Connecting Black and Brown Individuals with Therapists Who Understand | Crysta Harris of the Black Brown Delaware Therapists Directory (BBDT)

Just the ability to let people know that they can do it and that even if they look like me, meaning, you know, African American woman who may not come from the best environment or family dynamic or what have you, or if any obstacles thrown your way, that you absolutely do it. It may be difficult, but you can absolutely do it. And I think people look at me and they speak to me or they're my clients, they then you automatically leave with that. Me working with black and brown women, it's just I think sometimes a connection that is already formed that sometimes we don't even have to say anything. And that, I think has been my superpower. And I think that's something that anybody you talk to about me will probably say that.

Welcome to the Mental Health Entrepreneur Podcast. We are here to inspire creative ideas and connections for entrepreneurs and advocates working to address our mental health crisis. As you listen, I hope you will experience new ideas and motivation to innovate in your business, your community, and in your life. Welcome back to the Mental Health Entrepreneur Podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Harrison, and today I am excited to introduce to you you our guest, Krista Harris. She is the founder of the Black and Brown Delaware Therapist Directory, which I'm super excited to dig into. So welcome, Krista.

Hello.

Tell everybody a little bit about yourself. Maybe your story, how you became a mental health therapist.

Sure. So, as you said, my name is Krista Harris. I am a licensed therapist here in the state of Delaware. I currently am the owner of Krista Harrison Associates, a private practice at the moment, 100% virtual, where I work with black and brown women. And what I specialize in is anxiety, depression, and working with women with trauma. In addition to another branch I have added on is working with women who have challenges with perinatal mood disorders, such as any challenges like after or during birth. So whether that's anxiety, depression, trauma, ocd, things of that nature.

So how did you decide to work in mental health?

I always tell people, to me, there's like a few different options. Option A is like, oh, my goodness, I just love helping people. Option B is something traumatic, something challenging has happened, or somebody needs to be like a safe space when they were younger, or there's a mix of the two. So I go with there's a mix of the two. So, yes, I do like helping people, but growing up, I don't think there were always spaces for me to communicate feelings or even be able to identify those feelings. And I think I needed people to kind of like, let me know it was okay to communicate or let me know it is okay to share these feelings, or it is okay just for me to say when I'm not okay. So I think that coupled with a lot of trauma, I think, within my family dynamic, such as my mom not being present, my dad not being present, me kind of being separated from my siblings, and being raised by my grandmother, that was a lot, I think, for a child and a teenager to handle. And I didn't have any outlets. And so that is what encouraged me and influenced me to be therapist when I first started almost nine years ago.

Yeah. And I know you also identify yourself as an entrepreneur, so I'm curious about that piece too. What has your entrepreneur journey been like?

Oh, the journey. I will say it's funny because I don't know if you realize, but on Facebook, anytime you write things, you know, once the anniversary passes, it pops up on your Timeline. Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

So you're always reminded of things. And I remember saying and telling my supervisors that I didn't want to. To do my own thing. I didn't want to be an entrepreneur. I was perfectly fine. But I think the reason why I was saying that was because of fear. Just didn't know what to expect. So I think when sometimes people don't know what to expect or they're scared or fearful of something, they say they don't want to do it. In addition to. I just felt like being able to not just be my own boss, but being able to, like, set my rules, being able to see the people that I feel like really connect and align with. My goal and my purpose, I think, was what really influenced me. It's like me being able to kind of, like, touch the people that I know are aligned with what God has given me to, like, give.

Yeah. So that sense of purpose is kind of what launched you into the entrepreneur journey.

Absolutely.

I totally resonate with that for myself too. It has to be a cause that I fully believe in. Right. Not business just for business sake, but for something that matters and means something and feels valuable to me.

Correct, Correct. And I think when you do move based on purpose and passion, amazing things blossom. By staying focused to who you are and what you believe, you're supposed to give into the world. Yeah.

So what is that for you? What are you supposed to give into the world?

I think just the ability to let people know that they can do it and that even if they look like me, meaning, you know, African American woman who may not come from the best environment or family dynamic or what have you, or if any obstacles Thrown your way that you can absolutely do may be difficult, but you can absolutely do it. And I think people look at me and they speak to me or they're my clients, then you automatically leave with that.

Is that part of your passion for working with it sounds like you work with a lot of African American women specifically.

