use of music and pop culture in her practice. Is here's our conversation. So, thank you so much for joining us today, Crystal, Thank you for having me. So I'm very excited to have you on the podcast because you specialize in something that I think is super important, very very important work. So you do a lot of work around racial identity formation and cultural trauma. So can you explain what this means and what this looks like in therapy? Sure? So. Racial identity development is how one perceives, learns, and comes to know who they are to themselves, within their group and to others in the world. Cultural trauma is a concept defined by Ron Ironman as a quote dramatic loss of identity and meaning a tear in the social fabric affecting a group of people that has achieved some degree of cohesion quote so pretty much. In therapy, um presenting problem could be defined as someone experiencing depression or avoiding, avoiding going to work in an environment where they are the recipient of microaggressions, or, most recently, over the past few years, the supposed expendability of black bodies with the mass shootings of black men and women. So in session I would affirm the clients emotions and behaviors and a lot of times how people are feeling UM. Previously it's been brushed under the rug UM and they've never been told that it's okay to feel the way that they feel UM, whether that's depression or anxiety and sometimes anger. UM. So that's pretty much how it looks UM when I'm in session with a client. So if we could kind of go back to the racial identity formation peace UM you know. So I know there are lots of life stage models for like how someone UM like gets to know themselves as a racial being. So can you maybe give some like general examples of course, nothing identifying about like us. Somebody who might come to you struggling with racial identity like it might be look like right. So it's it kind of parallels with the developmental model. So it depends on the age of the client where they fall at times. UM. A lot of times my clients are coming UM in an immersion stage when you're looking at UM a younger client UM more like adolescents into young adulthood UM, and they're questioning who they are in their development against say their friends, who their families say that they are cultural experiences UM, religious events, spiritual events, holidays, they celebrate and being accepted and not being accepted. So I deal a lot with that particular developmental group. UM. I do have some older clients who UM possibly are very firm and their identity UM and so they have a level of cohesion about their identity UM. And so it's not linear. It's not as linear as it sounds. One can question racial identity at any point in time and go through these these stage models. And that's exactly what they are, their stages UM. So one must master, so to speak, one stage before they're able to progress to the next stage. So when we're thinking about UM and I hadn't even thought about this before this moment, but like when you're thinking about like a black identity model, I wonder would you kind of equate that to what we are kind of throwing around this term wokeness? Now? Yeah, yeah, so like wokeness is almost like the final stage of like a black identity model, right, I love I love that. Yes, Okay, so I am sure. UM And you mentioned kind of like the increase with like police shootings and black men and women and children, UM kind of being killed and in that kind of thing, the increase that we've seen with that, and so I'm sure that that has led to an influx of clients for you. So can you talk a little bit more about, like how you are seeing racism impacting the mental health of your clients? Yes, so currently I have a wait list, So that tells you, UM, how busy I am. UM. I see a lot of different things UM. Initially, UM it's feelings of hopelessness, uh D, individualtion, paranoia, anxiety, fear, UM sometimes as m high of a caliber as the symptoms with a criteria for post traumatic stress disorder or what in UM black psychology is noted as post traumatic slavery syndrome and UM that was coined by Dr Joy degree or degroy. I'm not sure how she pronounces her name, UM, and so UM there's a high level of distrust. So it's affecting UM. You know, the clients psyche. It alters the mindset, their ability to reason and focus. A lot of times they have issues at school or at work. UM. And so we try to bring it all together in session to figure out how we can target that. UM. A lot of rhetorical questions exist to like, UM can they trust, their next, their neighbor. UM. You know, should they have children because of the current climate of the nation. Um. If they do have families, how are they raising their children? Um to interact with others who may not be so kind. UM. And also what I've noticed is African Americans in particular, but most people of color, will go to their doctor's offices first and complain of, oh, my stomach hearts, I have this unrelenting migraine. And in reality, those are physiological manifestations of stress, possibly caused by racism, discrimination, prejudice, microaggression. Yeah, And I mean I definitely have heard