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Speaker 1: the most. Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast,

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Speaker 1: a weekly conversation about mental health, personal development, and all

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Speaker 1: the small decisions we can make to become the best

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Speaker 1: possible versions of ourselves. I'm your host, Dr Joy hard

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Speaker 1: and Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more

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Speaker 1: information or to find a therapist in your area, visit

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Speaker 1: our website at Therapy for Black Girls dot com. While

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Speaker 1: I hope you love listening to and learning from the podcast,

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Speaker 1: it is not meant to be a substitute for a

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Speaker 1: relationship with a licensed mental health professional. Hey y'all, thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for joining me for session one fifty of

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Speaker 1: the Therapy for Black Girls podcast. As many people are

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Speaker 1: now beginning to work with their therapist virtually, or might

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Speaker 1: be looking to work with the therapist for the first time,

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Speaker 1: it will be meeting with them virtually. I thought it'd

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Speaker 1: be a great time to rewind and share this interview

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Speaker 1: idea with Melissa Douglas again, as she has been providing

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Speaker 1: virtual services in her St. Louis practice for the past

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Speaker 1: couple of years. Melissa is the owner of Gold Driven Counseling,

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Speaker 1: a private tele mental health counseling practice where she supports

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Speaker 1: teens and millennials through challenging educational, career and life transitions

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Speaker 1: through secure video compencing. She's a native of Chicago, Illinois,

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Speaker 1: but has called St. Louis, Missouri, home for almost a decade.

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Speaker 1: She's a proud Triton who received a Bachelors of Social

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Speaker 1: Work degree, Master of Social Work degree, and also a

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Speaker 1: Certificate and Nonprofit Management and Leadership from the University of

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Speaker 1: Missouri St. Louis. She's a licens clinical social worker and

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Speaker 1: a distance credential counselor who has diverse volunteer and work

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Speaker 1: experience with youth and juvenile detention, community based and educational settings.

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Speaker 1: Melissa and I discussed some of the differences between traditional

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Speaker 1: and virtual therapy, how you can decide if it's right

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Speaker 1: for you, how to find a virtual therapist, and she

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Speaker 1: shared all of her favorite apps for mental wellness. If

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Speaker 1: you hear something that resonates with you while listening, please

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Speaker 1: share with us on social media using the hashtag tb

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Speaker 1: G in session. Here's our conversation. Thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for joining us today, Melissa. Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Dr Joy. I'm very happy you were able to join

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Speaker 1: us today because I know there have been a lot

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Speaker 1: of questions about people looking for virtual therapy, or if

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Speaker 1: they live like in a town that's further from a

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Speaker 1: big city and they're not like a lot of therapists there.

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Speaker 1: People are wanting to know me know, do therapists offer

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Speaker 1: virtual options? So I know that you have a completely

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Speaker 1: online practice at this point, correct, So you are the

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Speaker 1: perfect person to talk with us about some of these concerns.

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Speaker 1: So first, can you tell us a little bit about

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Speaker 1: what virtual therapy is and how it might be different

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Speaker 1: from traditional therapy. Yes, so it's very basic, and so

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Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about just basically tell mental health and

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Speaker 1: virtual therapy, because there's a whole other section of just

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Speaker 1: tele medicine that covers a lot of different professionals, but

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Speaker 1: tell mental health is really when the clinician and the

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Speaker 1: client are in different physical locations using technology to communicate

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Speaker 1: pretty much, and so it's referred to as etherrapy, virtual therapy,

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Speaker 1: online therapy, and distance counseling. And what I tell my

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Speaker 1: clients is during our virtual counseling or virtual therapy sessions,

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Speaker 1: we can do almost everything other than I can handle

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Speaker 1: a tissue if you start to cry at the time,

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Speaker 1: and I can't be a physical support in a crisis.

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Speaker 1: But because I use all video and an actual platform

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Speaker 1: design for telehealth, it helps me to have the same

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Speaker 1: relationship and report to be developed and resources to be used.