Yes. Me working with black and brown women, it's just I think sometimes a connection that is already formed and sometimes we don't even have to say anything. And that I think has been my superpower. And I think that's something that anybody you talk to about me will probably

say that, wow, I love that. What is that connection? What is that level of understanding? What makes that like maybe an immediate it safer space?

I think when, even though I'm 100% virtual, but even when I was also in person pre Covid, you come into therapy or sometimes a situation, depending on what it is, you come in there with nerves, come in there with a, well, let me just say certain things so I won't be looked at a certain way or judged or things of that nature. And so I think when you sit across from a person, it is definitely what a person that looks like you. Right. But I think when you see the person that looks like you, in addition to saying, wait, this person will be able to kind of understand some of the things that I may not even say. They may be able to understand my vernacular, they're going to understand my head nods, they're going to understand a rolling of the eyes, they're going to understand certain things. It makes it less worrisome, it makes it less anxious field. And then when you're able to do that, barriers in the wall start to come down. And I think that's like very much important when building that relationship and building that trusting dynamic.

Which is why I think what you are, what you're doing for people is so important to this idea of mental wellness in our communities. Because you're really talking about a lot of unspoken spoken things that help create safety for people. And if people aren't safe, they can't get well. But I. I would love to know the story of how the Black and Brown Delaware Therapist directory got started.

Of course. So I'm a big person about definitely hard work, prayer, and also manifestations. Very big. Again, anybody you meet will tell you that. And I had this idea of creating a directory years ago, but it wasn't the right time. I think I was pregnant with my son at the time, so it just wasn't the time. But I had the idea. But I. It wasn't clear. It was just. This was the idea I had, but it wasn't fully clear. And then COVID 19 hit us. And then we also had other traumatic things happen with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and things of that nature, left and right and left and right and all. As you know, black and brown people were heavily impacted, more impacted. And I kept seeing people say, how do I find a therapist? People for the first time, how do I find a therapist? Where do I find a black therapist? Where do I find a black male therapist? How do I find a person? Because I think at that time, you just needed to talk to somebody. Right after being in the house, after seeing the images on the news, after seeing all of those things and hearing up all those things, in addition to wondering if you're going to be okay, like if you're going to make it to the next week. Right. And when the more I kept saying it, I said, I'm going to create the directory. And that snowballed into the black brown, Delaware therapist directory. I wanted people to be able to find, specifically find a therapist that looks like them, so you won't have to keep asking the question, how do I find a therapist? I wanted the process to be very easy, very seamless. You log on and then bam, you see black and brown therapists right there in front of you that are willing and wanting to be able to see you.

And so how has that grown over time?

So we celebrated our third birthday November 16th.

Congratulations.

Thank you. So we have over 20 providers on the directory. We have Spanish speaking providers on the directory. It has grown into a partnership with. It's a perinatal group that works with mothers and providing scholarships to individuals to take training in perinatal mood disorders. We just received a grant a couple of weeks ago. So we've been doing good. We've won a couple of awards, actually. I forgot about that. Yes. I was honored October, November, it was last year. And then we also won an award just for the impact that the director is doing. We are doing great things and we are definitely helping people connect with a therapist just to be seen and just to be heard. Mm.

Yeah. Do you find that you can meet the need in terms of the people that are logging on and looking for somebody? Because I know it can be difficult to find a therapist with openings and all of those things.

I try to be in the present moment and say, listen, the directory right now is serving its purpose. I do hope it does grow even bigger so that we can reach Even more. One of my goals, major goals for the directory is to also connect more with resources in Sussex county. Just so that you know, again, anywhere you are, you can be able to say, okay, I want to connect with this therapist, because they're here in Dover, they're here in Sussex, they're here in Wilmington or Newcastle. And that's one of the biggest goals. It's just for as many providers that I can get on the directory, that makes sense.

I mean, and then that meets the most needs both ways. It's providers are getting the clients that they are hopefully are a good match for them. And then also clients are finding that.

Absolutely. And to that point, it's also to showcase and let others know that there are providers here in Delaware, because I'm sure you already know there's only 3% of black therapists that are represented. And so the directory also serves as a platform. Therapists can be highlighted where their skills are highlighted, whether that's for speaking engagement, whether that's, you know, for therapy, whether that's to lead trainings and things of that nature. So it's also used to market their skills, their competency and things of that nature.

