Treating Mental Health in the Black Community – Ask the Experts Webinar

Click below to jump to a topic or question. Watch the webinar series:

Learn how you can better serve Black clients from therapists and trainers Donna Oriowo, PhD, LICSW, Shawan Worsley, PhD, LMFT, LPCC, and Michael Jones, EdS, LPC-S. Hosted by Ben Caldwell, PsyD, LMFT and Education Director at SimplePractice Learning.

3:24 What are your intentions and motivations for being here today?
8:53 What is the most important clinical mental health issue that needs more research and attention in the black community?
15:46 How do I continue to support my clients and encourage them when I myself lose faith from time to time?
24:08 We have to believe that change is possible. Is that hard right now?
32:32 How do you help clients deal with race-related stress and anxiety?
43:44 How do you address systemic racism in therapy?
55:30 What is Code-Switching?
58:21 What are some ways that you have found to work with and undo internalized racism?
01:01:23 How do you approach and communicate about events surrounding George flood’s death with teenagers?
01:04:45 How can I make my website copy feel more welcoming people of color?
01:08:47 What resources do you recommend to continue this work on our own and continue to become better clinicians for Black Americans?
01:16:57 You all are involved in training and teaching various ways. How do we get more black clinicians into the field? How do we even begin to rewrite or rebuild the DSM?
01:20:01 How do we bring more black clinicians into mental health work?
01:21:11 How are you holding space for individuals in the black, queer and trans community who feel oppressed by their heteronormative black community?
01:23:51 I’m having trouble finding where my therapist role ends and my activist role begins. I get frustrated with clients who are not aware of the racism that they appear to be expressing. Should I channel my frustration into passionate education, or is it more helpful to use my normal therapist, the understanding and normalizing of their confusion?
01:30:03 Final comments from Michael – “If you are a white clinician, I think one thing that you have to be aware of and be okay with saying that you do have privilege… And no one is asking you to apologize for having privilege. What we are asking though, is if you do have privilege, use it to help people who don’t have the same space that you have to be able to be heard.”
01:31:13 Final comments from Donna – “Your job is to dismantle systems of oppression as they impact your clients. That is the job. That is the work, that is how we need to be moving. And part of how we move is to start with ourselves and then move outward from there.”
01:33:05 Final comments from Shawan – “If you are truly committed to the black community to this work, take a step. Decide that you are going to do something and actively do it.”

Download an audio mp3 file to listen to the webinar:

About the Experts:

Dr. Donna Oriowo is an author, international speaker and therapist in the Washington D.C. metro area. She owns a private practice, AnnodRight, where she specializes in working with Black women on issues related to colorism and texturism (hair texture discrimination) and its impacts on mental and sexual health. She is the author of Cocoa Butter & Hair Grease: A Self Love Journey Through Hair and Skin. She is an advocate for sexual freedom, self-love, acceptance, and accomplishment for WoC, especially Black women. She currently serves as co-chair of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion committee with AASECT, incoming as Communications Steering Committee Chair and is a member of the Women of Color Sexual Health Network (WOCSHN).

Dr. Shawan M. Worsley is owner and founder of Amarie Counseling Services. She is a Licensed MFT and Professional Clinical Counselor. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies, an M.A. in Counseling Psychology, a B.A. in African American Studies, and another B.A. in International Relations. In her former role as an Assistant Professor, she taught college courses, conducted scholarly research, presented her work at conferences throughout the country, and published an academic book with Routledge Press. As a therapist, she has worked extensively in communities of color, providing therapy and case management to clients, and culturally responsive clinical training to therapists.

Michael S. Jones is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Nationally Certified Counselor, and Board Certified Telemental Health Counselor. He is a doctoral student in Counselor Education and Supervision at Regent University. He is the President of the Arkansas Counseling Association and recently appointed to be a member of the American Counseling Association Ethics Committee. He has been in the mental health field for over 17 years. He is a published author on the topics of social justice and telemental health counseling.

*This webinar does not offer continuing education credit.

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