amiramartinlcsw

So getting through year two of “staying in” and dealing with mandates, lack of mandates, masks, a lack of people wearing masks, continued racial stress and racism, and the addition of a rapidly shifting climate crisis has lead to many feeling less than festive this holiday season.

I decided to come up with this Christmas list of self care, self soothing, grounding and mental health care items for you and those you love this year. Let’s get through this year in the most supportive and loving fashion possible.

1- Saint John’s wort- considered a natural mood booster https://amzn.to/3FfPug9

2- Weighted Blanket, for stress, anxiety, enhanced mood and better sleep https://amzn.to/3HpEq22

3- Calming Tea https://amzn.to/3nhaAEw

4- Sun lamp (full spectrum light therapy lamp), especially good during the winter when sunlight hours are shorter and lead to Depression. https://amzn.to/3ndoF5V

5- Women’s walking shoes (no fuss slip on so you have no excuse but to move your body and increase your endorphins (feel good brain hormones)- https://amzn.to/3FkaiDj

6- Men’s walking shoes (no fuss slip on so you have no excuses) https://amzn.to/2YKGcZU

7- Father daughter journal for youth, by my fellow therapist and friend Danielle Fairbairn-Bland https://amzn.to/3ncvZyT

8- Kwanzaa Activity Book for children – https://amzn.to/3FczzPG

9- Self Healing Journal with daily prompts and exercises- https://amzn.to/3qDg9zw

And finally my personal favorites……….

10- Self care set, complete with a card, mug, pencil, and trinket tray, journal, and scented soap set packaged for her- https://amzn.to/3orJNEX

11- Aromatherapy oils – https://amzn.to/3wMY6YD

12- Aromatherapy candles – https://amzn.to/3naPS9r

13- Anxiety and Depression Workbook for home use – https://amzn.to/3naV7G9

14- Couples Therapy Workbook for home use – https://amzn.to/3ncEE4o

15- The Family Therapy Workbook for home use- https://amzn.to/3c9Mw0f

Over the last two decades, I have worked with countless individuals dealing with serious challenges like Anxiety, Depression, BiPolar Disorder, PTSD and more. When you’re feeling down, jittery or nervous, avoiding going outside to socialize (in Pre-Covid days this was especially valid), avoiding communicating with friends and family via zoom, text or phone….. and those feeling do not go away or improve over several weeks, that can be a sign that you need to explore professional help.

A therapist (LCSW, Counselor, LMSW, Psychiatrist or Psychologist) can be the key to helping you get back to a place where you felt more yourself and are able to function and just feel okay, or even feel good again.

When myself or a member of my team meets with a new client now, we first speak with them during a phone or video consultation, then we schedule a session with them. After that comes the actual assessment. AmiraForHer.com AmiraForHim.com

Then the work begins, the process of learning and understanding you as a new client is underway. And at times there is additional support and products we recommend as part of the self care that is very important for clients.

Calming Teas, herbs, supplements, a routine and schedule are all potentially useful additions to therapy.

Here is one of our favorites: https://amzn.to/3kwZ5qU

So many of my clients have benefited from learning grounding skills and other ways to cope that utilize their senses over the years. I decided to create a company to meet this need. MyTherapyEssentials.com is a corporation, which works to provide products that can be used alone or in conjunction with therapy in order to facilitate mental and emotional wellness. Each product comes with a technique, or way to use it in day to day rituals, grounding techniques, or other self-care manner. This is our first product, a turquoise earring and bracelet set. Check us out at MyTherapyEssentials.com and join our email list so you wont miss us once we go live!

This has become really just joyous! I LOVE helping other therapists build and grow! It gives me that just finished doing something both meaningful and useful feeling that I often seek at this point of my life. I feel quite spoiled by the fact that I get to do this sort of work. Helping others succeed. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGnl2YYfhhD5OlrdeaUnK_Q

Or find us on FaceBook at facebook.com/AmiraRaphaella

Or simply AmiraMartin.com

It’s been a long COVID year, and what did we learn? We learned to hold our loved ones dear, to kiss our children, appreciate and lean on our friends, family’s and partners. For so many of us, this last year has been a time where we lost loved ones, lost employment, lost a sense of safety and balance in the world. Those wounds will all take time to recover.

For me as a therapist, I learned a great deal about the many ways trauma can show up in a persons life. Racial Trauma, Physical Trauma, Emotional Trauma, so many ways we are impacted and at times we may not even know how or why. Please pay close attention to your mood, to your stomach, your shoulders, your breathing and your thoughts, and seek help when you need to.

During the pandemic I received a tremendous number of client calls and requests, and have worked to increase my capacity as a therapist, I was seeing as many clients as possible to meet this dire need. I realized I was burning out and could not last. I decided to go ahead and further develop my group private practice. At the time I had about 7 providers, and throughout the pandemic and these months since, we have blossomed into 50 providers, including several LCSW and LMHC supervisors. It has been a blessing to be able to serve the community and those who need help. I quickly realized many of the therapists who reached out to me wanted to go into practice on their own.

I started coaching new therapists and sharing tips and created some 1:1 plans to help therapists foster successful businesses. It was something I started doing in 2016, but at that time I never intended to do it outside of my close circle of friends and colleagues. Between 2016 and 2020, I was able to help about a dozen clients get their start or make some specific changes within their private practices.

With the nearing end of the pandemic coming, I realize and continue to read that our countries mental health issues will continue to soar and even increase. I feel great about offering a service where I can teach, coach and guide providers into creating useful, sustainable private practices. And terrific about the high quality of the coaching service I provide!

Please check us out on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AmiraRaphaella .Our facebook group is called The Build- Private Practice Coaching and Development for the Faint of Heart. Or find us online at https://www.amiramartin.com/

I enjoyed today! And tonight was definitely the topper! My hope to create another division of my business is in the works! I interviewed four new men today, all men of color and all therapists devoted to the healing and growth of Black and Brown communities. What started out as a dream for me is truly coming to fruition! Check us out at http://therapistsforblackmales.com

Part 2 of my awesome day was attending a CRDI Coalition on Race, Diversity and Intersectionality https://m.facebook.com/groups/1777990515797738?view=info The focus was on Empowerment through art. Listening to spoken word, music, poetry and all topped off by my daughter getting to hear a book read to her!

Missing these times and being able to go out and connect but not was today a good day!

Looking forward to the future and this brand New Year! I think it’s definitely time to order some chucks! It’s still true that the rainbow comes only after the rain, and it truly is darkest before dawn. I refuse to give up on all of what is important to me no matter the obstacles in my path.

Happy Juneteenth all!

As I was reflecting on what to say in honor of Juneteenth today, I thought back to when the photo above was taken on Juneteenth of 2019. My staff and I went out to celebrate our practice and the Juneteenth holiday. And then I thought back to all the Juneteenth’s I have considered, celebrated, and lived since I started my journey in anti-racism education, work and life in 2005. It’s been 15 years this year for me and that is something to be proud of and celebrate! This year is quite different however, as workplaces are giving people time off, classes are being cancelled, and company’s, friends and colleagues are wishing me and all of us a Happy Juneteenth! It’s a great time of acknowledgement and the hope of broader change is quite present. But….as many of us Black folk do….I have my doubts.

I have seen quite POWERFUL moments before. And powerful moments in time are exhilarating, thrilling, joyous, and often a time to celebrate. They can be dark, dangerous, scary or moments of sheer joy! But they are just that….fleeting moments. So I asked myself after seeing many of these moments- how can this become a lasting change? Obviously there are some large broad changes that are taking place politically and socially, but without sustained effort and commitment by people behind these changes, they won’t be enough and they will fade. I can sit in a room with an agency CEO or other executive and see change in their mindset. I can sit with a client and see a shift in their perspective that allows them to rethink and examine their internalized racial inferiority. But without a process of decision making and stick-to-itness- those moments don’t go anywhere. We need MOVEMENTS not MOMENTS!

You might ask yourself how can you create a movement as just one person right? How can you ensure that there is ongoing change regarding race and that the fight against anti-racism continues in your life? I can share a little about some of the ways I have committed and help you think about ways you may have already committed or can commit. It’s not the chanting and the riots and the protests (although that helps a great deal and has brought us to this global level of awareness), but the true power and sustained change will come from this becoming lasting change.

In 2006, I committed to doing a few things to continue my lifelong commitment to anti-racist work. I committed in sustainable ways that would work for me for the rest of my life. I have not walked away from those commitments and I know and can actually quantify some of the impact I have been able to make.

I co-facilitated and in some cases solely facilitated professional groups and training’s with a focus on race and anti-racism in professional organizations. I began offering supervision and hiring primarily black staff in the roles I held. I committed to teaching and guiding them to the best of my ability. I committed to giving them supervision, opportunity for advancement, pushing for them educationally and professionally and helping them into ,more advanced professional roles. So far I have directly supervised and helped in the career growth of over twenty professional people of color. Those twenty have become a professional, culturally competent, affirmative and appropriate racial and professional presence in our field. A field that is often filled with racism and unfair treatment and diagnosis for people of color. I committed to teaching and being present for my students, especially students of color, in a way that allows them to connect with me as a person and not just as an Advisor, Professor or Supervisor depending on which of these teaching roles we look at. I take the extra steps with my students, to help them understand more about their power and access to roles they may not have considered. I started  AmiraforHer.com , so more of us can be reached and get the help we need when we need it. And importantly, I mentor Black and Brown (BIPOC) women, both professionally and personally and have been able to co-create amazing mentor/mentee relationships with them. When asked about issues regarding race or racism, I partner, I share, I teach, I lead, and guide when necessary.

So enjoy today, and think about the ways you might be able to become a partner, a co-creator of this lifelong MOVEMENT that we all need to be part of. Happy Juneteenth!

What do you get when you have a room full of ten powerful, strong, vulnerable and willing Black and Latina women? YOU GET GIRL POWER! This past Monday I had the honor of facilitating group work with 10 dynamic women. As with any new group, there was little said in the beginning. As anxious eyes looked around, as an individual therapist to several of these women, I wanted to check in one on one. But…I couldn’t. Group work world is a whole other universe where you have to be mindful about how every single action and interaction effects everyone else in the room. It’s kind of like having more than one slightly jealous husband or overly involved mother in the same room at the same time. But despite that i have to say I LOVE IT! Because besides having to maintain this delicate balance there is the real work that must take place. This was the initial phase of getting to know each other, questioning and becoming comfortable. But just a few weeks, or in this groups case, minutes in- you have a different set up. People hearing each others voices, sharing, empathizing, connecting. This is where foundations are laid for the work that will get them, and me as their facilitator, to a whole new place of strength and understanding. I enjoy the journey!