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Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, thanks so much for joining me for the

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Speaker 1: special TVGU episode of Therapy for Black Girls. We'll get

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Speaker 1: right into our conversation after word from our sponsors. This season,

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Speaker 1: we're excited to bring you something brand new for TVGU.

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Speaker 1: I'm thrilled to introduce you to our inaugural TBGU advisory Council.

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Speaker 1: You'll get to meet Jaya, Fatima and Mikaela, three brilliant

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Speaker 1: young people who will be helping us shape the TVGU

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Speaker 1: experience this year. We'll hear about what excites them, the

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Speaker 1: topics they're passionate about, and how they hope to build

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Speaker 1: meaningful conversations that resonate across the season. If something resonates

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Speaker 1: with you while enjoying our conversation, please share it with

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Speaker 1: us on social media using the hashtag TVG in session,

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Speaker 1: or join us over in our patreon To talk more

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Speaker 1: about the episode, you can join us at community dot

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Speaker 1: Therapy for Blackgirls dot com. Here's our conversation. Well, welcome

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Speaker 1: to Therapy for Black Girls University. I am very excited

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Speaker 1: because today we are joined by our inaugural TVGU advisory councils,

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Speaker 1: some incredible students. I'm just very excited for you all

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Speaker 1: to tell us more about who you are and your

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Speaker 1: interests in this area. So we'll start with you, Fatima.

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Speaker 1: Can you tell us where you are and what your name,

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Speaker 1: what you're majoring in, and a little bit about what

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Speaker 1: interests you in TVGU.

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Speaker 2: So Hi, my name is Fatima Zara Kasim. I'm a

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Speaker 2: senior and I attend Tufts University and I study political

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Speaker 2: science with a double minor economics and urban planning. All throughout,

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Speaker 2: like grade school, middle school, high school, and even college,

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Speaker 2: I've always been involved in like women's groups that are

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Speaker 2: focused on empowerment, and a lot of this is done

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Speaker 2: through like what's happening in my community. So what really

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Speaker 2: interested me about this opportunity is that it's not just

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Speaker 2: impacting the girls on my campus or my classes, it's

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Speaker 2: also impacting people from all over because I can reach

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Speaker 2: a much wider audience with.

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Speaker 1: This perfect Thank you, Fatima Jaya.

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Speaker 3: I at the end Albany State in a Gray City.

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Speaker 3: I am sophomore there studying health science. What interested me

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Speaker 3: about TBGU is I always listen to the Therapy for

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Speaker 3: Black Girls podcast, and it wasn't until I was listening

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Speaker 3: to the podcast that I feel understood about certain topics

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Speaker 3: and the way the conversations flow and go. It was

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Speaker 3: just like, okay, I can relate to this or speaking

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Speaker 3: my language, and I personally love that it's specifically for

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Speaker 3: black women.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Jaya and Mikaila.

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Speaker 3: He y'all saw.

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Speaker 4: My name is Mikayla and I recently graduated from Dola

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Speaker 4: University and I studied film, and why I was interested

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Speaker 4: in this amazing opportunity was just everything that I do

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Speaker 4: creatively boots from my community and also providing therapy and

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Speaker 4: healthcare U seeing the stigmas that are in our community.

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Speaker 4: And so by joining this opportunity, it allows me to

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Speaker 4: not only learn but share what I learned. It is

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Speaker 4: to be bout information to them an organization that already

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Speaker 4: does that in which I adore, And so it's just amazing.

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Speaker 1: Thank you Michaela, and we'll stay with you. Michaela. What

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Speaker 1: are some things that you are interested in outside of

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Speaker 1: academic stuff?

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Speaker 3: Cool? Thank you?

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Speaker 4: So outside of academic stuff, very artsyed have loved everything

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Speaker 4: creative and academic, like I mean, outside academic books and

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Speaker 4: movies and just having fun in.

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Speaker 3: That type of way.

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Speaker 1: What about you, Jaya?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So similar to Mikayla. I love to read. I am.