that too, that you know, people will typically feel more comfortable or you know, if it's a a stomach ache, you typically think first. So it's something kind of gastro as opposed to like the cumulative effect that like racial stress has, you know, just on your body. Yeah. So something you mentioned Crystal Um earlier was like this whole idea of like microaggressions in the workplace and really just kind of in life in general at this point. And I often find that this is something I struggle with UM with clients, is like helping them to actually cope with what's an unhealthy environment, you know, like it feels like, Okay, I really want to try to empower you to do as much as you can, but realizing that the system is sick. So if the system is sick, then how well can you really be in the system? So what kinds of strategies are things do you do with your clients to really help them to kind of manage some of those microaggressions and stuff like that. That's that's a really good point, um. I definitely it's truthfold. So I do try to assess them their triggers, or I have them verbalize their triggers, and I do a lot of worksheets because of my previous clinical training and assigned homework. Um, because I'm not the fairy godmother, So I can't fly around with them the other six days that they're not in the office. And the the other side of that coin is to your point of how much of this can you really control? So within you know your locals of control? Um, internally, what can you do? Yes, it might pay the bills, but you're so sick nine months out of the year, or you're frustrated or you're avoiding going into work, is this really worth your time, UM and your sanity, and so you know, I've had to go almost shift to a career counseling standpoint where we look at certain theories based in UM, you know, identifying your strengths, interests, as well as uh, circumscribing and striking through some things UM that don't benefit them. And so at fifty and sixty year old sometimes they're realizing, Wow, this isn't benefiting me. I'm gonna have to make a change. And gosh, I wish I would have taken the risk thirty years ago. So better late than never. But if it's not beneficial to you and your sanity and your overall health and mental wellness, you know, maybe you need to shift and get out of there. Got you so really helping people to kind of think about is it worth it to continue in in a place that feels like it's you know, making you sicker in some ways? Right? Yeah. So something else you mentioned, UM was this whole paranoia piece, and I think we UM definitely saw an uptake in this, probably after the whole Charlotte's Ville, like that whole rally with I mean, I think that was just so visual and like really took people back to like clan rally days kinds of things. And so you know, I think I saw an article by two psychiatrists that came out that talked about, you know, like how the days of more active clan activity, UM, there would be the sense of paranoia, like not knowing what people you were seeing out in the streets were actually members of the clan at night. And so it kind of feels like that's the same kind of thing, right when you were talking about not knowing if you can trust your neighbors, other people in your classes, or like just not knowing people who maybe don't identify as black or people of color, not really knowing who you can trust. So how do you help people really work through some of that paranoia, because in some ways it's a very real fear. Yes, it is, UM, And I have gotten a lot of that UM recently, especially after Charlottesville, and I have to tell people, UM, you know, sometimes you just don't know, So be your best self, be truthful, speak your truth, UM, live your truth, and hopefully that's for funding your environment. UM. So there are times, UM where I've known and you know, my personal and professional life where I know where someone stands or my client has learned, UM, where someone stands with their philosophies and you know what party line they're voting on what they like? UM? Do they are they PEPSI advocate or they a coke advocate? UM, you know, you know where they stand. And so it's kind of better to note that. And no, UM, you know, is it is it black or white? The gray areas where the paranoia creeps in and the fear creeps in and you don't know. And I think that's what's scary for a lot of people of color and a lot of black people, because people UM have gone through life UM over the years and you know you I've I've had people smile on my face and stab me in the back later and it was like, oh wow, I thought that you know, we were cool and where we're not. So. UM. You know, protect yourself, do what you have to do as far as UM, maintaining you know, your personal safe, the information that you want out and other people to know. UM. But I definitely think, UM, it goes back to is this benefiting you? Um? And so in some aspects, you know, it might not ever come up that you need to know where someone stands, but in some ways, UM, you do, right. So do you think that there's anything that we can do to kind of mediate some of the impact that racism has on our mental health? Yes. Um, I was reading