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Speaker 1: Because I can share my screen with people so we

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Speaker 1: can work through resources and things together and actually see

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Speaker 1: worksheets and stuff like that, I can have more than

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Speaker 1: one person in a session with me, so couples counseling

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Speaker 1: or family counseling can be just the same as as

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Speaker 1: traditional therapy. But when you talk about tele mental health,

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Speaker 1: there are other options other than video, so you have

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Speaker 1: phone counseling as well as a synchronous methods such as

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Speaker 1: email and text based counseling. And so all that means

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Speaker 1: is that you and the therapists are not live communicating.

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Speaker 1: So you may send a message and you have to

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Speaker 1: wait until the counseling therapists can respond to that, and

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Speaker 1: then you go back and forth that way. And so

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Speaker 1: with those methods, there has to be a confort with

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Speaker 1: communicating feelings and thoughts in a in a written format.

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Speaker 1: But the largest difference is that the responsibility of ensuring

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Speaker 1: privacy of the session is a little bit more shifted

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Speaker 1: to the client because they're in their own space. But

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Speaker 1: I always share that tele mental health isn't better or

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Speaker 1: superior methods to traditional counseling. It's really all about appropriateness

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Speaker 1: and preference. So it sounds like it is very similar

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Speaker 1: you coming into the office for therapy, except that you

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Speaker 1: might be in your home, like in pajama bottoms. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: So what kind of feedback have you gotten from your clients,

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Speaker 1: Melissa about whether they, you know, like like it better

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Speaker 1: or worse than traditional therapy? Like, what kind of feedback

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Speaker 1: have you gotten? Yeah, And so again, like I said,

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Speaker 1: it's all about preference. But I received a lot of

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Speaker 1: great feedback from my clients because again because I use

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Speaker 1: the video base. We really are able to establish the

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Speaker 1: same relationship and report because we can still see and

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Speaker 1: feel each other's personality, we can hear the tonality, and

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Speaker 1: we can see affects from each other, and so it's

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Speaker 1: a little bit more than just communicating in a written format,

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Speaker 1: and so we're able to really build that relationship. They

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Speaker 1: also enjoy the flexibility it allows in their schedules as

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Speaker 1: well as the convenance of just having to log on

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Speaker 1: and I'm right there. They don't have to travel or

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Speaker 1: really fitted into their schedule in addition to travel and

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Speaker 1: things like that. But I always share with people who

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Speaker 1: are a little bit unsure about telehealth because you know, honestly,

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Speaker 1: it's it's still a fairly new thing. It's been around

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Speaker 1: for about thirty years. And we talked about the telemedicine space,

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Speaker 1: but for tele mental health, I think it's gaining more

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Speaker 1: traction in the last like ten years and more visibility.

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Speaker 1: And so I always tell people that it's been researched

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Speaker 1: for effectiveness. And so in the early two thousands, there

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Speaker 1: were a lot of different studies done, but a couple

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Speaker 1: that I like and that I like to share is

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Speaker 1: that in two thousand and one, a study was conducted

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Speaker 1: by the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University here in St.

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Speaker 1: Louis and showed that patients quickly adapt an established report

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Speaker 1: because the basis of relationship building is there with telehealth.

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Speaker 1: And then there was another one, another study done in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and five by a psychologist from Northwestern University

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Speaker 1: who conducted trials that showed that clients living with depression

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Speaker 1: tended to stay in counseling longer and star a larger

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Speaker 1: reduction and symptoms by participating in phone counseling. And so,

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Speaker 1: you know, I like people to know that there is

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Speaker 1: research back to the effectiveness of of tle mental health

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Speaker 1: and virtual therapy. Yeah, I mean, and I'm glad you

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Speaker 1: brought that up right, because that is I think another

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Speaker 1: benefit of virtual therapy is, you know, sometimes one of

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Speaker 1: the more significant symptoms of depression is like not wanting

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Speaker 1: to move and not wanting to leave your house. So

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Speaker 1: if you can talk with your therapists via you know,

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Speaker 1: your laptop or your tablet, then you can still participate

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Speaker 1: in treatment and you know, make receive some benefits from

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Speaker 1: the treatment that you wouldn't have if you, you know,

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Speaker 1: stay at home. Yeah, absolutely, as well as the social

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Speaker 1: anxieties as well. And we know that that's the largest

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Speaker 1: mental health and illness in the world and so or

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Speaker 1: at least we'll say in the US, And so that's

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Speaker 1: also a great benefit as well. And I think it

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Speaker 1: is important for us to mention that this is not

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Speaker 1: jumping on face time with your therapist, right, So it's

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Speaker 1: not like your therapist will just FaceTime call you and

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Speaker 1: you just answer these are very or at least your

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Speaker 1: therapist should be using hip or complying software and platforms

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Speaker 1: that will increase the security of the session. Correct, absolutely, yes, yeah,

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Speaker 1: so there are precautions that your therapist should be taking.

