BLKMHC: Office Hours

BLKMHC: Office Hours

By Marquita LaGardeHealth & FitnessMental Health
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BLKMHC: Office Hours episodes

  • Mental Health Needs Community Care
    With turnover rates in the mental health profession annually ranging from 40-70% it's time we begin to really explore what may be the cause of so many strong, passionate and driven professionals to leave and pursue other career paths. Many times in this profession we focus less on all of the wonderful and hopeful things we learn in the school setting and become so productivity and dollar driven. This can cause a helping professional to second guess their role in these settings and perceive the job as more harm than good.
    When these professionals leave, the harm doesn't just end with another professional jaded by the system or with heavy hearts, it causes damage to the client and their relationship to mental health and overall healthy relationships. If we as professionals new and seasoned want to reduce harm we must seriously look at how and what we are doing to sustain providers in this profession.
    This weeks guest Angela James, LMFT and I sit down and talk about mental health, private practice, the importance of mentorship and increasing our community care to preserve strong professionals. Angela has been a mental health professional since 2004. After years of community mental health service she decided to take the leap into the private practice world.
    She has opened the door for many professionals to see private practice from another lens. This leap has supported Angela to sustain in the profession, but also give back to others who are at the end of their rope and wanting to throw in the towel because mental health is not a supportive community.
    This episode is for the new grads, I hope you are able to gain valuable knowledge that will sustain you long-term and for current professionals I challenge you to be the community for new professionals that you needed when you first began your journey.
    You can find this weeks guest at:
    IG: angela.james_mft
    classroomtocouch.com
    lighthousefamily.com
    56 min
  • We Are All Leaders: Mental Health, Leadership & the Military
    Black women, we are constantly expected to be great at all things at a all time. What happens when that magic runs out? Who gives you grace and space to be vulnerable?
    I sit down with with Cpt. Nizhonlii Robinson and we discuss leadership, mental health and navigating a male dominated field. We explore learning when it’s time to say no to everyone and everything else, and begin saying yes to yourself.
    Nizhonlii is an active duty Marine Corps officer, currently serving as an instructor of Leadership at the United States Naval Academy. She is the founder of Spark: The Pop Up, (@sparkthepopup) a leadership development business focused on cultivating better leaders in every aspect of society through workshops and individual coaching sessions across the nation. https://sparkthepopup.com/
    Resource: 101 Careers in Social Work by Jessica A. Ritter
    47 min
  • Honoring the Communities We Serve

    How can we as providers engage the communities we set out to serve? Not centering ourselves and what we want for them, but truly thinking about who they are and actively listening to what it is they need. My guest Yvette Madrid (IG: @sabe_la_gamela), MSW, ASW chats with me about community engagement and truly honoring our communities. Shifting our lens on community approach and seeking out ways to make effective change in the mental/behavioral profession. 


    Yvette can also be reached at: [email protected]

    Bio: Currently living and working in Southern California. Yvette earned her Master’s degree of social work in 2018 and officially completed hours towards licensure as of this week. Yvette received her bachelors from California State University Dominguez Hills in Chicano Studies with a concentration in social, education, and community development. Yvette has gained professional experience in working within public education and public health. Yvette professional expertise also includes working with high needs, historically disenfranchised, low income, and “severely emotionally disturbed” (SED) youth. After working six years in community based mental health specialized in crisis intervention and prevention and early intervention, Yvette transitioned to medical social work providing clinical social work practice in a pediatric hematology/oncology outpatient clinic.


    Current passion projects include providing cultural/community events and workshops focused on spiritual healing practices passed down from past generations which include tarot card reading, traditional limpias (energy cleansing), storytelling, and consults or “platicas.” Yvette self identifies as an intuitive/clairvoyant, and utilizes her spiritual gifts as a means of self care especially when working closely to families facing death, dying, trauma, and chronic illness.  Her own spiritual healing practices have given her strength to provide holistic culturally competent care to her patients and their families.

    1 hr 16 min
  • What About Our Mental Health
    Marking our 1 year anniversary of Stay at Home Orders for COVID 19 and the Civil Unrest, for our first episode in the office hours I sat down with Cilicia Gooden (Facebook & IG: @ciliciat) to discuss mental health, finding a therapist, and whole person care being a major factor in moving forward through change.
    Resources: Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists Therapy for Black Girls: https://therapyforblackgirls.com/ Therapy for Black Men: https://therapyforblackmen.org/
    27 min
  • Welcome to the Black Mental Health: Office Hours

    Get to know me as we take this journey together. My name is Marquita LaGarde I am a licensed clinical therapist and I will take this time to discuss topics surrounding mental health and joining with other professionals to break down barriers surrounding the health professions. Welcome. You can find me on IG @BLKMHC

    1 min

About BLKMHC: Office Hours

From the publisher's feed

Let’s talk about mental health. Come into my office and let’s explore all things mental health and wellness from my lens as a Black woman in conjunction with other health professionals.