um an article last night or the night before, and UM it was stating um that social media has really well. It makes the world flat and technology is great. It's catalyzed how quickly we received negative information, and our brains, particularly the generations that can up after Facebook was um or before Facebook was a thing, Instagram was a thing, we're having difficulties processing this information at such fast beats. So UM, when it's the negative information, our our brain and our bodies are trying to figure out what to do with it. And I think we should probably limit um our media intake, whether it's social media, if it's the news, if it's the newspaper. UM. I do a lot of radio and podcasts because it takes away the visuals because I am a very visual person. UM. And so because I'm in session in the evening, I missed a lot of the news channels. UM. But I don't like to go back and watch the news and chunks and pieces um after it's been dissected. So UM, I think you should as you know, as as clients and as you know people listening, be mindful of your sensitive areas and when you need to pull away and these social media detox is I'm hearing about and things like that. UM, you know, just be mindful of that. UM. But also on the other side, educate. So if you find that someone is misrepresenting a situation or philosophy or commentary, then it's our duty as people, UM trying professionals, people of a particular ethnicity to educate others on how we wish to be perceived and how we wish to be UM respected and not necessarily respectability politics, but just say like, hey, this is what it is, this is who I am, UM, and I'm not changing yeah that to So are there any resources that you like that you think can helpless to kind of get more in line with some of that. Well, I was thinking about this, UM. So I have found that there's not a significant amount of client friendly literature UM regarding this topic. UM. The academic literature is growing, but it can be a little too shock talking, I find for some of my clients. So like I have to digest it and regurgitated like the mama bird and give it back to them. UM. Generally, I utilized pop culture and music references UM so that the clients can better prepare for any sort of shock that they experience outside of my office. UM. And so one of the things that I really love about music is it transcends time, or literature transends time. So bibliotherapy is a terminology for UM giving out references UM resources of books for clients to read. And I have a huge list UM of like top is worken down in the topics UM. But I was thinking about the music piece. And you know, artists like Tupac and Stevie Wonder a tribe called quest Cypress Hill, Um, Lauren Hill, jay Z Beyonceday, the music, the times UM. They all speak to various things that have happened within their lifetime time and a lot of times it's reflective of their life or their experience or their pain. And so you see them triumph eventually. UM. And I also one of my favorites is Dr Seuss from a childhood literature standpoint, and later I learned, you know that he disguised a lot of socio political subjects in his UM writing and his UM illustrations and so UM it's helpful for people to see the realities of life UM. But they can come in a metaphorical type form. UM. I also have a group UM. So initially I was trained in group therapy, and so UM Catharsists does the work of three of me in a room in one hour, and I love it. It's nothing like group UM. So like group member number one can hear that group member number four is going through the same thing and realize, Wow, I'm not alone in this and I can find support here. So those are more modalities or conduits as to how UM I help people deal with race related stressors UM. But as far as like a hard fast here's five points UM, they would be very UM, very academic in nature. Gant you and I noticed that, like the list of artists that you talked about UM, most of them tend to UM like that is probably not people that like Generation X and younger or like super familiar with UM. They are, But but I was gonna ask, but it's not people that they're probably like listening to every day. Right, So I'm wondering, are there people, you know, like newer artists that you feel like are also doing some really cool work that could help people to kind of really manage some of this race related stress. Yes, um chance the wrapper. I have to say, I love this of him, the coloring book. Um. And he has another album I can't think of the name, but it's like acid jazz. So that's really cool with some of those instrumentation concepts he uses. Um another one. UM, I would say d J the Chicago Kid. If you're going like more R and b um, I wanted to say, yeah, a lot of these people are out of Chicago. UM. And I mean good old like I love Rihanna and and obviously Beyonce and Solange. Beyonce is Lemonade Solange. UM, uh see that at the table? Well, yes, thank you. I'm thinking about craning the sky because so so those I mean very um like visionaries. And you know, it's the music sounds good, but if you go back and listen to the lyrics or you know, like when you used to buy that out actual record and open