I have a
saying, "Blak folk don't do therapy."
It dont say, "Blaq folk are ignorant or clueless to our needs."
It dont
say, "Blac folk need non-Black folk to come heal and save
us."
I said, "Blak folk don't do therapy," to who's who.
I
was asked in return, "Then why become an [art] therapist?"
I didn't feel like
explaining.
Power and privilege makes
one think they deserve an answer from us Black girls on demand.
Speak, answer, twerk, cry, be enraged, tell yo
story...on demand.
"I
want to see you angry to get
mad. If I were you, I would be
mad."
Well in
all ways of none are you me.
Let me reintroduce myself, I am a shealer a.k.a. ARTherapist.
The arts creative expression is my
modality.
The arts and expression are
how Blac/k/q folk have healed throughout the African Diaspora f o r e v e r.
I aint got no couch for you to
come sit on but i'll help you
build one if that's what you need.
I got some tools.
I got some destigmaticized and dismantled "therapy "that
we can re-imagine.
I got some of dat good good―I got my gift, my calling that has made room for me.
I got that calling on my life to
co-create healing spaces:
spaces to
acknowledge the hurts pains
and
the happy joys
spaces to
reflect
spaces to
process
spaces to
heal
spaces to
muddle through the shit
spaces to
cry
spaces to speak
spaces to be
heard
spaces to
ask for counsel
spaces to
pray
spaces to
meditate
spaces to sit stand walk
dance run shout
spaces to
come up with our own plans to heal
spaces to
dream
spaces to
give ourselves permission to...
spaces NOT
to be a monolith
spaces to
explain without having to give a backstory
spaces to
dream
spaces to be
affirmed
spaces where
we are given information to make informed decisions
spaces where
we can tend to our mental health in the context of our whole,
uncompartmentalized selves
spaces to be
our layered selves
spaces where
Blac/k/q is not a disease, tho we may have a dis-ease
spaces where
even if there are severe/complex mental health challenges we aint just put away
we aint just doped up
spaces where
mental health is individual
familial
and
community-centered
spaces where
we are the experts of ourselves
spaces where
we have resources
spaces where
we can tell our stories our way with our voice using our talk
spaces to
re-imagine our narratives
spaces to
restore ourselves
spaces to
art in all its many way
spaces where
we deconstruct crazy and simultaneously
dismantle systems of oppression
spaces where
we have the deserving luxury to heal...to be...transform....build....and/or act
I am thankful for reading this article by Erin “Mari” Morales-Williams this morning
cuz I thought I was flipping my lid because as I look at the jobs being offered
I aint interested in them. They are not doing what I think therapy should be
doing for people who look like me. I am not my sistas and brothas keeper, I am
my sistas and my brothas and I want us to have radical healing spaces where we
can heal, act and build simultaneously. This does not mean that I don't want to
hone my clinical skills, I do, but it's how and where I do it that I will not
compromise. Also, the Universe will not
let me settle for slave labor. I am free
and my resources are abundant, cuz my gift, my calling, has made room for me
and God has entered where she already abides.
