Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
[Music] do [Music] [Music] well hello there good morning good afternoon good evening wherever you are in the world it’s Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman with Relationship Matters. I hope sincerely that everyone can see me this evening. I just got a notice from Facebook that says Facebook is having issues and it might not be showing on Facebook. You know technology is, you know, I don’t know what to say about technology but we’re going to go ahead and hopefully it will show up and I hope everyone is looking at it. I hope everyone can see it because this is a very, very, very important topic that we are speaking about today. And so I’m just going to go on and, um, people, um, if you are not seeing me at 7:00 p.m. the ones who are looking via YouTube, uh, match me on my phone and let me know whether or not it’s even being shown on YouTube. So in the meantime, go on with the show. Today’s topic is all about racism and mental health. According to Mental Health America, people of color and all those whose lives have been marginalized by those in power experience life differently from those whose lives have not been devalued. The experience of racism and bigotry far too often leads to mental health issues. Now racism is a mental health issue because racism causes trauma. So let me tell you a little bit about racial trauma, simply traumatization that results from experiencing racism in any of its many forms. Importantly, this doesn’t have to be one major isolated event but it can result from an accumulation of experiences like daily subtle acts of discrimination or microaggressions which we’ll talk about later. And as we all know, trauma paints a direct line to mental illness and racial trauma really needs to be taken seriously. My guest today is someone who is going to speak with to this. Her name is Felicia Houston. Now Felicia has more than 20 years of experience as a licensed clinical professional counselor. She’s has earned a BA, a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in human development, human development counseling from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. Now Mrs. Houston loves educating the masses about mental health and wellness. Her passion lies in inspiring and empowering women to make the agreement for positive change in their personal and their professional and family life. Now as a licensed clinical professional counselor, Felicia quotes poet and equality legend Audre Lorde who wrote and I’m going to use this I’m going to type it and put it in a big sign right above my computer. The quote is “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.” So I’m going to bring to you Felicia. We’re going to talk about this issue because it’s an it’s an ongoing issue since slavery and it’s still relevant today. So let me bring to you Mrs. Felicia Houston.
Felicia Houston
Hi Dr. Jan, how are you?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I’m doing great except for, um, I’m not sure if this is going across Facebook or not because all of a sudden, um, these little red exclamation points came up and it says we’re having trouble streaming to Facebook. This issue on Facebook’s end then they asked a question is it possible the stream was deleted? No. Then it says we will keep trying and let you know if it’s resolved. Please check Facebook to ensure the stream looks okay. If this continues for a while try creating a new broadcast. I don’t think so or just remove this destination from broadcast then re-add it. Okay, so considering the fact that I am not techy [Laughter] I know how to remove it but I don’t know how to add it again.
Felicia Houston
Okay, okay.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So, um, so we’re gonna be talking and, um, I have a person who I am going to text and and and ask this this is a techie person and ask like what the heck is going on here so maybe if we remove it and come back I don’t want to remove it and it just never comes back so I’m going to put on here let me see what’s showing up on Facebook.
Felicia Houston
Yeah right you’re saying the video it’s not showing it says the video ended two minutes ago.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
No it didn’t because I’m still broadcasting.
Felicia Houston
Yeah it’s not showing on on your page.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
It’s not showing I’m I’m still broadcasting, um, isn’t this something well remember that this you know technology is our friend on Monday Wednesday and Friday so today’s Thursday so it’s not our friend today.
Felicia Houston
It sure isn’t.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay I’m uh I’m just putting this in here and maybe he can help but we’re going to go on because at least it’s on YouTube.
Felicia Houston
Yes and then you can share it and yeah and then um right then we’ll just share it out okay no stress right no stress.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
This has never ever happened before I mean this is weird and the thing is it’s something up here that says in broadcast well I’m not going to hit that because then I really will end broadcast in the because I want to do that okay so Felicia um let me start with with uh your journey to what you’re doing today tell me how you got involved I know that you went to college and your major I guess was mental health but what made you decide that you wanted to do that to focus on that as your career?