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Speaker 1: But like you mentioned, you know, like if you decide

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Speaker 1: to have your session and you know your partner is

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Speaker 1: like right next to you, then you are compromising your

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Speaker 1: own confidentiality. But your therapist is taking the precautions they

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Speaker 1: need to make sure the session is safe. Yes, absolutely,

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Speaker 1: got you. Okay, So what kinds of consideration should somebody

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Speaker 1: consider if they're thinking about virtual therapy, Like what kinds

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Speaker 1: of things might they want to think about? Yes, So

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Speaker 1: I always say that the virtual therapy is just the

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Speaker 1: method in which we're doing the actual therapy, but you

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Speaker 1: definitely want to consider the expertise of the clinician and

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Speaker 1: if their focus is what you need, and so you

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Speaker 1: want to make sure that that the actual option is

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Speaker 1: not the main thing that the person. If you're experience

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Speaker 1: and depression or anxiety, that that actual clinicsian that's offering

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Speaker 1: the virtual therapy specializes in those things. Another huge thing

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Speaker 1: because of the the lack of geographical barriers with tell

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Speaker 1: A mental health and we want to make sure that

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Speaker 1: the clinician is licensed in the state that you reside in,

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Speaker 1: because it's legally required. And so that's the misconception that

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Speaker 1: a lot of people have is that because we can

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Speaker 1: just use our phones or computers and things like that,

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Speaker 1: then we can work with anybody, and that's not true.

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Speaker 1: Also tell people to do as real self assessment and

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Speaker 1: consider if they would be comfortable seeing someone from a

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Speaker 1: distance again, because the comfort and the impact of a

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Speaker 1: separate therapeutic space is really important to some people. And

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Speaker 1: so as well as thinking about if you have a

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Speaker 1: support person that is is near and accessible if there

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Speaker 1: is ever an emergency situation, and so that's not something

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Speaker 1: that was mentioned yet, but emergency planning is something that

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Speaker 1: is very important when it comes to tell a mental

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Speaker 1: health because if a client were to experience at sometimes

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Speaker 1: some suicidal thoughts or things like that, there has to

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Speaker 1: be an emergency management plan in place that usually includes

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Speaker 1: a emergency support person near the kind of triage that

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Speaker 1: with the therapist, and then clients should be to feel

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Speaker 1: free to ask if their tele mental health therapist or

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Speaker 1: counselor has completed any training. And so some states required

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Speaker 1: and some don't. And you also share that you know,

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Speaker 1: it's not just jumping on a FaceTime call, and it

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Speaker 1: really speaks to the clinician operating in their areas of competence,

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Speaker 1: which is a safeguard for the client, and the client

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Speaker 1: should be comfortable and aware of talking about that with

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Speaker 1: the clinician. Yeah, like you said, all of the states

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Speaker 1: don't require it, but you know, it does feel like

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Speaker 1: most therapists who are doing a significant amount of virtual

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Speaker 1: therapy or tele mental health have completed at least some

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Speaker 1: like trainings and maybe even some additional certifications. Yes, yeah,

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Speaker 1: So can you talk a little bit more about the

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Speaker 1: emergency planning because I know that that is something that

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Speaker 1: often comes up and I think something that you know,

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Speaker 1: frightens some therapists away from maybe wanting to do tele

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Speaker 1: mental health is like, Okay, what do I do in

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Speaker 1: case of an emergency? So can you talk a little

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Speaker 1: bit about what the processes like with you and your clients. Yes,

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Speaker 1: So assessment of fit is very important, and so when

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Speaker 1: a client contacts me for a consultation, we're having that

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Speaker 1: initial call, I'm usually doing a brief assessment at that time,

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Speaker 1: and so I'm assessing if they are at high risk

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Speaker 1: of currently having suicidal thoughts or have had a plan

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Speaker 1: or intent. Also assessing for any homicidal ideation, any active

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Speaker 1: substance use, um, any delusions around technology, and so that

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Speaker 1: means some people experience thoughts and things that someone is

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Speaker 1: spine on them through their computer or things like that.

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Speaker 1: So that wouldn't be comfortable in a therapeutic face if

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Speaker 1: that's some concerns as well as some complex traumas, and

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Speaker 1: so those are some things that I quickly assessed for

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Speaker 1: in a consultation within also through the assessment phase. And

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Speaker 1: so with the emergency planning, I share with clients that

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Speaker 1: if any safety issue were to come up, and we'll

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Speaker 1: just speak about the suicidal thoughts and things like that

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Speaker 1: if that was to ever be concerned, and I definitely

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Speaker 1: openly share with them that is my ethical responsibility to

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Speaker 1: call the police to do a wellness check and things

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Speaker 1: like that. But I also wanted to be a little

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Speaker 1: bit more comfortable for them too, and so we talk

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Speaker 1: about any support people that they have in their life

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Speaker 1: that has quick access to them. And so if it

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Speaker 1: is a spouse, where if it is a parent, that

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Speaker 1: they would give me permission to disclose and contact them

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Speaker 1: and say that I am their therapists and they are

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Speaker 1: having a very hard time right now and if they

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Speaker 1: could check on them. I remain on the phone or

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Speaker 1: in a session with my client during that time, but

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Speaker 1: then I also triage with the support person as well. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so it is very similar to what you would do

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Speaker 1: if you were meeting with the person in your office. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: but unfortunately they have the ability to hang up and

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Speaker 1: disconnect the right thing that they should. You know, they

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Speaker 1: have the actually leave your office too, Like I've had

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Speaker 1: clients that leave, you know, like just abruptly into session

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Speaker 1: if you know things are not going the way they

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Speaker 1: wanted something. So I mean, so they're still an option

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Speaker 1: even in real life that's true. Yeah, so Melissa, does

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Speaker 1: insurance pay for virtual therapy? Yes, there are many insurance

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Speaker 1: companies that pay for virtual therapy and usually equivalence of

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Speaker 1: the cost traditional, but it varies state to state, and

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Speaker 1: it also varies between insurance companies as well. And so

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Speaker 1: I always tell people that the best thing to do

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Speaker 1: is to contact there ensure to ask about the details

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Speaker 1: of their specific plan, okay, okay. And so if that

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Speaker 1: is something that is going to be like a priority,

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Speaker 1: like if using your insurance is a priority, then checking

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Speaker 1: with your insurance company probably is the first place you

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Speaker 1: want to start. Yes, absolutely, And are there other places

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Speaker 1: that people could go to find therapists who offer virtual therapy,

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Speaker 1: Like is there a directory that list people? Like where

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Speaker 1: would you go to find a therapist who practices virtual therapy?

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Speaker 1: There are many directories one, I mean therapy for Black Girls.

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Speaker 1: Many of the clinicians specify if they offer virtual on sland,

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Speaker 1: also on Psychology Today dot com. That's something that people specify.

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Speaker 1: There are specific directories as well that are coming out

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Speaker 1: that a little bit newer for clinicians that provide virtual therapy.

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Speaker 1: I'm not a part of any of those, But then

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Speaker 1: you also have the open Path collective with when you

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Speaker 1: have people that need discounted options, you can also act

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Speaker 1: your primary care physician as well as contact and insurance

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Speaker 1: companies as well. But I think when you're looking for

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Speaker 1: a therapists who only provides virtual therapy or that's the

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Speaker 1: main route that you want, there are also just a

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Speaker 1: lot of companies that are becoming larger that provides that

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Speaker 1: as a as a basis. So I think now just

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Speaker 1: traditional therapists like they are specifying if they offer tele

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Speaker 1: therapy and addition, but then you have some of those

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Speaker 1: bigger companies as well that that's their main focus online. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so we're definitely gonna talk about it. I'm guessing you're