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Speaker 3: I love books. I'm also the last technician, so I

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Speaker 3: love the marketing aspect of that. And very recently I've

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Speaker 3: started getting into the gardening side of life. So I

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Speaker 3: just bought me a snake plant and I have this

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Speaker 3: one plant where it's a mix up a bunch of

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Speaker 3: different ones. But I've been enjoying that recently.

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Speaker 1: What about you, Betima, what are you interested in outside

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Speaker 1: of school?

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Speaker 5: So? Outside of school, I really love fitness.

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Speaker 3: So I love going to the gym. I just want

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Speaker 3: this morning.

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Speaker 2: I also love like trying new workout classes with my friends,

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Speaker 2: like arial yoga.

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Speaker 3: I'm also a big reader like Mikayla and Jaya.

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Speaker 2: My favorite author her name is ayobami Adebayo am Naji,

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Speaker 2: an author and the book I'm currently reading by her

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Speaker 2: is called A Spell of Good Things. And overall, I

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Speaker 2: just love enjoying time with my friends, just trying new things.

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Speaker 1: And are you currently reading anything right now?

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Speaker 4: Mikayla, who I am rereading Crabwokasar by Ukrania Butler, one

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Speaker 4: of my favorites in assessment to the terms.

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Speaker 1: Mm hmmm, feels very timely. Yeah. What are some of you.

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Speaker 1: Our biggest interest in mental health right now, either like

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Speaker 1: research topics, something that you're personally curious about, maybe a

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Speaker 1: conversation that has come up in a friend group, anything

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Speaker 1: kind of on your mind right now as it relates

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Speaker 1: to mental health.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, So as someone who researches how information is given

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Speaker 4: to the masses, one thing that I've recently seen is

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Speaker 4: this kind of monetization or products building around mental health.

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Speaker 4: And it's really interesting to see the tension between you know,

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Speaker 4: having social media representation and tips and things like that

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Speaker 4: that I find extremely helpful, but then there's a thin

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Speaker 4: line between Okay, this was supposed to help me or

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Speaker 4: is it supposed to influence me? And so this is

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Speaker 4: one thing that I've been studying and researching as we

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Speaker 4: consume media and then also take care of ourselves and

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Speaker 4: figuring out the non one size fits all way to

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Speaker 4: take care.

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Speaker 3: Of ourselves, especially in the black community. So it's just

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Speaker 3: something that's been on my mind.

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Speaker 1: That's a good one. What about you, Fatima, Anything in

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Speaker 1: particular for me?

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Speaker 2: I would say, I guess like research more so specifically

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Speaker 2: on the topic of functioning depression. So like being on

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Speaker 2: a college campus, it's really interesting to see how a

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Speaker 2: lot of people hold on to stress and anxiety, especially

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Speaker 2: being in like very high stakes environments. And something that

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Speaker 2: I realize a lot, especially in like black women on

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Speaker 2: my campus, is that a lot of people are holding

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Speaker 2: onto a lot of these feelings and issues but are

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Speaker 2: still very high functioning, always feeling like they need to

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Speaker 2: show up to things and you know, carry out their

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Speaker 2: duties and classes, but aren't really taking care of themselves.

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Speaker 2: But from the outside, it's hard to see that they're

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Speaker 2: going through these things because they're so high functioning. So

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Speaker 2: that's something that's really been interesting to me.

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Speaker 1: What about your diet with on your mind? In terms

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Speaker 1: of mental health stuff.

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Speaker 3: For me, it's more of a research aspect. It's really

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Speaker 3: reproductive health with women as far as contraceptives, birth control

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Speaker 3: pcos and how that affects us because with pcos and

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Speaker 3: birth control like effects, they aren't really researched enough and

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Speaker 3: they aren't talking a lot enough. So with pcos, you

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Speaker 3: go into the doctor and most of the times they

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Speaker 3: just put you strictly on birth control, but no one

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Speaker 3: talks about how birth control can affect your weight, can

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Speaker 3: affect your mental health, make you have moved swings and

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Speaker 3: things of that nature.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and before we started the call, we were talking

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Speaker 1: about several of you are experiencing, like going into midterms

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Speaker 1: right now. So what are you feeling like the stress

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Speaker 1: level is like on campus as you're entering midterm week.

