#SPEAKYOURTRUTH! Podcast (#SYT!)

Take a ride with me and Dr. V as we continue to navigate mental health and racism. Racism is now recognized as a public health crisis due to the racial and ethnic disparities in our healthcare systems, school systems, housing and employment. People of color typically have limited access to healthcare for several reasons. Listen to Dr. V explain more! Get in touch with Dr. Valentina!: @drvalentinapsyd on IG/drvalentinapsyd.com; Get in touch with Samarie!: @speakyourtruth_pod/[email protected]; NAMI: NAMI.org/800-950-6264; Suicide Lifeline: 800-273-8255

Taneka joins us again and I'm so grateful! I forgot we were recording the podcast for a second 😂 Self-awareness is a huge topic of discussion on today's episode. We also get into the importance of friend groups and what it means to have quality over quantity. Taneka and her friends are SUPERSTARS! Excited for you guys to listen!

We’re back guys!! This time Dr. V and I are here to unravel the truth about mental health, discuss mental illness being taboo in communities of color, and poor mental health’s connection to underperformance in work, relationships, school, and sport. Thank you for tuning in. Enjoy!

Myself and Dr. Valentina, a clinical psychologist and business owner based in Chicago, are teaming up for a four part series to define mental health, identify causes of mental illness, key environmental factors that impact our wellness and much more, including how poor mental health determined the fate of my career. In this first episode, we learn who Dr. Valentina is, what she does, and most importantly, WHY! For those interested in a career in mental health, Dr. V breaks down the different paths you can take to achieve your goals at the end of the episode! Thank you as always for tuning in! We hope you enjoy.

Dr. Candice is the woman we all hope to become or at least be around. Confident, intelligent, a leader. As a licensed professional counselor and Sports Psychologist, she's worked with The Ohio State's athletic department, the NFLPA, and has even been featured in popular press publications such as USA Today-Sports, NCAA Champion, and Men's Health. Today she's gonna school us on the importance of taking care of athletes' mental health at all levels (it starts with youth!), differences in healthcare and deaths during pregnancy between Blacks vs. whites, and WHY society needs to erase the stigma surrounding mental health. Enjoy today's episode and please remember to rate, review, and subscribe!

Coach Cocoa is a super dope, loving soul! Very grateful to have had her on the show. We chopped it up about being division 1 women’s basketball players, the opportunity to play for Coach Staley, labels in the LGBTQ+ community, faith and much more! Super excited for you guys to hear her passion and enthusiasm for life. There’s so, so many takeaways in this episode..enjoy!

I can’t invite others to speak their truth if I don’t, so welcome to: MARI’S MONDAY THOUGHTS! New lil series I’m introducing to share my quick, yet deep and intellectual thoughts in hopes of creating conversation and pissing of ignorant people :)

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This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

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CJ is a mother and a former D1 and professional women's basketball player. Her wife Krysta joins us on this episode to tell us how they met, what it's like raising children together, and my fear of visiting Texas. CJ briefly speaks about growing up in Baltimore and how her parents protected her from that environment + balancing life, school, and basketball in college. Listen up!

Karla is a D1 women's basketball player from Croatia. She details growing up in Europe as well as her transition to becoming an American basketball player. Karla is an extremely intelligent and driven young woman who is completely aware of what it is like to be affected by the stigmas placed on minorities. Living in D.C. has really widened her lens to what it is like to be Black in America and empathizes with her teammates who wake up black everyday. I appreciate Karla and all that she is. I hope you all learn from this conversation!

Taneka Lewis is a former collegiate basketball player, computer engineer, physicist, author and blogger. She is also a mental health advocate, which is motivated by her experiences with post-athlete depression and other life challenges. Taneka and I also discussed the lack of diversity in the classes she took for her degrees as well as in her field now. Inclusion and diversity are so important in the classroom and workforce, and we are slowly yet surely seeing changes with women and POC founding and running more businesses. Here’s a link to Taneka’s book: https://www.tidbitsoftee.com/growth-in-the-garden and blog: https://www.tidbitsoftee.com/cup-of-tea-personal-growth ! Enjoy the show!! [ IG: @syt.podcast || Twitter: @samariewalker ] National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255; To learn more about mental health visit: https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness