I struggled with mild depression without knowing it until my mentor mentioned not being okay. I have been in therapy most of my life being in foster care so I setup an appointment to understand why I was feeling sad. In this podcast I break down the symptoms and give advice for treatment. It is okay not to be okay all the time but we must take ownership of our emotions. Yemoja Speaks is a program to help youth and young adults understand their trauma and actively heal through artistic expression. IG: yemojaspeaks FB: yemojaspeaks Resources: Better help.com - helps to connect you with a trained professional SAMHSA’s national hotline 1-800-662-4357

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It may look like we have everything held together nicely because we have busy lives, but sometimes we stay productive to hide the real issues. Sometimes we don’t want to face the problems but the reality is that we hide parts of ourselves so that we can accomplish things within our lives.

Mental health is important but also many of us don’t know how to deal with our own mental health let alone another person’s. We let our emotions build up until we explode, many times on the wrong person.

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I grew up not being taught how to properly handle my emotions. This caused me to suppress how I felt and push through situations to be successful. I realized that not knowing how to express how I felt. I still struggle with expressing myself but I am learning how important it is and how to ask for help when it comes to my mental health.

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This episode explains how foster youth are taken away from their families and put into a stranger home. This process of placement is unstable which makes youth highly anxious and scared. Usually, youth has no information about their new foster parent, not even their name or identity. 

I was a 10 year girl not knowing the name of the stranger who  would become my guardian. I was fortunate to have my brothers when I walked in the house late at night. However, I was still frighten by the unknown. There are many scared foster youth entering new homes and don’t even know the names of the people they must stay with. Imagine how foster youth feel if they don’t know their fate.

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Forgiveness is about our healing process rather than letting the other person off the hook. We often believe that forgiving a person means forgetting their past behavior or excuse it; however, that is not true. Forgiving others means we are letting go of the pain that was caused. We are permitting ourselves to live our lives without the guilt or pain of old situations. 

I learned that I needed to forgive and set clear boundaries with people. My boundaries are a way to protect myself and to inform people their actions have consequences if they cross the line. I can remove myself from a relationship if it is unhealthy or someone violates me by not respecting my boundaries. If you struggle with forgiving someone, listen to this podcast about the process it takes to forgive, even when it comes to forgiving ourselves. 

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This podcast is sponsored by Yemoja's Media: The marketing experts that helps to work behind the scenes.

-Video Editing

-Content Marketing Strategy

-Brand Photography

-Social Media Marketing Plan 

Check out their website for more information: www.yemojasmedia.com

Do you look at your current success as not being good enough because it not your ideal version of your success? We look at the success of others and believe that they have arrived while we are still in route. This cause us to feel defeated but I’m here to tell you that your ideal road of success is without faults while your reality bring lessons to learn and grow from. Your journey is unique so take time to understand how your decisions are shaping your reality of your success.

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Welcome to Yemoja Speaks Podcast, I am your your host Shalonda. This podcast is about the truth behind foster care. We share the stories both good and bad about the foster care system to help spread the word to the world about our challenges and how some of us overcome them. This episode is about how we, as foster youth can understand our worth. I explain how it took time to know my worth and ability instead of measuring myself to my family and their shortcomings. To be successful we must see it and surround ourselves with successful people who spoke life into us. I am happy to share how you can get connected with people that want to help you become YOU!

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We are discussing the toxic family relationships that we have and why we go back to toxic family after being taken away from them. We make decisions to go back to family members who were the cause of us being in foster care because we want to know where we came from and our identity but what happens when it isn’t what we thought? If you enjoy this podcast, please support us by sharing with youth in foster care, aged out, or caseworkers. We are accepting donations to get Heal Through Art program started for foster youth. You can make a donation at Donations-to-Yemoja-Speaks-Made Here. All donations will be used to buy supplies, support foster youth, and hire staff to keep the production going. Yemoja Speaks accepts to give job opportunities to foster youth. Thank you for supporting. 

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This podcast is about understanding and denouncing fault for being placed into foster care. I was not placed in foster care because of what I did but as a result of what my parents and family have done or haven't done. Once we understand that being in foster care is not our fault we must then look at how we react it our situation. We have complete control over how we choose to behave as a result. As a former foster youth I take full responsibility for my actions, and looking back on them I acted a certain way as a result of how I felt. I was hurt and felt neglected and unwanted at times which made me act in ways that demanded attention.

 As a community, we must look at behaviors as reactions to the emotional trauma. We must be forgiving to the youth, especially teenagers who aren't able to express their hurt or emotions due to the lack of trust. We must try to understand each other to better one another.

If you enjoy this podcast, please support us by sharing with youth in foster care, aged out, or caseworkers. We are accepting donations to get Heal Through Art program started for foster youth. You can make a donation at Donations-to-Yemoja-Speaks-Made Here. All donations will be used to buy supplies, support foster youth, and hire staff to keep the production going. Yemoja Speaks accepts to give job opportunities to foster youth. Thank you for supporting. 

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Being in foster care has taught me that relationships matter. I discuss my experience with creating relationships with people helped me create opportunities for myself. As youth in foster care we are trying to figure out life without a manual but when we use the people who were sent in our lives to better us, we become who we were supposed to be. 

I thank all the people who encouraged me, my mentors, my family, the community organizations, collaboratives, case workers, and community supporters. If it wasn’t for the people around me telling me the truth I could have made terrible decision that could have changed my life. 

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