Felicia Houston
Um well I would say when I first went to college my my major was international business with a minor in Spanish but the first class I took in international business was so god-awful boring um that I decided to switch and I switched to psychology and I just I loved psychology and so I stuck with psychology but I think when you talk about when I talk about mental health and psychology and all of that I think I chose that because all of my life I’ve often wondered what goes on in people’s minds. Um so in grade school we went to my brothers and I went to a school where it was predominantly Caucasian and we were mistreated and called names almost every single day but we still endured we still were successful in high school I went to Lake Forest Academy where there were maybe 20 of 20 people that looked like me um no staff one staff that looked like me and it was not you know a very welcoming environment at that time when I was there it has changed a lot but back then and then being at Bradley in Peoria Illinois which was right next to peak and they still had signs up that said we were not allowed in their town after a certain time so all of that affected my mental health and in fact it affected all of our mental health so I think that’s why I kind of wanted to build to determine you know to figure out how to help people that look like me to show up into spaces that are not very welcoming for us.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay all right um and so um so you’ve so now you’re focusing on racism and mental health now I know that uh I I would think well I’m assuming that previously you mainly worked with women and and their issues so did you find that as you were counseling women that a lot of their issues came from uh was the result of racism or not?
Felicia Houston
Yes um I would say that um a lot of it I’m not just in counseling but just in supervising um so I’m the director of a department of psychiatry at a hospital here in Chicago and just in all my positions that I’ve had where I have supervised or managed people when I’m doing the supervision with the women it’s especially women that look like me it’s very different than when I would do the supervision with the white men um the white men you know I give them a plan they would execute the plan they would ask for more money and then when I would talk to the women that looked like me they didn’t feel that they were worth it you know why should I ask for more money why should I pursue any other opportunities and then when I got to the root of it the root of it was because of racism because of biases that they’ve experienced of because of past experiences they didn’t want to take those risks they were afraid to take those risks and then you mentioned earlier about the microaggressions I hear a lot of women talking about the microaggressions in the workplace especially when they’re in a workplace um that is not is is majority uh being a minority in that workplace so they have to deal with the microaggressions they don’t want to appear to be the angry black woman you know things of that sort so I I see a lot of that.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And so uh I I guess you would call that kind of like internalized racism where you devalue yourself you you know you feel less than so to speak because of uh things experiences uh that that have happened to you so when we’re talking about micro aggression in the workplace give us some um examples.
Felicia Houston
So I would say that um microaggression um could be in a workplace where someone is like well why are you you know that that’s a different hairstyle you have you know or you know or I like your hair straight you know and you have your hair natural yeah yeah those little microaggressions or one lady told me that someone told her I didn’t realize your lips were so pink inside because of the color lipstick yes because so I don’t that’s pretty blatant but you know but you know they were making it seem like I’m just making an observation this person was dark and she had on some bright lipstick and that was that was something that someone said in the workspace you know or people can I feel your hair no no you may not you know what your hair was short one day and now your hair is long today you know um so things like that but not expecting you to answer you know or to get upset about it and if you get upset by it then it’s you’re the angry black woman um so I usually try how I what I have learned even since high school was to use those moments as teachable moments so that I’m not perceived as an angry black woman in high school we had diversity conversations in the girls bathroom so at Lake Forest I lived on the campus in the dorm and every Thursday at six o’clock we had conversations in the bathroom and the white girls asked us questions and we asked them questions and it helped us to live together because I had never lived with a person that didn’t look like me and I’m assuming they had never lived for the person that didn’t look like them so it was a learning experience but the school did not prepare us for that it was nothing in place to help us you know to have those conversations about race.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay okay so um I you know while you were talking about a micro um you know I’m I’m really all discombobulating I said I wasn’t like regressions earlier I said oh no I just flow with it but this is like what we put audience is on Facebook but anyway okay um um well when you were talking about that uh microaggressive aggression in in the uh workplace as far as racism is concerned I started thinking back when I was doing I’ll say a nine to five um and I’ll say this before I became an educator because when you’re an educator it’s different because you’re in the classroom by yourself but working in an office situation um uh and I worked at a hospital and uh you would be passed over or you would make make a suggestion about something and you know just kind of passed over and I remember uh this one uh woman said to me as a matter of fact she’s my supervisor and she said you know uh Janice I really love the way you dress you dress better than any of us and then she grabbed a hold of I think it was a shirt I can’t remember a piece of my clothing and she felt it like this and you know and she says oh you must spend all of your paycheck on your clothes and I just kind of looked at her you’re like what you know so I can I can understand when you talk about micro aggression in the workplace but then there’s also that micro aggression uh that’s not in the workplace and just in everyday life uh like being in a store not necessarily an upscale store but a school anywhere and you look around and you see the security guard following you around everywhere you go they follow you.
Felicia Houston
Yeah yeah can I help you can I help you thank you.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And which is you know when I was younger you know you would just get kind of flustered or something you know but getting older it was you know I turned around like can I help you you know um and and you think about just the different things that happen if you’re walking down the street and say white people a white person crosses the street um just all you know just all kinds of little things.
Felicia Houston
Yeah a little subtle yeah if you if you if you don’t pay attention it’s subtle um but I think it’s it’s big it’s not subtle to me anymore um and I would say that something that happened recently um I was talk we were talking early and I was telling you that I’m a runner so I was at a park recently running on a path that is for running um and I noticed this woman out there that I’ve seen several times and she’s a Caucasian woman and she wears all white and she wears this big old white hat and she has this big red purse in front of her okay she wears that’s what she has every week when I see her I saw her this one that this time I’m running and as I approach her she grabs her back and so I’m thinking okay Felicia you’re overreacting just ignore it I run and I’m running around in circles so I run again and I get close to her she grabs her back I watch when the Asian man walks runs by her she does not grab her bed I watch when the Latina runs by her she doesn’t grab her back and the third time when I run by her she grabs her bag and I was just like lady I’m just trying to run I don’t want you but it’s not even a cute bag you know because if you’re going to be out it’s not even cute and what am I going to do with that big old bag it’s huge so just little things like that that I think people don’t realize that that affects our mental health you know when all I’m trying to do is be healthy and run and someone is grabbing their back like I’m going to steal from them while I’m out running on a path with running clothes on like why do we have to even prove ourselves you know um so that’s another conversation.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So so when we talk about mental health and and you talked about that ex experience talk about how that makes a person feel you know uh because mental health is really about the way you feel the way you you you look at yourself right?
Felicia Houston
And I think the the big thing about mental health is how you think and how you feel and based on what I’m thinking and I’m feeling that determines my behavior and so if I’m thinking that I’m less than and I’m devalued because of the experiences that I’ve had in America um then that makes me feel a certain way but then that also makes me behave in a certain way where I am afraid to take risks I’m afraid to speak up in meetings because I’m often ignored you know so that so all of it is connected but I think it takes us being strong people um and to to start the healing so we get to the point where we are able to be in those spaces and able to speak up if they listen or not but it takes time it doesn’t it’s nothing that happens overnight but I remember feeling that way in school in grade school and high school and college I don’t think I started speaking up until grad school when I got to grad school I was like you know what I do know some things I am smart I’m gonna speak up and I’m gonna say it and if they don’t like it so what I don’t care because I just I just stopped caring at that point about what other people thought but you’re right it does affect um if you keep experiencing that over and over again you’re traumatized and you re-traumatize over and over and over again to you just silence and you just you just fade back and you’re just ignored.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And I think that’s something that people don’t understand um especially when when they say something like well you know like get over it um and the thing is uh when you talk about micro aggression um and and I’m just going to say uh racism and stress uh and and and trauma it can be direct meaning it you know it direct the the aggression or whatever it is uh the action affects you personally but it can also be indirect that can cause those kinds of feelings and and and I’m thinking about here recently in this uh city of Chicago where a 60 something year old woman and her 87 year old uh a partially blind husband were arrested for a suspected bank robbery and what and so she I’m not going to say the name of the bank but it’s a bank that they frequent all the time and it just so happened I guess they had left the bank but a young man uh black young man between the ages of 30 and 40 they said had robbed the bank so now you pulled over this older couple handcuffed them arrested them so now when I when when when I think about it the feelings it didn’t happen to me personally right but the feeling that I got was more than oh this is horrible they that you know they did that to those people the feeling that I got again was that feeling of stress caused by this act which they said was purely racial because I mean they’re black and and they were pulled over and so then I started thinking oh wow you know what going into a bank well what if I’m in a bank and a woman robs or I just left the bank and a woman uh robs the bank and here they could pull me over you know what I’m saying in in other words the feelings that we get that that people that that people really need to understand is that it it is a cumulative thing of experience that have happened to me and us um over years.