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Speaker 1: referring to like talks Base and Better Help and seven

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Speaker 1: Cups of like those kinds of companies. Okay, So before

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Speaker 1: we get there, though, I do want to kind of

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Speaker 1: talk a little bit about like pricing in terms of

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Speaker 1: virtual therapy, because I think that they're for some people

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Speaker 1: there could be the idea that, oh, it's virtual, so

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Speaker 1: it's likely not going to be the same price as

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Speaker 1: coming into your traditional office, and so what are your

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Speaker 1: thoughts about that. Tell the therapy and virtual therapy is

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Speaker 1: is just the method in which you're participating in therapy,

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Speaker 1: but you are still what you're paying for is the

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Speaker 1: expertise and the skill and the time with your therapists.

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Speaker 1: And so those counsel sessions, and I'll speak for myself,

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Speaker 1: are still an hour session, and so I am sectioning

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Speaker 1: off an hour of my time, are dedicating an hour

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Speaker 1: of my time to my client for their session. And

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Speaker 1: so I tell health's gonna be about the same as

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Speaker 1: traditional therapy, as we see with with many different therapists,

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Speaker 1: Like we have different fees as well, and some you

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Speaker 1: can find a little bit more of a lower rate

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Speaker 1: and some maybe higher. It's not necessar really going to

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Speaker 1: be lower because you're still paying for the time and

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Speaker 1: the skill of that clinician. Yeah, and that's where I

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Speaker 1: think some of the confusion may come, like with like

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Speaker 1: talk space and better help, because those fees are typically lower, right,

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Speaker 1: But that also I know that they have like different

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Speaker 1: plans sometimes like you can do the text messaging or

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Speaker 1: you could do video, but their fees likely still are

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Speaker 1: not as high as you would if you were just

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Speaker 1: going with a traditional therapist who offers virtual therapy. Yeah. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: And I think that can be misleading sometimes because some

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Speaker 1: of those lower fees are talking to more of those

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Speaker 1: written formats and that's all the text based therapy, based

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Speaker 1: therapy where you don't have to necessarily dedicate that our

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Speaker 1: space to that client. It definitely does take time to

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Speaker 1: construct some of those written messages and responses and things,

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Speaker 1: because again you have to communicate in a written form

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Speaker 1: that expertise in that skill to that client. But some

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Speaker 1: of those lower fees that they advertise, I think it's

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Speaker 1: it's more gear it towards that text based therapy because

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Speaker 1: with some like talk Space and Better and Breakthrough and

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Speaker 1: Better Health as well, they also offer video and it's

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Speaker 1: about average to what traditional therapists charge. Okay, okay, So

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Speaker 1: while we're talking about that, let's just move into talking

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Speaker 1: about and not necessarily about any platform and specific but

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Speaker 1: in general, like all of those platforms offer similar kinds

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Speaker 1: of things. So what are your thoughts about, you know,

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Speaker 1: like people reaching out or working with therapists through any

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Speaker 1: of those platforms. Do you feel like those are good

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Speaker 1: choices for people to explore? Yes, I think they can

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Speaker 1: be good choices as long as you're knowledgeable about what

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Speaker 1: you're participated in. And so full disclosure. I was a

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Speaker 1: therapist through one of the online platforms before and and

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Speaker 1: a very good experience. But some concerns that arise is

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Speaker 1: that with some of them, they do random matches to

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Speaker 1: a therapist, which means that they have like a little

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Speaker 1: bit of a virtual assistant that takes some of the

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Speaker 1: background and assessment information and then they randomly match them

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Speaker 1: to a therapist. And so what I was seeing that

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Speaker 1: was happening often was that I was being assigned clients

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Speaker 1: that were not in state with me, And as I

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Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, that's something that I'm legally required to be

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Speaker 1: bound to with the exception of international clients and so

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Speaker 1: intele mental health there are no international regulations and so

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Speaker 1: you can't have clients in other countries and things like that,

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Speaker 1: but other states you cannot. And so I think they

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Speaker 1: can be good choices as long as clients are able

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Speaker 1: to do a little bit of that background research on

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Speaker 1: the clinician and still see what their expertise is, still