it up and read the lyrics to learn what you were listening to. If you look at it, and then now that we have social media, sometimes you can get some feedback from the artists themselves how they feel when they were doing it. But those are some current people I can think of. I'm trying to think of like another rapper, um, but I can't think of one off the top of my head. Well, Kendrick Lamoire is often brought up in that conversation. Yes, yeah, we love him to all of his I have all of his albums. So you also kind of spawning from this pop culture conversation. And I mean clearly this is a big deal for you because you just released what I think is your first book. Correct, Yes, likeness Lucy and Lemonage really said at the end of last year. Um, so can you tell us more about the book and why you thought it was important to release it? Yes? Um, okay, so um it's it's first person commentary from me being a black female therapist and treating people of color. But I also grounded it in research in two case studies that they are presented in short. Um, it was written in first person format based on original guidelines actually to submit to a journal. So my abstract was accepted, and I was so excited because I can contribute to the body of literature. Um that my peers and I you know, tend to keep our noses in as far as the books and um, I had a client passed away so I couldn't meet the deadline, and I was just like, oh gosh, So this thing sat and sat for months, UM, and I kept looking at it and I would open it up, and I would get frustrated and I'll close to back open it up, and it's like, okay, Crystal, you have to finish what you started. UM. So I wanted to definitely showcase my love and act for research, UM because I had actually collected survey data um this summer before. UM. And so you know, combining the pop culture and my love for research and my case little being ninety eight percent people of color. UM. I looked to the Beyonce's Limit Ad album and Charles Schultz character Lucy and her depiction of being the five cent psychiatrists. I talked about that as well. UM so UM. Many. What I found is that you know, many, like I've stated before, I have like an academic affiliation to get into a lot of these research databases and I'm in i H certified and all these things. But the general public, they're not walking into these repositories to check on why black people don't go to therapy or who you know, which black therapists is the best for me, and what does their research look like and all of these things. And so I said, well, what if I published this to the general public Because it hadn't been published in a previous journal, so ethically, you know, I could still publish and so UM, I set out to publish it now. It is a small project, so it's an e book format. UM, but I just thought it was really important and I wanted people to hear for me, both colleagues and um the general public, to say, like, you know, therapy is not taboo. UM. There are black therapists out here who are competent, who love what they do, UM, and can get you back on the good foot. UM. So I'm just excited to have done it and so far gotten some pretty good feedback on it. Nice. So I do want to spend a little time with Lemonade right now. I feel like I feel like for those of us, I feel like for those of us who work with like black women in therapy, I feel like Lemonade really provided like this framework almost for like lots and lots of conversations both Lemonade and UM a seat at the table. I think in different ways, UM, but particularly with Lemonade, I feel like there was a very strong reaction, um from black women and black My clients would come in bring information from Lemonade into session. UM, so I'm curious to know if if you we're using lemonade, or if you maybe even still do use like songs or lemonade, or people's thoughts about lemonade as a part of your work with plays. Absolutely so the funny part I talked about it in the book. UM. The funding part is, UM, I'm like die hard Beyonce fan and Solange too, and UM, a client had, I guess watched the entire visual album on HBO when it debuted, and of course I'm hunkered down at the office and I can't get it and I'm all upset, and so she brings it up in the session, and I at that time had my own homework to do since you know, she's listing all these lyrics and these songs. So I eventually took the weekend to kind of read it and dissect it. But it is still a thing. Um, it is still brought up in session. UM. Beyonce was very impactful with UM the visuals and the lyrics and the music. UM, just prolo, just like an amazing job, and I think it's important. UM. I talked about it to note that there's a theory of stage theory that's presented. UM. A lot of people don't know, but when you're watching the visual album, right before the song starts, there's a flash of one word in white and that is reflective of you know, Coober Ross's UM stage theory UM for grief or grief. Yeah, and so it's it's not linear and there's some argument as to which stage is what and how many true stages there are? Is there five? Is their seven? Is there eleven? Um thirteen? I can't remember how many songs are on the album. But