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Speaker 3: I feel like the stress levels are very high. I

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Speaker 3: can speak for myself. With being a student athlete and

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Speaker 3: also being a part of your ownage program, It's a

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Speaker 3: lot of pressure on me because I'm supposed to make

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Speaker 3: good grades and keep my GPA up. So with midterms,

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Speaker 3: it's just non stop being in the library always, you

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Speaker 3: never really having time for myself.

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Speaker 1: Really does it feel that way to you too, Fatima, Yes.

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Speaker 2: I would agree, I would say, especially speaking from the

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Speaker 2: point of view as senior, I think it's really really

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Speaker 2: high stakes for a lot of us because at the

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Speaker 2: point we're at in our academic journey, it's no longer

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Speaker 2: just hell, maybe I'll just take this class again next semester,

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Speaker 2: or I can put it off.

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Speaker 3: It's like all or nothing. So like, yeah, just very

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Speaker 3: very stressful.

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Speaker 2: A lot of late night studying this morning, I just

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Speaker 2: booked the study room for tonight.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, just feeling the pressure right now.

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Speaker 1: More from our conversation after the break. So, Michaiela, what

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Speaker 1: are some of the conversations you really hope we will

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Speaker 1: tackle as a council this year From TVGU One of.

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Speaker 4: The things that I hope that we tackle is just

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Speaker 4: the multiple kind of experiences that black girls may have

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Speaker 4: while in college and outside of college as well. Like

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Speaker 4: I know, especially now for gen Z, post grad depression

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Speaker 4: and things like that are real, and I know it

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Speaker 4: affects us and rectifizes how we do things differently, And

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Speaker 4: so I hope that we can talk about how we

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Speaker 4: deal with stress and brief and lots of conflicting things

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Speaker 4: in college but also outside of it, because it really

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Speaker 4: is a journey.

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Speaker 1: You bring up an interesting point, I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: because where we find ourselves in time in the world

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Speaker 1: right now, we know unemployment rates are really high, and

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Speaker 1: thinking about you for Tima, you know, as a senior,

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Speaker 1: and thinking about like, okay, am I doing grad school

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Speaker 1: next year? Are you looking for your first big girl job?

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Speaker 1: Like I think there's a lot on the line and

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Speaker 1: a lot that feels unsure that maybe wasn't the case

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Speaker 1: maybe five to ten years ago, which I am sure

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Speaker 1: is something that you know many of you are thinking about.

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Speaker 4: Yes, oh for sure, for sure those are things that

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Speaker 4: are I hope we definitely can.

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Speaker 3: Can you know, talk about.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what about you, Jia, anything that you really feel

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Speaker 1: like you would love for the council to address this year.

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Speaker 3: Yes, So going back to the reproductive health part, I

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Speaker 3: would love to talk about pcos and birth control, contraceptors

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Speaker 3: and things of that sort. But also with me being

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Speaker 3: a sophomore, I feel like I'm still in that exploration

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Speaker 3: phase of college, So I would love to talk about

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Speaker 3: your sexuality and exploring your sexuality in college, that's.

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Speaker 1: A good one, and thinking about contraception and like how

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Speaker 1: much legislation that is trying to be pushed right now,

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Speaker 1: right to even make contraception you know, like it's still

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Speaker 1: easy to get and you know, do you have to

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Speaker 1: jump through several hoops? So I definitely think that's an

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Speaker 1: important one to tackle. Yes, what about you, Fatima.

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Speaker 2: For being I would love for us to discuss how

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Speaker 2: we curate spaces for black women because we always talk

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Speaker 2: about wanting to understand the mental health of black women,

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Speaker 2: shining light on the issues black women are dealing with.

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Speaker 2: And when I say curating species, I mean more.

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Speaker 3: So within the youth.

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Speaker 2: How can we make black women feel safe to enter

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Speaker 2: these spaces and truly express themselves Because something that I

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Speaker 2: mentioned earlier about the functioning depression, I feel like what

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Speaker 2: plays a lot into that is the feeling of I

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Speaker 2: don't feel safe to be able to talk to someone

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Speaker 2: or express these feelings.

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Speaker 3: So how can we cerate that space for young black women?

