My anxiety has been especially challenging over the past month. In this post, I’m going to share the various coping and calming strategies I’ve been using to free my mind from the symptoms of anxiety. I resonate deeply with the song, “Free Mind” by Tems, so I’ll include some relevant lyrics throughout the post as well. Exercise My favorite form...[ read more ]

A Visible Man by Edward Enninful was one of a few memoirs that I finished in December. The book is different from most of the memoirs I choose because I had no prior knowledge of who the author was; rather, Audible kept recommending it to me. I'm glad I gave his book a chance and I look forward to sharing...[ read more ]

While this blog focuses on mental health, I occasionally get creative with a relevant book or movie review. Today, I'm doing something a bit different. When Megan Thee Stallion released her sophomore album, "Traumazine," last Friday, I knew I wanted to write about it here. As an EMDR therapist, I know a lot about trauma; however, I'd never heard the...[ read more ]

I've been seeing snippets of Lady Gaga's Lady Gaga's interview on Oprah's docuseries, The Me You Can't See. Having not yet seen the show, I started to research if Gaga has ever written about her life. The closest thing I could find to a memoir was an essay she wrote as part of a compilation book put together by her...[ read more ]

Recently, I’ve been becoming more interested of the topic of spiritual abuse, so I was intrigued when I found a memoir (my favorite genre) by Anna LeBaron titled The Polygamist’s Daughter. Trauma From hearing LeBaron’s story, I am in awe of how she made it through such complex and recurrent trauma. Her mother was the fourth wife of a polygamist “prophet”....[ read more ]

Given this series, it's clear that memoirs are my favorite book genre. With that being said, Short Stories: The Autobiography of Columbus Short is one of the most dynamic memoirs that I've ever read. I know of Columbus Short from his role in ABC's Scandal; however, his career has spanned choreography, music, and film production. From reading his memoir, I...[ read more ]

In 2018, I was nearing the end of my 2-year counseling residency and saving up to start what would eventually become my private practice for psychotherapy. I worked full time at a counseling agency at the time; however, I supplemented my income by driving for Lyft and Uber. I had been driving for those companies since I moved to Richmond,...[ read more ]

I finished Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah for the first time a few months ago; however, publishing my review felt ill-timed given that George Floyd had just been murdered that week. Having finished the book for the second time today, I've come to understand that Noah's story is very relevant to the times we are living in. So let's...[ read more ]

What is trauma bonding? This phenomenon is more commonly known as Stockholm Syndrome. Trauma bonding occurs when a victim caught in the abuse cycle becomes dependent on their abuser physically, psychologically, and socially, making it more difficult to escape the abuse as time goes on. As a therapist, I have done research on the abuse cycle because to me, it’s...[ read more ]