when you look at how uh the stages are just like explicated by Begance from a you know, I guess in her way, but from a pop culture standpoint, her lifestyle, possibly her personal experiences. UM, it gets really real. And I think for black women to have someone of her caliber and music industry presented in that way, it was almost like a breath of fresh air, like finally someone is saying this, um, and it's not everyone's experience. I've experienced grief UM, and you know a lot of people, of course, tried to parallel it with um some of the domestic issues that she and you know, her husband may have been going through and that kind of thing. But I think it was just such a nice way for music to bring other women together and talk about issues that we experience on a daily basis. So it was great to just kind of be able to talk about this in therapy and people to understand, like, this is what I'm going through and this is how I can get better. Yeah, And it feels like it started there. And then of course once jay Z release four or forty four, and then it feels like that keecked up the conversation again, right because people were people were trying to like compare, like what's all on Limen Need was a parallel to what song for him on four forty four. So, I mean, it definitely feels like there has been you know, kind of continuous conversations in therapy, you know, with some of the themes that have been brought forth from both of these albums. Yeah, and and you know, just just kudos to both of them. I think we placed them on a pedestal, but we're all human. And I've watched some of his interviews too about you know, discussing going to therapy and a couple's counseling and his lifestyle and all of that. And I think it's a pretty big step. And now I think black men are starting to seek out therapy as well, um, because you know Mr Carter said this, this, this helped him. So it's good right exactly exactly. Definitely have shifted the conversation, I think in a good way. UM with that that project, So, can you tell us any um, any exciting news that you have kind of coming out of your practice or new things that you're going to be offering soon. Yes, so I them now and approved continuing education provider. So I have a training coming up and I'll offer it quarterly. But it's called the Absorption of All Colors and it focuses on cultural trauma, racial identity development models as we've discussed, and there's some other evidence based things, um that I'm going to throw in there. So, um, I while this is a very difficult topic to discuss at times for people, I want to engage them and it's still a lot of participation that's going to be involved. UM. I have some favors that I'm giving away um so, it's three c EU s um and I know for Maryland, Uh, some people have to renew at the end of UM January this year, so don't wait till the last minute. And um so, I'll be doing that. And then also I'm working on a larger book project that will be a hard print in June. UM I will release more information in February. Um so I won't say too much about that. Um And I think that's it for now. Okay, So where can people find you online so that they can keep up with all of these new releases and things that you'll be doing this year? Cool? So I on my website is psych your Mind dot com and there's no h on psych and then on Twitter, I'm at psych your Mind, and then for Instagram, I'm at the real underscore psych your Mind Perfect. And of course all that information will be included in the show notes so people can find it very easily. Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Crystal. I really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. You're very welcome. So you definitely want to make sure you check out some of the resources Crystal mentioned, including her new book. You can find the links to all of this information in the show notes at Therapy for Black Girls dot com slash Session forty two. If you learn something new or heard something interesting in this episode, we'd love to hear about it. Please share your thoughts with us on social media and use the hashtag t b G in session. Remember that if you're looking for a therapist, search the therapist directory that you can find online at Therapy for Black Girls dot com slash directory. And if you want to join us over in the thrive tribe where we continue to have the conversations from the podcast and talk about all kinds of other things, head on over to Therapy for Black Girls dot com slash tribe and join us to keep up with important updates and mental health information. Make sure you're following us all across social media. You can find us on Twitter at Therapy four the Number four B Girls, and you can find us on Instagram and Facebook at Therapy for Black Girls. And please make sure that you continue to share the podcast with new friends who have not heard it. You can do that by texting them, tweeting them, or sharing the information about the podcast in your Insta stories. Thank you all for joining me again this week, and I'm looking forward to continue in this conversation with you all real soon. Take care,

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