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Speaker 1: You know, you bring up an interesting point because I

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Speaker 1: feel like I see like students and people your age

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Speaker 1: talk a lot more about mental health, you know, like

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Speaker 1: they will be on Instagram or TikTok saying like, oh

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Speaker 1: this is something my therapist told me. But it sounds

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Speaker 1: like you are also still feeling like there is a

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Speaker 1: lack of conversation from your peers maybe about how they

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Speaker 1: actually are doing. Yes, okay, So are there any gaps

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Speaker 1: that you're noticing in terms of mental health services, either

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Speaker 1: on your campuses or just resources for people your age

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Speaker 1: to get support with your mental health.

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Speaker 2: So for me, Tufts does have mental health center where

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Speaker 2: you can match with a therapist, and that has been

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Speaker 2: really great. But one gap that I did.

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Speaker 3: Notice because I did use your services about two years ago.

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Speaker 3: One gap that I did notice or do notice still

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Speaker 3: is just follow ups. There really isn't much follow ups.

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Speaker 2: You have like a set amount of time with your

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Speaker 2: provided mental health specialist, but that's just about it. After

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Speaker 2: the four six weeks that you guys spend together, there

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Speaker 2: are no follow up emails of like.

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Speaker 3: Oh, how can the school further support you?

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Speaker 2: And I think obviously, like a university has so many

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Speaker 2: students that it has to service, so I can see

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Speaker 2: what could be the cause of that gap.

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Speaker 3: But long term, like something that.

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Speaker 2: A lot of students here do express is that like, oh,

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Speaker 2: we don't really use the center much because we feel

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Speaker 2: like it's not really helpful. So it's like, yeah, you

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Speaker 2: are getting the care, you're getting someone to speak to

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Speaker 2: you for that a lot of time that you have

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Speaker 2: your therapist, but like it's like the what's next, There

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Speaker 2: is no next, So yeah, I just like the follow

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Speaker 2: up care.

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Speaker 3: I don't think we have much of that.

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Speaker 1: How about you?

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Speaker 3: Giant On my campus, I feel like they're pretty good

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Speaker 3: with the mental health aspect that we have free therapy

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Speaker 3: online or in person. They also have an organization called

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Speaker 3: Active Mines and every week on Wednesday they're in the

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Speaker 3: student center with their table set up giving out free plans.

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Speaker 3: They had something last week where they were doing rocks

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Speaker 3: and releasing things, so I feel like that's really good.

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Speaker 3: The gap I am noticing, though, is that Albany State

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Speaker 3: is really considered a party school, So a lot of

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Speaker 3: students don't know necessarily where to go if they aren't

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Speaker 3: going to the student center or they aren't on the

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Speaker 3: ac website page. So I feel like that I wouldn't

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Speaker 3: say excitement, but for lack of a better word, I'm

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Speaker 3: going to say that like the excitement to go to

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Speaker 3: therapy and to get the help you need.

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Speaker 1: And I know you've graduated, Mikiela, but thinking it back

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Speaker 1: to your time on campus where there are gaps that

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Speaker 1: you noticed the like definitely.

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Speaker 4: Going back to what I said, I think the like

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Speaker 4: coming from an HBCU, Like the kind of collective want,

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Speaker 4: our will to get from these resources I think wasn't

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Speaker 4: really there.

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Speaker 3: That was kind of like gap.

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Speaker 4: And we did have resources, like to the best of

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Speaker 4: you know, the university's abilities, like they did events where

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Speaker 4: they like gave us essentral oils or did things like that,

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Speaker 4: just small things, but I found that they didn't really

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Speaker 4: have a lot of student attendance, and that was the

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Speaker 4: only gap that I recognize, And yeah, I really wish

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Speaker 4: that there was more of a collective of like, hey,

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Speaker 4: you know, let's go out and do this, you know,

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Speaker 4: make us central oils or whatever type of resources that

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Speaker 4: they had on campus, but there wasn't really that will

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Speaker 4: and I think that kind of reflects some of the

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Speaker 4: stigma in our community.

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Speaker 1: More from our conversation after the break, so a couple

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Speaker 1: of you have mentioned events, which I think is really cool,

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Speaker 1: and that is definitely something we're thinking about, like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: how do we let more students know about TVGU and

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Speaker 1: like the kinds of conversations we're having and the resources

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Speaker 1: that might be available. So if you could like develop

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Speaker 1: your own dream event to happen on your campus or

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Speaker 1: a campus near you, what do you think it would

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Speaker 1: look like? Any thoughts?

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Speaker 4: Mikaela Ooh, okay, I definitely thought about this so many times.

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Speaker 4: So what I would do would basically be something like

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Speaker 4: art therapy focused I love, just like there was this

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Speaker 4: free black art therapy resourcer I went to New Orleans

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Speaker 4: and it just opened my mind. So I'll basically use

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Speaker 4: the same model as a way for students to just

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Speaker 4: reflect open up ormachine what a safe space would be

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Speaker 4: using pay our colors. They don't have to be a creative,

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Speaker 4: but we all know how to. So she had colors,

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Speaker 4: you know what, feelings and things like that, and so

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Speaker 4: just finding that medium and then also make it into

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Speaker 4: something that people can maybe share, and I think that

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Speaker 4: will just be wonderful to have so people can process

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Speaker 4: things differently than they used to.

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Speaker 1: So I'm hearing maybe a tvgu coloring night at campuses

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Speaker 1: across the country, and of course what about you.

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Speaker 3: Jan Yeah, So with one of my past internships, I

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Speaker 3: actually wrote about this and I was thinking more of

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Speaker 3: a panel type of brunch thing. And one good panelist

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Speaker 3: I had them there was actually you doctor Dremy to

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Speaker 3: come in and talk to the students about mental health

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Speaker 3: and get other mental health professionals in there to talk

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Speaker 3: to the students, mainly women, so that the young women

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Speaker 3: coming out to the campus, mainly the freshman and the sophomores,

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Speaker 3: could get that women we advice something that they may

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Speaker 3: not have at home, as far as how to dress

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Speaker 3: yourself when you're coming out, how to hold yourself up

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Speaker 3: to a higher standard, how to speak and what to

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Speaker 3: win or you know what I'm saying, so, yeah, really

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Speaker 3: that in the brunch aspect, just because you know, people

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Speaker 3: love to eat, So yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's the key to anything with students

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Speaker 1: is that there has to be food.

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Speaker 5: What about you with Vima, I am envisioned for Therapy

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Speaker 5: for Black grows to have like a campus tour, so

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Speaker 5: kind of like a live podcast where it's not necessarily

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Speaker 5: being recorded, but it's being like a curated space.

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Speaker 3: Like this, but like on a wider scale.

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Speaker 2: So I know, at Tufts we have a group called

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Speaker 2: the Black Women's Collective where every week there are topics

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Speaker 2: that are being had, like topics that are spoken about,

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Speaker 2: like different problems the black women are facing on campus

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Speaker 2: or just like wider scale issues. So I think it'd

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Speaker 2: be really great if, like, let's say, Therapy for Black

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Speaker 2: Girls was able to collab or like join forces with

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Speaker 2: a group like Black Women's.

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Speaker 3: Collective at touughs to have like a wider forum.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, okay, these all sound like great ideas, So

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Speaker 1: somebody has to write us some checks so that we

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Speaker 1: can bring all of these incredible ideas to life. I

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Speaker 1: love the creativity that I'm already hearing. Okay, So a

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Speaker 1: couple of quick questions just so that people can get

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Speaker 1: to know you all a little better. This is gonna

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Speaker 1: be kind of rapid fire. So coffee tea are neither

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Speaker 1: when you're studying late MICHAELA.

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Speaker 4: Ooh, coffee. I'm from Seattle, so gotta have coffee.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Jaya, what's one song that always boosts your mood?

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Speaker 3: I don't know artists, but it's called I'm not Stressing Today.

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Speaker 1: Oh, it's a good one. I don't know the artist

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Speaker 1: side of it, but I know what's talking about. Fatimo.

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Speaker 1: What's your favorite campus hangout spot?

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Speaker 2: Ooh, is it bad if I seen my room?

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Speaker 1: Not at all? Okay, Mikayela, Journaling, therapy, meditation or music?

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Speaker 1: Which one helps you to distress the most? Boo?

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Speaker 3: I would have to say music.

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Speaker 4: I have to say jazz, piritual, jazz, al was culturane.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good answer, Fatima. What's a TV show or movie

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Speaker 1: that you think actually got college life right?

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Speaker 2: I would say All American in a lot of its aspects.

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Speaker 1: Maybe not all, but yeah, okay, one of my favorite shows. Jaya.

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Speaker 1: What's the first word that comes to mind when you

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Speaker 1: think of tbgu healing? I love it? MICHAELA, what's a

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Speaker 1: piece of advice you'd give to a freshman just starting college.

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Speaker 3: A piece of.

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Speaker 4: Advice i'd give freshman is a lot of people say

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Speaker 4: it might be cliche, but just be yourself, Like, walk

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Speaker 4: into this new space and this next like face in

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Speaker 4: your life as yourself. You know you're somewhat free from

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Speaker 4: a lot of the pressures you may have had going

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Speaker 4: up or you know in your high school or things

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Speaker 4: are not short. So just walk into this next chapter,

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Speaker 4: be yourself. It's your own style and whatnot and.

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Speaker 1: No be okay. And then one question for all of you.

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Speaker 1: Fatima will start with you. If your college experience had

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Speaker 1: a theme song? What would it be?

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Speaker 2: I don't know if there's a song that's called this,

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Speaker 2: but maybe trying.

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Speaker 1: Trying Yeah, if not, we just came up with it right,

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Speaker 1: like it's a song. Now, yes, Gian, what wut the

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Speaker 1: theme song for your college experience?

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Speaker 3: I actually know the artists to based one, so it

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Speaker 3: would be self cared by Savannah Christina and MICHAELA.

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Speaker 1: What would your college experience things on be?

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Speaker 3: Ooh, that is a good question.

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Speaker 1: I think the song Heavenly by this artist.

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Speaker 3: Here based out of Chicago. It's like a really good.

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Speaker 1: Song Okay, all right, Fatima, Okay.

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Speaker 3: I got a good one now.

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Speaker 2: Actually, I would say all for me by Marida Scientists.

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Speaker 1: Excellent, excellent. Well, this has been so much fun to

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Speaker 1: get to know y'all a little bit more. I'm very

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Speaker 1: excited about all the conversations and things that are going

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Speaker 1: to unfold this year. Thank y'all so much for joining

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Speaker 1: me for this first episode, and we are looking forward

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Speaker 1: to lots more fun.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you.

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Speaker 1: I'm so glad and excited that Jaya, Fatima and Mikhaela

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Speaker 1: were able to join me for today's conversation and give

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Speaker 1: us a glimpse into their vision for TVGU this season.

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Speaker 1: To learn more about Therapy for Black Girls University and

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Speaker 1: how you can become a part of the community, head

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Speaker 1: on over to Therapy for Blackgirls dot com slash TVGU

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Speaker 1: Did you know that you could leave us a voicemail

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00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,960
Speaker 1: with your questions or suggestions for the podcast If you

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00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,480
Speaker 1: have topics you'd like us to discuss our guests you'd

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00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,480
Speaker 1: like to hear, drop us a message at Memo FM

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Speaker 1: slash Therapy for Black Girls and let us know what's

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Speaker 1: on your mind. We just might feature it on the podcast.

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Speaker 1: If you're looking for a therapist in your area, visit

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Speaker 1: our therapist directory at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com slash directory.

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Speaker 1: Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at Therapy for

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Speaker 1: Black Girls and join us over in our Patreon community

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Speaker 1: for more exclusive updates and behind the scenes content. You

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Speaker 1: can join us at community dot Therapy for Black Girls

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Speaker 1: dot com. This episode was produced by Alise Ellis, Indechubu

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00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:08,400
Speaker 1: and Tyree Rush. Editing was done by Dennison Bradbert. Thank

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Speaker 1: y'all so much for joining me again this week. I

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Speaker 1: look forward to continuing this conversation with you all real soon.

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Speaker 1: Take good care,