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Speaker 1: see where they are located, and make sure that they

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Speaker 1: are getting the service and things that they that they wanted,

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Speaker 1: that they need right and that is important to pay

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Speaker 1: attention to. I mean probably more of a concern for

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Speaker 1: the therapist providing the services right that they're making sure

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Speaker 1: they're practicing ethically, But you as the client also want

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Speaker 1: to be aware of like any kinds of things that

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Speaker 1: could come up, you know, like if somebody realizes like

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Speaker 1: you're not in their date and you've been working with

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Speaker 1: them for a while and then there may need to

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Speaker 1: be like an abrupt termination or something like that, that

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Speaker 1: those are the kinds of things you would want to

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Speaker 1: think about. Yes, absolutely, God you okay, So Melissa, you

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Speaker 1: mentioned you know, like you have a system that allows

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Speaker 1: you to do screen sharing, which sounds really cool, right,

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Speaker 1: Like that's just like when we are in our offices

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Speaker 1: using like a white board or something to work through

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Speaker 1: an issue with the client. So that I think does

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Speaker 1: add another layer of comfort and like ability to work

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Speaker 1: with the client by sharing your screen. So what kinds

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Speaker 1: of things are you typically working with on your clients, Like,

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Speaker 1: what is the specialty that you use in your practice? Yes,

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Speaker 1: so I work a lot with clients to experience and

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Speaker 1: anxiety as well as depression. I'm seeing a lot of

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Speaker 1: chronic stress and and overwhelmed, So stresses is a huge

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Speaker 1: one as well as some trauma, and so my background

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Speaker 1: is cognitive behavioral therapy as well as very hugely strength

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Speaker 1: focused as well as brief solution focused therapy. And so

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Speaker 1: I'm you saying all of those same kills and interventions

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Speaker 1: and things just at a distance. And so it's it's

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Speaker 1: better and easier when I can walk a client through

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Speaker 1: a particular intervention in using worksheets or there's an option

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Speaker 1: on there where they can share journals and things with me,

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Speaker 1: and so I'm able to read some things that they're

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Speaker 1: doing some homework on that they can share with me

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Speaker 1: even in between sessions. So that's helpful as well. So

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Speaker 1: I'm doing all the same work as I would in

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Speaker 1: a traditional office, but just providing it at a distance. Yeah. Okay,

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Speaker 1: and you kind of touched on this a little bit,

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Speaker 1: but can you go in more detailer at anything that

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Speaker 1: you didn't say before. Are there certain concerns that would

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Speaker 1: not be appropriate for virtual therapy? Yes, definitely high risks,

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Speaker 1: and when I say higher risk for suicidal thoughts, I

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Speaker 1: would say like currently actively having suicidal thoughts, And definitely

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Speaker 1: if there is any type of a plan that would

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Speaker 1: probably not be appropriate for distance council. Again because that

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Speaker 1: safety is what's important. And so yes, there are clients

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Speaker 1: who have had past thoughts of suicide before, but they

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Speaker 1: have worked through those and they may be more passive

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Speaker 1: and not very developed or they're able to control them

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Speaker 1: and things like that. And so definitely active suicidal thoughts,

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Speaker 1: Definitely active thoughts of homicidal ideation, any active substance use.

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Speaker 1: And that's with any therapy and again delusions around technology

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Speaker 1: and any real complex trauma that that in person, just

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Speaker 1: physical space would be more important to to have. What's

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Speaker 1: the issue with the active substance abuse, Melissa, So what

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Speaker 1: the active substance abuse will again, it's it's safety. And

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Speaker 1: so when we're looking at at mental health and having

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Speaker 1: talk therapy and things, when there's any type of substance

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Speaker 1: abuse so high alcoholism or any substance abuse like pills

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Speaker 1: and things of that nature, we want to make sure

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Speaker 1: that detox happens first and that a person is working

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Speaker 1: towards recovery before we can talk about can actually engage

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Speaker 1: and really good talk therapy, because um, we know that

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Speaker 1: substances and things alter our thoughts and things of that nature.

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Speaker 1: And again because of safety at a distance, if someone

437
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:22,960
Speaker 1: is actively using substances they can actively be doing that,

438
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,080
Speaker 1: you know, during our session or right before the session

439
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 1: and things like that, and so being able to have

440
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 1: a cent of alcohol or anything else and having that

441
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,000
Speaker 1: real good assessment that we can see through video, but

442
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:40,240
Speaker 1: it's even more prominent in person. But again just with

443
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:44,320
Speaker 1: the the safety and the altering of the mind, we

444
00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:46,719
Speaker 1: we don't want to engage and that if there's active

445
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,600
Speaker 1: substance us got you? So in an active you mean,

446
00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 1: like like you just said, like me have drink or

447
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:56,600
Speaker 1: something right before session? Yes? Got you? Okay, okay? And

448
00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:00,119
Speaker 1: where can we find you online? Melissa? Your webs night

449
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,320
Speaker 1: in any social media handles you want to share? Yes,

450
00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:07,600
Speaker 1: so my website is www dot gold Driven Counseling dot com.

451
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:13,600
Speaker 1: I'm on Facebook at Gold Driven Counseling LLC, on Instagram

452
00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:17,320
Speaker 1: at Gold Driven Counseling, and on Twitter at Gold Driven

453
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:20,800
Speaker 1: Council Without an Eye. Got it? And of course all

454
00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 1: of that information will be included in the show notes,

455
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,399
Speaker 1: so people can find that really easily. So you mentioned

456
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,000
Speaker 1: to Melissa the two studies, Um, but I wondered if

457
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,920
Speaker 1: you had any other resources that you really enjoyed, whether

458
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,680
Speaker 1: about like tele mental health or like your populations that

459
00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,399
Speaker 1: you really enjoy working with, like the adult NG and UM,

460
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,240
Speaker 1: the major transitions, any like books or podcasts or things

461
00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,480
Speaker 1: that you suggest for people wanting to read more about that. Well,

462
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,520
Speaker 1: I focus a lot on using just what's as our

463
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 1: fingertips and so a lot of the resources that I share, UM,

464
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:53,879
Speaker 1: I use a lot of excerpts and things from different

465
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,600
Speaker 1: articles and books and things like that. But I also

466
00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:00,200
Speaker 1: like to use apps really really largely because we have

467
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 1: a lot of them that you know, are on our

468
00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:04,359
Speaker 1: phones and things that are free that are very very helpful.

469
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,000
Speaker 1: That helps when we're trying to work through interventions and

470
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:10,400
Speaker 1: things with our therapists or just in our everyday life.

471
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:15,399
Speaker 1: And so I have a top five and the first

472
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,600
Speaker 1: just completely contradicted myself because the first is actually not

473
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 1: an app, but it goes into the space of just

474
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 1: the using technology more fully. And so one I suggest

475
00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:28,879
Speaker 1: a lot of journaling with my clients, just to to

476
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,040
Speaker 1: sit down, be mindful and work through some things. And

477
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,359
Speaker 1: some of them they're like, you know, if they're college

478
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:36,840
Speaker 1: students and professionals, they're like, oh my gosh, like I

479
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 1: do not want to write another thing, even if it

480
00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:41,920
Speaker 1: is about my feelings. And so one thing that I

481
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:45,440
Speaker 1: suggest is audio journaling. And so what I tell them

482
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,120
Speaker 1: is we can go through the same processes and things

483
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,680
Speaker 1: as a journal and really vincing about and working through

484
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,440
Speaker 1: our feelings and our thoughts and our emotions, but we

485
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 1: can do it through audio. And so I share with

486
00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,159
Speaker 1: them to turn their their phone on like their going

487
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:02,159
Speaker 1: to record a video, and then just to sit it

488
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:04,159
Speaker 1: down so it only picks up audio and they're not

489
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,440
Speaker 1: worried about looking at themselves and what it looks like.

490
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:10,040
Speaker 1: And so I instruct them to go through the journaling

491
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: process but just talking it out loud, and so it

492
00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,119
Speaker 1: takes that pressure off having to write. But then they

493
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:17,360
Speaker 1: can steal process through things and then hear it back

494
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:21,800
Speaker 1: to themselves. And so that's one but one actual app

495
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:24,359
Speaker 1: is called the Moment app, and that can track our

496
00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,000
Speaker 1: cell phone usage. And so with a lot of the

497
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:29,480
Speaker 1: clients that I have that are talking to me about

498
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,639
Speaker 1: being overwhelmed and feeling stress and just not having enough time,

499
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,119
Speaker 1: sometimes we take a step back and look at how

500
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,960
Speaker 1: we're using our time, especially when we're exhausted. We're kind

501
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 1: of just kind of surfing through the internet or social

502
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:44,760
Speaker 1: media and things like that, and so that shows them

503
00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:48,080
Speaker 1: like what they're putting their their time to in an actual,

504
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:51,240
Speaker 1: like quantitative way. And so we can look at, okay,

505
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,280
Speaker 1: if you spent three hours on social media today, like

506
00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:57,359
Speaker 1: how can we use that differently. Another one that I

507
00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:01,160
Speaker 1: use is called Relaxed Melodies, and that one gives relaxing

508
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:03,280
Speaker 1: sounds that can be like mixed with each other, and

509
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,359
Speaker 1: so you can have like a rain sound mixed with

510
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,439
Speaker 1: like gusty winds. And so some of my clients who

511
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,119
Speaker 1: we're practicing that mindfulness and some of that grounding, it

512
00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:15,919
Speaker 1: helps at that time. But then also those who are

513
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,560
Speaker 1: having trouble sleeping and having trouble fallen asleep, having some

514
00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:22,640
Speaker 1: of those sounds and working through some deep breathing can

515
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:26,440
Speaker 1: be very helpful for that um. The third one is Pacificum,

516
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:29,400
Speaker 1: and it tracks moods and thoughts and it also has

517
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,119
Speaker 1: some guided meditations and so that can be very helpful

518
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,119
Speaker 1: when we're trying to look at patterns. And then the

519
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,280
Speaker 1: last one is a breathe app and it also helps

520
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:40,920
Speaker 1: with the the guided breathing because learning how to to

521
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,400
Speaker 1: deep breathe can it can be very different from just

522
00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:46,880
Speaker 1: our our normal breathing that we have every day. Those

523
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:48,800
Speaker 1: are great, Melissa. I'm sure a lot of people will

524
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:52,640
Speaker 1: want to check those out. Thank you all right, well,

525
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us to day, Melissa.

526
00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:57,280
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Thank you again so much for

527
00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 1: having me dr Joy and just thank you for this

528
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: this resource true developed because it is absolutely amazing. You're welcome.

529
00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:06,960
Speaker 1: Thank you for being a part of it. I hope

530
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,720
Speaker 1: you enjoyed the information Melissa had to share with us.

531
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:12,440
Speaker 1: Don't forget to check out all the apps and other

532
00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:15,520
Speaker 1: information she shared in the show notes at Therapy for

533
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,600
Speaker 1: Black Girls dot com slash Session one. If there's someone

534
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,480
Speaker 1: in your life who's been contemplating starting virtual with therapy,

535
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,000
Speaker 1: then please be sure to share this episode with them.

536
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:28,400
Speaker 1: If you're looking for a virtual with therapist in your state,

537
00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:31,840
Speaker 1: check out our therapist directory at Therapy for Black Girls

538
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,440
Speaker 1: dot com slash directory. And if you want to continue

539
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:37,840
Speaker 1: digging into this topic and meet some other sisters in

540
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 1: your area, come on over and join us in the

541
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,080
Speaker 1: Yellow Couch Collective, where we take a deeper dive into

542
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:46,280
Speaker 1: the topics from the podcast and just about everything else.

543
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,160
Speaker 1: You can join us at Therapy for Black Girls dot

544
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:53,400
Speaker 1: com slash y CEC don't forget to show our sponsor

545
00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 1: some love by grabbing your Cause Box for thirty percent

546
00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,960
Speaker 1: off by going to college box dot com slash Therapy

547
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 1: me for Black Girls and entering the Code Therapy for

548
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 1: Black Girls. Thank you all so much for joining me

549
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,720
Speaker 1: again this week. I look forward to continuing this conversation

550
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:28,040
Speaker 1: with you all real soon. Take it care what