Prioritizing Professional Mental Health Care with Dr. Bianca Goodrum

On episode 29 of the She is Kindred podcast, Britt and Dr. Bianca Goodrum travel into the heart of mental health and wellness. Together, they discuss the vital importance of counseling and therapy, and the commitment and hard work required to free us from grief and heal us from trauma. It begins with forgiveness and establishing boundaries, and ends with us realizing every small step has led us to real, lasting change.

Bianca D. Goodrum, Ph.D., LPC-S is an Assistant Professor in the Counseling Department at Our Lady of the Lake University. Bianca and her father Kenneth E. Goodrum, LPC-S work together in their family counseling private practice Conceivable Resolutions, PLLC. She works with clients through a variety of concerns, including grief and bereavement, depression, trauma, anxiety, and familial concerns.

Connect with Bianca on Instagram @goodrumbianca

In this episode, Britt talks with Dr. Bianca Goodrum about: 

• Holding space for grief, and learning to move forward through it.
• Historically and culturally, seeking mental health has not been encouraged or openly recommended. Now, we see a shift beginning that encourages us to consider mental health a pillar of wellness. 
• Resources including therapists for BIPOC seeking support in healing from trauma. (Link to resources below)
• Forgiveness looks different from person to person, and forgiveness may mean establishing a boundary so that the relationship can still exist in a way that is healthy for you. 
• Therapy requires commitment and hard work, and the goal is to take steps (small or big) so that you wake up each day feeling a little better and a little different.

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• Psychology Today
• Latinx Therapy
• Melanin and Mental Health
• Therapy for Black Girls

Quotable

“Grief is about integrating, how do I take this along with me? It doesn’t go away, you don’t get over it. You just learn to move forward in it.” -Dr. Bianca Goodrum

“Instead of compartmentalizing your grief and trauma, putting in these boxes and shipping it out to sea and losing that piece of you, now we are beginning to see ourselves more holistically. When we do that, it opens the door for us to acknowledge and believe that our mental health affects every other part of our being.” -Britt Smith

“If you are a learner of life, and as long as you are on this earth, there will always be healing and restoration that is going to happen. ” -Dr. Bianca Goodrum

“Small steps are still steps.” -Britt Nikel Smith

Connect with She is Kindred

Join the Fall Book Club! We’re reading through “Share Your Stuff, I’ll Go First,” by Laura Tremaine! Hosted by Alex Cox, each week will feature a guided reading schedule and discussion questions, culminating in a live zoom call with author Laura Tremaine herself! The book club will run until November 1st, 2022 and is totally free to join!

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Keep cultivating common ground and common grace!