WELCOME
DR. LASHAUNDA POINDEXTER MASSEY
MASSEY MOMENTS
FROM THE MIND OF A MENTAL HEALTH EXPERT
OCTOBER 2023
CLINICAL PRACTICE
ANNIVERSARY
EIGHTEEN: Elevating | Educating | Empowering
It’s my 18 year Clinical Practice Anniversary. Here’s the back story. I completed my doctorate degree, then obtained my license as a Clinical Psychologist 21 years ago. Mental Health was still quite taboo back then (and I’m sad to say very little has changed). Nevertheless, I always endeavored to work in private practice. I would say, “Give me my 4 walls and my one client at a time!” Over these 18 years I have seen amazing transformations take place behind my closed door and within those 4 walls. And my call to the cause of mental health has only gotten stronger. What does that mean currently? Eighteen equals expansion. There’s more work for me to do.
Allow me to introduce the NEW elements of expansion for my clinical practice:
ELEVATING There is a significant need to elevate mental health to its rightful place as an essential element of our existence. Nothing sustainable happens for anyone who is not mentally stable. Mental malfunction will undermine one’s very existence. We can no longer allow mental health to be the forbidden, shameful issue we whisper about behind closed doors “protected” by peculiar definitions of confidentiality that promote secrecy instead of privacy.
EDUCATING There is a significant need to educate the masses about mental health and mental illness. We are not gifted mental health and we must work for it the same way we work for physical health. We can no longer allow conversations about mental health to only arise in the wake of human tragedy like mass shootings or suicide by a celebrity. Everyone needs a deeper understanding of mental illness and mental health, and it should start long before one is in need of mental crisis intervention.
EMPOWERING There is a significant need to equip everyone with the skills necessary to live mentally healthy daily. Skills associated with emotional intelligence, self care, mindfulness and meta cognition (thinking about thinking) must become woven into parenting and primary education, college readiness and employment evaluation, and our overall sense of wellbeing. We have become hyper-focused on generational wealth, but I want to encourage you to remember that health is wealth and there is no health without mental health!
I’m looking forward to the expansion of eighteen and the launching of new endeavors that align with these three elements. Stay tuned as the four walls associated with mental health service are toppled and platforms for mental health are erected center stage.
THE ELEMENTS OF DR. MASSEY
CLINICIAN
“Mental illness is not the problem. Untreated mental illness is the problem.”
CLINICIAN
PHILANTHROPIST
PHILANTHROPIST
“I want to live what I teach in session. You have to DO the work.”