Dr. Connie Omari
Hello, hello, and welcome to the black Marriage and Family Therapy Matters podcast, where we are breaking generational curses in the black community. Today we have a very special guest with us: Dr. Johnson. Hi, Dr. Johnson. How are you today? I am good. I am good. We have some amazing things to talk about. Can I go ahead and introduce our audience to you? Yes, ma’am. Perfect, perfect. So Dr. Johnson was born in Washington, DC. She graduated from Rivonia High School in 2005 at the age of seven and then went on to attend Remington College to major in criminal justice. Dr. Johnson continued her education and obtained a bachelor’s in criminal justice from the University of Phoenix. Since then, Dr. Johnson has obtained two master’s degrees, the latest of which is in clinical mental health counseling. She is now a licensed professional counselor and supervisor. Dr. Johnson has always had the passion to work with juveniles in the system and help them become productive citizens. She has worked in several capacities that are attributed to her nine years of experience in mental health services. She has her own private practice agency, Gracefully Purpose Counseling and Consulting. Dr. Johnson graduated in May of 2021 with her Doctorate of Education in organizational leadership and is now Dr. Donna Barnes Johnson. Dr. Johnson is also a three-time author of affirming mean, gracefully journaling, damaged goods, and ADHD affirmations. I love that. I love that. Well, Dr. Johnson, why don’t you tell us a little bit about what got you into this type of work?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
Okay, so my childhood is what brought me to counseling. Honestly, my background is criminal justice. That’s because I used to want to be a lawyer. I used to want to be a lawyer due to some sexual abuse that I encountered as a kid. So me as a lawyer wanted to make sure that I put all the Yeah, I can afford to put them away. So that was my goal. But I think that wasn’t my purpose. So as I continue to get older, as I said, I want to learn how people think and why they think the way that they do. So it brought me to my journey at Kaplan University. And that’s why I’d say my first master’s, but that was more so in applied behavior analysis, and I didn’t want to just focus on the Asperger’s and autism spectrum. So I went back to school at Southern University to get my Master’s in clinical mental health counseling. And when I say that it opened a whole new world for me, I mean that it opened a whole new world for me. I learned so much about myself as well as the profession. And I knew then that I needed to help other people I love serve. I love to serve. So my providing counseling allows me to serve others by getting their mental health together, right? You’re working on those childhood issues. Because if you don’t work on it, it’s up to you.
Dr. Connie Omari
every single time, every single time. Absolutely. Love that. Love that. Well, thank you for that. Thank you for your transparency. That’s a common theme, at least that I see in all the therapists that come on our show, is that they generally have just been through something and are open and transparent enough to share that. So for our audience that is listening, I know a lot of times people are guarded about talking about certain things because they don’t know if you can relate. And, you know, our therapists can. And Dr. Johnson is just a prime example of that. So thank you. So what? So you wanted to do this based on your own experience, but you realized that wasn’t your purpose? Well, let’s talk about that. I think a lot of people are afraid to change. Like, you know, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard it’s funny. It’s so funny that you started with the legal background, because I hear that a lot in the legal field, where I have served. So many people, so many clients, were attorneys or had a law degree, and they didn’t practice. So it was a career, or in general, like, what can you say to somebody who knows that they’re doing something, but it’s not their purpose? It’s not what they need to be doing. How can you speak to that?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
I would really suggest that you get out of your comfort zone because, I think, many people don’t like change because they’re comfortable. But we have to be able to get out of our comfort zone. We don’t grow when we’re comfortable. We don’t grow at all when we’re comfortable. I used to work at the prison. Now, one thing that I have realized since I left is that I became comfortable there. I became comfortable. I became relaxed. And I know they were prisoners, but I didn’t see them as prisoners. I saw them
Dr. Connie Omari
as a former prisoner. Thank you. Yeah. Yes, we are. Never in a million years, but we are yes. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah,
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
You know, I got in, I did get comfortable in life, and I wasn’t able to grow there. And that’s the thing that we have to make sure that we remember: we cannot grow in comfortable places. Something always will happen when you get to LAX to get you off your rocker for that change to come. So my advice would be to go for it. You have one life to live; go for it, whatever it is that you want to do. You have the ability; you wake up every morning and go be great, whatever. You want to be great, so go be great.
Dr. Connie Omari
I love it. Just hearing you say that certain statistic came to mind, I think I read somewhere like 75% of car accidents happen within five miles of a person’s home, you know, and that’s because when you get home, you get comfortable, right? You know that. You know those rules: ask where the catastrophes are happening. So yeah. So very good. So we’re talking today about health—I’m sorry, mental health—and wellness. Please just break that down. I mean, mental health—well, is that correct? Let’s break that down. Because black folks don’t talk positively about money.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
Because I truly believe that everything has to be right here. You know how, and not to get spiritual, but the Bible talks about how everything starts with the head, and then it works away. Now. That’s the same thing up here. Everything’s up here. So final thoughts aren’t here. Nothing else is going to be looked at. If we struggle with our physical appearance and our mental health, who’s going to want to work out? We’re not going to want to work out because we’re not right. And that’s the same thing sometimes, too, with our finances. Sometimes, I know I said, Go live and be great because you only get one life. But that doesn’t mean you should splurge either. To go be
Dr. Connie Omari
new, yes, yeah, if you ain’t got no house,
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
You’ve got to make sure your bills and stuff are paid before you indulge in the extra stuff, so that’s something that we have to think about. If we’re not literally right up here, nothing else is going to flow, right? We have to get mentally healthy. And that’s going to produce that wealth for us. We want to make better decisions, whether it’s with our physical health, our mental health, our financial health, or our spiritual health. But it all starts with the thoughts that we have. If we have bad thoughts, of course, we want to produce bad behaviors and bad feelings.
Dr. Connie Omari
I agree with you so much. And I just wanted to think that what comes to mind is just the poverty mindset. You know, because I don’t have statistics right in front of me, there’s no doubt that we’re with some of the biggest consumers in the US. Actually, I do have some statistics because I’ve been watching some YouTube videos, and it said that the black community on average, oh, God, I want to say, is something the 20s are our network and $20,000 or whatever, here most of it? Well, I don’t know exactly. But it is very, very low, you know, with respect to, you know, other populations, but I know we’re some of the heaviest consumers. And so, from a poverty mindset, what would you say? How do you think the way that we think about and approach money affects our poverty levels?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
income? Honestly, I think it’s how we look at each other. I think that’s a big key. Some people buy those Jordans because they’d like to. I guess it’s the names. Sometimes it’s affiliated with the name, or some people like to buy nice cars because they want to be seen. If we could get out of our minds and be seen as being better than the next in our own race, I think that would definitely help us get out of the property that we are in. We don’t have to be better than each other; we need to actually help each other come up to me. I don’t try to be better than my sister or my brother. I’m just trying to be nice. So whatever that produces is going to be good enough because I don’t have to put on this front because we could have these Jordans or even get all our wigs and stuff made and always look pretty and stuff. We can have all of that, but if we’re happy or if we’re not at peace now, none of that matters. Like none of that matters. So I think when it comes to our mental health, we really have to think beyond trying to be better than the next. Now, if we want to be better than the other races, so be it. Or we shouldn’t be in competition with our own. But if we are to be healthy, we need to be held, because that’s what the other races do. They stick together, make a fight, and come back.
Dr. Connie Omari
Why do you think that we don’t?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
I honestly wish I knew the answer to that. I just do. I do believe that some people just have that crabby bucket mentality. You know, if I keep you down, then that’s what you’ll be in. That’s not what’s going to help us; we need to lift each other up. But I think it goes back to having each other’s back. So not that person lifting you up. And when you cut through them or do something to mess up that relationship, now we can have each other’s backs, still be friends, still be cordial, and still be family. It’s not a competition. If we don’t look at it as a competition, it won’t be a conference.
Dr. Connie Omari
won’t be a competition. I love that. It’s interesting that you said this because, you know, it’s coming on the heels of, you know, my incarceration and being released and things to try to really just, you know, process all of that. You know, one of the reasons why I was given, I guess, a lenient sentence is because I was able to prove where the money went. Yeah, it was a lot of money. But it took over 100 women and children off the street; you know, it was effective. And so it’s just that I’ve mentioned that, because, yes, we can get fixated on the figures and the limited mindset that says, Well, this black woman should have access to all this money. And, you know, that ended it. But then what happens to all the women I was responsible for, all this good, and all the things that make us have this stereotype, right? We think that if you have a lot of money, then you must be bad, deceptive, or have done some illicit activity. And so, what happens? We don’t try to get it. We’re moving forward because we don’t want to be the Greek fraudulent woman who gets half a million dollars, because you don’t. I mean, we just stay stuck. And so what I love about your brand and what you seem to be bringing to the forefront is, well, what if we did change our mindset? Like, what if we were to think it was okay to have money, that wealth was attainable, and that we could actually do really great things for our community? I mean, you know, if everybody had at least six figures, you know what I mean, if people knew and wished this had come out earlier, but at tax time, instead of going out and finding doggone Jordans in that car that she made even But you can put down a down payment, you’ve got an LLC, you’ve got your little business plan, and put this together to really just do something small. That can make a huge difference. But we don’t think that way.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
And some people don’t want to be entrepreneurs. But that’s it. That’s okay. It’s okay. For some, it’s just not okay for me.
Dr. Connie Omari
Right? Or a lot of people, because a lot of people want to see it, but they’re scared to call it what it is. Yes, I need a VA. So I need people to work nine to five; my husband has a hidden employee, you know, benefits and all that stuff. Some people need to do that. But some people need to be entrepreneurs, and where the failure is, we’re also afraid of success. I’m just going to fight because I’m more afraid of success than I am.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
Me too. Because what’s next? Like? What’s next? Yeah, maintain this. Yeah. You know,
Dr. Connie Omari
or as black women? How about this: do you understand? Uh, what does she think she is? You know, she wrote three books. Now. You know, sometimes
You think you’re better than us, you know.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
It’s not about that. Sometimes I have people tell me that I’ve changed, but it’s not that I’ve changed. But I evolved, and that’s okay.
Dr. Connie Omari
You have to, because if you’re not around other people, if you don’t only offer in the group, then where are you being inspired? Who’s helping you get to that next level? And at the same time, girl, I’m passionate about this return to university. So people say the same thing to me. And it’s like, first of all, if you really want to be honest, when you have more money and when you have more prestige and impulses like that, people gravitate towards you all the time. You know what I’m saying? And it’s not necessarily genuine. I prefer those relationships, a lot of them that I had before, but you’re too busy judging me, thinking that I could speak it for me, that I think I’m better to you, whatever that you don’t recognize, nor do we really even know what my roots are because a lot of them are in this relationship, so if you really are not, you know what I want to do? I’m sorry, Dr. Johnson; have you experienced that as well?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
Sometimes I do. Sometimes I do. I don’t know; recently, I’ve lost a couple of friends. You know, friendships—I’ve lost a lot of friendships recently. And I just had to get to the place where I’m okay with it. I’m okay with it. I’m not better than anybody. Not better, but I just know what I want. So I’m going to go after what I want. I’m a firm believer; I’m going to go after what I want. Who comes along? You didn’t come along? I’m sorry. But I’m not sorry. Sorry. Sorry, my sorry. But I still have to do what I have to do, you know, for my purpose. And where am I trying to go?
Dr. Connie Omari
Do you think that what you just described keeps some people from just preferring, you know, being around my friends that I went to school with or went to college with? Or my family? Do you think that keeps people stuck? The fear of stepping out? And just as you said, just people, you know, thinking that
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
Sometimes it can, but that goes back to comfortability. We’re comfortable with those people. So yeah, we can be vulnerable around those people. But you have to afford yourself the opportunity to meet new people. Because some people are really going to fall off, just as when the seasons change and fall comes, the leaves fall off the tree. You know, so it’s not like you’re going to be without; it’s just going to be a different scene. And that’s okay. So different doesn’t have to be bad, and new doesn’t have to be bad. Getting out of your comfort zone doesn’t have to be bad. But that goes back to mindset and how we perceive things to be. If we think of it as a bad thing, we’re going to see it as a bad thing. Doesn’t have to be
Dr. Connie Omari
good. As you said, he lost a lot of friends. I’m curious. Were they really your friends? Like, was there something about it after the fact that you’re like, Man, I? I knew it was hard to really be okay.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
In hindsight, I wish I had it before. But yeah, I actually noticed, like I was able to pinpoint, No, this was a friend-like behavior.” Yeah. And now I’m very big. I feel like if anybody has to attack my character, they are not necessarily attacking. But if you have to question my character—and we’ve been friends for a long time—we never worked for it. Because, as far as you know who I am,
Dr. Connie Omari
right, right. I can say the same thing about my prosecution. Like, it was crazy how just because the prosecutors don’t even know me, they don’t really even know me. He just knows a data point and a paper, you know, whatever, some things he’s reading, and he’s interpreting them, which is how many people in my life just automatically said, Well, the prosecutor said, it must be true. It’s like, Whoa.” And like I said, someone on the other side is stuff, you know, and it’s, you know, no sweat off my back. It’s all of a sudden, oh, she thinks she ought not just know I can hold different with you. That’s all there is.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
A family too.
Dr. Connie Omari
That’s what I’m talking about.
Well, let’s talk about that. Because, you know, a lot of people remember the first therapy session I was in, and it was brought to my attention just because it was family. I just thought I had to. I didn’t know I could have boundaries with family members.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
You can tell I’m a big believer because I’m a big,
Dr. Connie Omari
elaborate, because I’m sure people are listening. Who else is confused about that?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
family? The family will feel obligated. Okay, does family feel like they’re obligated or entitled to you? And no, they are not. I’m a big believer that if I don’t have the time or the space to do something for my family, I don’t have the time or space. If I can make it, then I do that. But if I can’t, I don’t have the time or space. And I’m not going to apologize for that. Like some people, as a matter of fact, my brother was like, I’m supposed to know your business. He said, I have a husband. No, you’re not supposed to know my business. But just because you’re a brother doesn’t mean you have that title. You are not obligated to know my business. It doesn’t work that way. And I think that’s the thing, and you can be respectful because I get a lot of people that say, Why don’t you want to disrespect my parents? But if you come at them correctly, it’s not disrespectful. Of course, they are probably going to see that disrespect because they want to view it as talking back to the old school. And that’s okay. But no, having a voice isn’t disrespectful. Having boundaries with family isn’t being disrespectful. You’re standing your ground. It’s okay to have those boundaries with family. It’s fine, let’s So family No, it’s fine to say no to your family. You’re not obligated to say yes all the time to being nomadic.
Dr. Connie Omari
I love that. I love that. I remember that as I was learning this, there was a lot of guilt and shame around it. With me, you know, because I didn’t have a lot of money growing up, if you had invested anything in me, it was, Oh, I’ve done this for you, that for you, that, isn’t it? But you think you can do, you know, whatever? Can you speak a little bit about the guilt and shame that we carry amongst ourselves?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
People will make you feel guilty. I’ll have to learn that I’m not going to feel guilty based on somebody else’s decision or somebody else’s choice. And to be honest, I tell people not to get mad. And when they say that, don’t get mad. And when they say, Well, I’ve listened to you or I’ve helped you through this, they did. But the truth is, that was their choice. You didn’t beg? Yeah, it was their choice; they made the choice to help one bedroom. So it is what it is. Thank you for your help.
Dr. Connie Omari
thank you.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
But it goes back to looking at the truth. So don’t look at it as an attack, or don’t look at it as throwing it back in your face.
Dr. Connie Omari
We thank you for that. Because aren’t we also helping them by, because chances are, you know, I’m thinking about a particular relationship in general, nobody ever stood up to this person? So when I did, it was, you know, a guide all of this, but at the end of the day, it eventually helped this person in the long run, because this person now moves differently as well, especially with me, you know, extended was, so I brought something on the one hand, and they’ll say, Well, I have no idea, you know, what he’s talking about? Well, I’m going to hand it to you, but now you’re treating me differently. You are giving me more respect; you are asserting your boundaries, so you knew what I was talking about. So it helps, I guess, if you could change, like you said, our mindset just because they say we’re being ungrateful. It doesn’t mean you are. Yeah, that would be ungrateful, correct?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
I’ve learned that we each have our own definite definition of words; you know, gratitude might be defined differently for me. So that’s something we have to be mindful of. So we don’t always have to go to the Webster version. Right? What’s that word for me, right? No, you’ve got to identify what that word means to you. Because some words are triggering for some people. We just have to identify what that is.
Dr. Connie Omari
Like that. And the truth is, I mean, when you do something for somebody, are we supposed to expect anything in return? If it truly is a gift?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
If you’re being genuine, this is something that I hear often. I’m a match for energy; can we go? If you’re being genuine and you do something for somebody, whether they do it back for you or not, it doesn’t matter. Because you’re doing it out of the kindness of your heart, why don’t you look for it back in return? Do you get burned out with that? Absolutely. So you have to be careful of who you’re pouring into or who you’re doing things for. But if your heart is to give, that’s your heart. So how can you stoop low to match somebody else’s energy?
Dr. Connie Omari
Love it? Love it? Love it? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So. So we’re talking about family, you know, and the conflict list kind of transitioned a little bit more in the direction of wealth. Because, you know, one of the things that I am still learning in terms of my own wealth and journey is that if you think you can be wealthy, you can be wealthy; if you think you’re going to be poor, you’re going to be poor. It’s really, if you think you have to work nine to five, you don’t work nine to five, anything. You can be an entrepreneur; you’ll be an entrepreneur; you’ll know so, but what are some, I guess, exercises or strategies we can do for those who feel like maybe they want to write a book or they want to open their own business? What can we do to encourage that? What are some mindset shifts?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
I will suggest getting a journal because journaling really does help. Like so many thoughts that come to mind, I jot them down. I don’t know what they’re for, but I jotted them down. So when something comes up, I can go back to my book or my journal. For example, two weeks ago, I wrote down seven ways to take care of yourself to protect your mental health. As I said, I was going to do videos on it, but I never did the videos on it, and no one knew why I was shutting it down. On Saturday, I just gave a presentation on mental health. And I was teaching people how to protect their mental health. So it goes back to writing things down because you never know when you need that resource. I love it. You’ll never know what you need. The resource, but also keep a journal for when you have thoughts in your mind. When you have irrational thoughts in your mind, write them down as rational thoughts. You know, sometimes when we think about beings, but then when we say it out loud, it doesn’t make sense. That same reaction that we will get when we are able to write down some of those thoughts and we read them over, we’ll be like, Okay, that doesn’t make sense, or this is not true. It helps us to get the thoughts out of our mind because if they stay in our mind, more thoughts are going to be added the next day, and then the next day. So we need to get it out of our minds. Also, breathing, breathing, and sometimes taking a moment to breathe. Because we are all so busy, we have to get it; we have the hustling mentality. But sometimes we just hustle and take a break too. Sometimes we just have to get to the point where we can breathe a lot of the stuff and sit in it. Whatever you feel, give yourself 30 minutes to sit in whatever you’re feeling. Give yourself that time; a lot of people go back to that hustler mentality. Some people hustle because they can’t sit down. Because they sit down, all the thoughts will start to come. But sometimes you will have to sit down in order to process it and heal from it because it’s going to come back up again. If you don’t deal with it, come back up again. And then, if things are starting to get worse or more out of control, I will definitely seek therapy. Because therapy can really help, talking to a stranger can really help. You know, we learn about stranger danger when we’re younger, or we learn that what happens in his house stays in his house. But no, because what happens in the house goes with you wherever you go, your trauma is not going to stay in the house. So we need to make sure that we’re able to work on it and get it out.
Dr. Connie Omari
Love it. Love it. Love it. Um, what do you think of gratitude journaling?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
I think that is very important, honestly. Because if you just recognize something that you’re grateful for every day, that’s going to help you realize, Well, maybe my situation isn’t that bad. And it isn’t; it isn’t meant to minimize a situation. But again, remember how I said to sit in it? We want to sit in it, but only for a little bit. We did it because we didn’t want to sit and spiral. That’s not the purpose. The purpose is to sit to be able to recognize, Okay, I sat in it, but this is what I need to do, or girl get up or boy get up, like this is what we have to do. So we’re sitting again for a little bit, and then we’re doing something about it. So the gratitude journal can really help with that. I tell people, even if you just ask them what they’re grateful for, that of course they’re going to say the house, their car, their family, but I’m grateful for a pair of socks because some people don’t have socks at all. Or some people have holes in their socks. I’m grateful to have a pair of socks that match because, you know, the washing machine and the dryer are in your house. So it’s just the small things that we really have to make sure that we outline; we always look at the big stuff, and what are the small things that some people will consider significant? But it’s significant for us.
Dr. Connie Omari
Absolutely. Why is that hard to do, especially when we want more?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
Well, I think social media has a big part to play, honestly. On social media, you see all these people’s lavish lifestyles, or you see what they post, but that is just not always their real life. And I’ve learned that through a relationship that I went through before I got married. I was kind of liking the side piece. You know, I was in the southeast, but he will post about his girlfriend and how much he loves her. And I’m just like, It’s not real because you miss it. If you loved that, you would write that. That helped me realize how many people fake it on social media. You know, so social media really does have a way of making people feel like they want more or, oh, I need to get this because this person has it. Because of this person, can I hear this but still not be happy?
Dr. Connie Omari
Right? Right. Right. Yeah, yeah. So funny. Because, you know, I sell a course. And sometimes, you know, I can see on social media what you posted. So I see a nice car, and I see your nice, you know, house, and you close, and you get $200. But of course, it’s going to help you have a better relationship. So yeah, I hear you. I hear you. Well, let’s make sure that we kind of talk about some of your work and some of the books that you’re writing, because I can imagine that you’re going to help people with their mindset around this issue.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
Yes. So, I have three books right now. I’m working on my fourth, but I have three books right now. My first book was Affirming Me Gracefully, which has music lyrics, affirmations, and quotes. And the reason that that book came about. Because I feel like you have to affirm yourself. If you don’t empower or encourage yourself, you’re going to always feel depleted, and you’re not going to feel validated. And we don’t want to have to depend on other people to be validated. No, we want to be able to validate ourselves. That way, nobody else does. And guess what? We know we’re going to do it for ourselves. Yeah, so that’s why I created that innocent journal. So it has prompts, like a garden journal has prompts, and you could say that one of the songs was from one of the Tyler Perry movies with Mary J. Blige. And that’s for somebody who’s been through domestic abuse or in a bad relationship; we don’t need anybody who’s going to beat us down. Now. So if it’s that prop, that song there, or this in there, and it helps you process if you’ve ever been through that situation, you get to write about it. So I had that as a book affirming, theoretically, a journal, and then I had damaged goods. So damaged goods was more so about my life for the longest. Due to the sexual abuse, I felt as though I wasn’t worthy. I felt as though nobody was one of them who loved me, and things like that. And it made me think we go to the grocery store. If we see the item, if he hasn’t been on it, we want to put it back on the shelf. Correct. We’re not going to pick it up. But the fact is, there are still nutrients on the inside; that vegetable is still nutritious; nothing changed about what’s on the inside, although it’s damaged on the outside. So that’s what helped me come up with damaged goods. Because although I went through sexual abuse, I’m not damaged on the inside. I’m still good. And I still have something to give. So that’s about damaged goods. And I really love that.
Dr. Connie Omari
I love that. Yeah, I love that analogy. Yes.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
And then I have, which recently just came out in May, yep. This month, I have ADHD affirmations because I service clients, and this is more so for kids. I serve kids who have ADHD. But if you think about it, adults have trouble accepting a diagnosis. So adults have trouble accepting a diagnosis. What do you think about a kid who is going to have more trouble accepting an ad for ADHD? Not bad. But all they know are people telling me I have ADHD, people telling me I’m acting out, and people telling me I’m bad. You know. So the ADHD affirmations are for them to help them affirm themselves despite having ADHD and to let them know that they are still loved. They are kind; they can make friends; they can be organized; they could be normal; they are normal. ADHD doesn’t mean that you’re different. We just process things differently. So it’s to affirm the kids. So the kids don’t have to feel sad or down about having the diagnosis.
Dr. Connie Omari
Love it. I love that. I love that. So you really are just providing all types of services for your clients. And I love that. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s good, because I think people often think that the only thing they can have is talk therapy. But you are obviously making more resources available for them. And that’s great. Is there any myth surrounding mental health that you’d like to dispel for our audience today?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
Um, I do believe a myth about mental health is that you’re crazy because you want to get counseling. You’re not crazy for wanting to get counseling yet, actually. And I tell people all the time, You’re not weak. You’re not crazy. You’re actually strong. Because it takes a lot for you to go to somebody else who doesn’t know you. Again, going back to a stranger: you’re going to a stranger, you’re telling them your business, and you’re trusting them. You’re trusting them because we have HIPPA laws, but we also have HIPAA laws, and you’re trusting that we won’t tell you about a business, although, you know, we’re not supposed to, and we don’t, but you know, you’re trusting us with that. I will say you’re actually strong. If you feel like you need therapy, make sure you get it. In a similar way. Carla’s crazy whether we get the therapy or not. anywhere to go, so let’s be crazy and get the help that we need because we do need it in pressing times. It is a pressing time. We have grief that people are dealing with, and we have COVID that people are dealing with. We have these thoughts that sometimes don’t get out of our heads. My firm belief is that everybody needs therapy—lawyers, doctors—like we need a president. We’re all yeah. And that’s a prime example. But it’s my job; we cannot let it get out of hand. Because when things tend to get out of hand, innocent people get affected.
Dr. Connie Omari
Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. There’s a meme or something that I saw that says, I go to therapy because I’m around people who don’t go to therapy. Yes, yes, yes. Um, well, listen, I want to make sure that everybody has access to your book. So please make sure you send me a link so all of your people can get them on Amazon. Do we have to buy directly through you? Yes.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
They are all on Amazon. You could just type in my name or the title of the book.
Dr. Connie Omari
Okay. Very good. Very good. And you’re in the state of California? Louisiana, Louisiana. Wow. See, I told you. I was a little confused. Okay. Louisiana, due to telehealth, yes. Perfect. So make sure that you leave us the link so that people who are in Louisiana can also access you in any other state. So basically, through books and counseling in Louisiana, people can find you.
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
On Instagram, they could finally gracefully use counseling, which is my handle on Instagram.
Dr. Connie Omari
Perfect, perfect. Well, this was really a great session. In today’s session podcast, you’ve got a lot of great insight into the correlation between mental health and wealth. I think a lot of people just, you know, don’t think of it as being together, but it really is. So any final thoughts for our listeners today?
Dr. Donna B. Johnson
Your mental health is the most valuable possession that you have.
Dr. Connie Omari
Well, thank you so much for that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, that concludes our show for the day, everyone. We appreciate you allowing Dr. Johnson and me to partner with you on your mental health journey. So with that said, we thank you very much for joining us, and we will end this now and see you next time. All right, peace and blessings. Dr. O.