Okay, I like that. Do you ever anticipate expanding beyond Delaware?

Everybody always asks that.

I know. It was top of mind.

I am a person who does take things one step at a time. I think before it's possibly expanding, I plan to open it up to nurse practitioners. I like to treat the whole person. And so sometimes people are saying also, oh, my goodness, how do I find a doctor? How do I get a primary care physician? I don't know where to go. And so I just want to make sure that I'm doing all that I can do and need to do for Delaware in this directory.

It resonates for me. At the very beginning of you talking, you were talking about you needing to find a space to share your feelings, a safe space to share your feelings. And then I think it's maybe no accident that you're creating this safe space for black and brown people to find as well. I'm curious, were you able to find that when you were looking for it?

Oh, that's a good question. Yes, but it took a long time and it took different situations to say, hey, you really do need your space. I don't know if I shared this before, but one situation, I was in grad school and we were doing a genogram. And for anybody listening that doesn't know what that is. It's like a family map, basically. And as I was like, standing in front of the class my first year of grad school. I'm explaining the family dynamic, and I literally am bawling in front of the class and I'm like, okay, this is weird. But I was like, what are you doing? I realized, like, oh, you need to talk with someone. Like, you need to literally clear out some things that you clearly have been pushing and suppressing. And so with time, in other situations, I have secured and found a great therapist because like I said, everybody, all therapists need a therapist too.

Yeah, agreed.

And just like I tell everybody too, nothing has to be wrong either for you to see someone. Right. And I use. Also use the swimming example. If you jump in and you're panicking, you can't get help. Right. You can't listen to what people are telling you to try to save yourself if you just are in panic. But if you jump in calmly and you are listening to the person and you're calm, you're able to kind of learn how to swim versus drown.

Love that. Yeah, that's good to know. And I don't know, maybe those are connected for you. Maybe they weren't. They just connected in my story.

Oh, absolutely. Everything connects. Started off as a. As a counselor. My first job at 14. Then I transitioned and working with college students, actually at the University of Delaware and being an academic advisor counselor for them. Transitioned into working with Upward Bound. Any role that I had had been in the helping field, college. I was a peer counselor. Then transitioned into pre license and licensed there. Yeah, everything connected.

It does, right? So other than sort of solidifying this directory, is there anything else that's next for you?

I would say continuing to expand the directory and continuing to expand Krista Harris and Associates. The goal is to have more therapists and just continue to build the team here at my practice and continuing to be able to provide the necessary resources. I've taken trainings in emdr, so my goal is to give you trainings in that area so that I can really hone in on the women that I see in addition to trauma that they sometimes only realize has been traumatic. So I kind of really want to marry those two within my practice.

I love that. It's definitely something close to my heart as well. I'm just curious, maybe a last word to someone who is thinking of an idea on the entrepreneur side, especially if it's something that benefits others and mental wellness, what would your advice be?

I would say, you know, being an entrepreneur is. It definitely has its positives, but it is. It is Challenging. Right. And I think being an entrepreneur and I think sometimes comes creativity with that and things of that nature. I think it's very important. Important to make sure that, yes, you are working and doing things that you need, but you also separate the two. Because I think sometimes, especially me, and when I look at my calendar, I make my assistant know, like, okay, don't let me schedule during my lunch, and sometimes I'll do it and don't let me schedule after this time. And I'm like. She's like, you're doing it again. And so I think really having those boundaries are really important because that is going to also be important in your private life. Right. That's going to be important in your relationships. And I think the more you practice that, the stronger you will be in setting boundaries. Yeah. Because burnout is a serious. Very much serious.

Yeah. I like to think of it as the long haul. I tell people, like, okay, maybe this is working right now, but is this gonna. Can we endure this for a long time? Right. Because that's what we're in it for.

Yeah, I think. Yeah, I think. I think the boundaries is something that I would definitely help people to incorporate within their business. I know we want to, like, go, go, go, but again, that is going to burn out after a while.

This has been such a great conversation. I love what you're doing with the directory. And we'll have all the information in the show notes for anybody that wants to check out Krista and get more information on this. Thank you so much for being here.

Yeah, no, thank you for the invitation and just having this platform and letting me speak about a little bit about myself and the directory.

You're welcome.