As I wrapped up my last session of the day, I remembered to pace myself and take my time exploring with my clients. Lucky to have the flexibility to engage in-depth with clients, the way that’s needed. As I sit down and reflect on my sessions today, I am reminded of the peace I feel. Peace, that wouldn’t be if not for others before me making a way, for me to succeed in a Caucasian-dominated career field of mental health.

We are in February, proudly known as Black History Month. As an African American female, I love embracing my heritage and showing my culture to the world. As a therapist, I pride myself on breaking barriers on a daily basis. I’ve had clients tell me they are proud to work with me and appreciate my skill set. Each day I come to the office, I am a walking celebration of pride and love for my Black Culture and psychotherapy.

As I grab my laptop to complete notes, I remember stories from my great-grandmother of her struggles to gain an education due to segregation. I was blessed to be given opportunities the others in my family weren’t given.   I represent more than just myself when I enter a room; I represent being the first generation college student in my family to obtain degrees and establish a career.

I love being young and goal-oriented. I love being knowledgeable in my career and learning new techniques. Most importantly I love being African American and embracing all my culture has to offer. As we dive into February, challenge yourself to learn about African American Culture and how we have celebrate diversity to make us stronger as a community. 

Remind yourself that history can be enriching, and past negative actions don’t have to be repeated. Lastly, applaud yourself for celebrating with others during Black History Month.

-Erin Tolbert

One service that we have always offered at JSA is “telehealth.” Simply put, it’s the phrase we use to describe online therapy. As our country is on the move these days and so connected to our laptops and our phones, telehealth has become a more and more popular option because it’s easy to fit into your day and into your travel schedule.

Telehealth, for us, has been more of a back-up option to in-person therapy. We have used it for couples that live too far away to commute to our office, for clients who have had a broken leg and were unable to drive, and for clients who have moved to the low country or to the upstate but still wanted to continue their therapy with us.

Because of COVID-19 and recommendations from the CDC for helping to slow the spread, most of us are practicing and encouraging “social distancing.” We are actively doing both here at JSA so our team is moving all of our sessions to telehealth. This is temporary and we will resume our normal office family life—of which you are a huge part—as soon as we are given the “all clear” from the CDC.

How does telehealth work?

It’s easy!

You will be given access to a website that lets you into our “portal.” From there, you will click on “appointments” and find a link to click to start your session. You can do this from your laptop or your smartphone… and you can do it anywhere! Ideally, you’ll have a quiet, private place to retreat to for your sessions just like you do when you come to our office in person.

This was an exceptionally tough decision for our team to make—your faces and your voices in our office literally make our day each day. This is a friendly, warm office and we love inviting you in for your appointment. We love welcoming you, opening the door when you forget your code, saying goodbye in unison, sharing a chuckle and a comment with you on the weather or the issue of the day. Not having this in person interaction with each of you is something that we will miss terribly during this time.

However, it was an easy decision to make when we took into account the safety of each of our clients, the safety of our staff, and the safety of the community that we all love so much. We support the CDC, our state government, and our federal government in all ways throughout the duration of COVID-19.

Know this: our important therapy and work together continues. We are not taking a break from our work with you. Therapy continues, as do all of our policies, standards, and goals. We do not take lightly the work of healing, exploring, and growing that happens in this office. You trust us to do our best and to show up ready to work. We trust you to be here with your honest openness.

Onward ever. Backward never.

For those with a fascination for the therapy profession and therapy experience as a client…this article is worth reading. I particularly love the encouragement for clinicians to be in a consultation group (which I have been for years) , to survey our effectiveness with clients (we have done this at Jill Smith and Associates, but need to re-up our efforts), and, finally, the call to videotape and review our sessions and show our work to colleagues for feedback to improve. Thank you to all my individuals and couples who have given me written permission to videotape sessions so that I may do just that–review our time together and therefore, hopefully, continue to improve my effectiveness.

See article from Bruce Wampold at Pychotherapy.net here.