I met Kimberly McLaughlin-Smith on Facebook and was absolutely captivated by her wit, depth and love of Reggae. We communicated virtually for almost a year before realizing that we both worked for the same University. She is a Diversity and Inclusion Specialist and she wears that title like a fitted glove. She is kind, compassionate, brave and curious and she is incredible at creating safe spaces to talk about difficult things like diversity, oppression, privilege and the universal need that we all have to belong. She is fun. She is funny. She is wild about growth, transformation and doing her work. She was named New Hanover County's Woman of the Year in 2007 and she travels the country facilitating dialogue and working towards positive change for all people. She is also known as the "Night Nurse" as she DJ's, Reggae Redemption on 98.7 FM every Sunday from 10-noon and facilitates conversation afterwards on her Facebook Live. So sit back and enjoy our conversation about self-awareness, vulnerability, show and tell, doing the work and the lessons that motherhood has taught her. And be patient....this is "Nothing Fancy" and we had a few technical difficulties in the beginning. They are short lived, I promise!

Jessica King is a LCSW right here in Wilmington, NC. Jessica is a wife, mom, yoga instructor and writer. She is also the owner of Stillpoint Counseling, a group practices that provides professional and relatable therapy as well as mindful mental health classes to children, individuals and families who are navigating life's challenges. Jessica's ability to infuse her passion for connection to self, others and community combined with her self-proclaimed "neuroscience neediness", social work values, mindfulness and yoga practice not only makes her approachable but one of the most flexible, open and emotionally articulate clinicians I know. In this episode of "Nothing Fancy", Jessica talks about the path that has led her to where she is today, making hard choices, mind/body connection, the pandemic and the importance of feeling it all. 

I have given this talk countless times and it is one of my favorites because it resonates so beautifully for so many people. My favorite social worker of all time was Virginia Satir. I first "met" Virginia in 1997, when I was introduced to her poem, I AM ME. I AM ME is a manifesto of self-acceptance, self-compassion and authenticity. I was absolutely captivated by her spirit and wanted to learn as much about her as possible. Almost 20 years later, I was given the opportunity to do a week long intensive on Satir's work and was introduced to her "self-esteem" toolkit. The toolkit includes a magic wand, a wisdom box, a heart, a courage stick, a key of possibility, a yes/no medallion and a magnifying glass. All of the "tools" are considered inner resources that we can call on whenever we need to come back to ourselves. I was completely fascinated and could not wait to incorporate this work with clients and I also got super excited about what seemed to be a nod to the Wizard of Oz. I would later come across, Jean Houston's book, The Wizard of Us. I could not get enough of the rich metaphors, archetypes and wisdom about self-discovery, the power of storms to transform us and HOME.  Several months later, I was asked to do a talk at the Inspiration Lab Conference in Wilmington, NC about overcoming storms as our community was beginning to heal from the devastation of Hurricane Florence. I wove together Satir and Houston and Lisa and this is where I landed.