Felicia Houston
Yeah.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And and one of them is and I thought about this um when right before the show and I thought stress and I thought you know what if I’m in a car and the policeman a police car pulls up behind me my feeling is not oh wow you know what I’m being safe because if they’re right behind me that’s not my feeling my feeling is stress like I oh wow now why is he behind me especially if they stay behind you a little while why is he behind me I haven’t done anything oh my god I hope he doesn’t pull me over let me make sure my hands are tended too um I mean and I mean this whole thing and you and you you you get this feeling of stress because you think because of past experiences and other experiences you know that they’re not behind you uh just because they’re behind you then you start thinking you know what I bet he’s running my license plate I don’t have any tickets why is he behind me anyway and and it affects your mental health.
Felicia Houston
Yes it affects your mental health where some people don’t even want to go outside a lot of some people don’t even want to drive um because of that um and not just because of what they’ve heard um but just what we’ve seen in the media the media we’ve seen so many killings in the media that is it’s it’s traumatizing and which was traumatized over and over and over again to the point where many people are they were glad that the pandemic came because they said I don’t have to go anywhere I could just stay in the house and I don’t have to even think about any of those things you know like you talked about the stress that you’re feeling when the police is behind you the anxiety that people are feeling like is my insurance card in here is it up to date you know what where is it at do I have make sure I keep eye contact you know you know it’s it’s a lot and it could just be pulling you over because you’re like your tail light was out but it’s not the same like I’m not thinking they’re hitters protect and serve no I’m not thinking and those of us who have sons you have a lot of anxiety my son is 14. and now I’m like oh he’s going to be driving soon you know so I have some anxiety about that you know will he do the right thing you know son don’t drive fast you know son be careful you know all of those things so yeah it’s it’s a height.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Right you have to have the talk.
Felicia Houston
Yes yes.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So Felicia how do you think uh how do you think this affects young people like you know children racism and mental health how do you think it affects them?
Felicia Houston
So I’ve heard what I’ve seen and just with my children and then in working with children I do a lot of work with children in schools and things of that sort what’s interesting is that the younger generation they don’t really see this race they don’t they were like we don’t see race you know we don’t really see it but they have parents who do and so I see a lot of the young people saying that they are experiencing high levels of stress because this younger generation is standing up and saying what is going on is wrong but then they have parents who are saying no there’s nothing wrong with this you know the police are just doing their jobs you know nothing wrong with this so it’s causing a lot of um animosity within the family um because people are on different sides so that that’s what I’m seeing but that affects your mentally because this is your family you know you don’t want to feel like an outcast in your family you want to fit in but then you right you feel like right is right and wrong is wrong.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I never thought about that you know um yeah what I’m wondering too is like if you’re a child uh and let’s say you’re in a classroom or you’re in a situation and um you are are singled out because of your race how do you think that would make how do you think that makes a young child feel?
Felicia Houston
Okay um and I want to share for me um I remember being in fifth grade and I remember being at a school that was predominantly white um I remember in that classroom one two three there were three of us um and I remember the teacher never singled she never said anything about you know that it was because I was black but she treated me very differently um to the point that one day I remember being in social studies and this was in fifth grade and I’m almost 50 years old now and I still remember this like it was yesterday and there was a boy behind me and we were doing social studies and he kept on saying the n-word in in my like right behind my yes and he just kept saying it over and over and over and over I think he said it probably 50 times and I I tried to ignore him for the 50 times I think I did ignore him and then I couldn’t take it anymore and I turned around and I slapped him um and I slapped him so hard that my fingerprints were on his face um and the teacher came directly to me and she screamed and she was get out of my class this is unacceptable you people blah blah blah blah you know and and as a child you know I felt hurt and so many other things but it took those other kids speaking up and they were like no miss so-and-so you’re wrong he did this this this and then they when she went and told the principal and that young man was suspended but after that I was like oh I know exactly how you feel about me now so now it’s not I’m not going to be I’m learning how am I going to learn when I know how you feel about me as a as a black child and I had to tell my parents I was like yes she doesn’t like me you know she doesn’t like me and I and I as as a fifth grader I say and I don’t like her either so can I please go to another classroom so I can learn so that affects children’s learning you know when they have teachers who have biases and things of that sort it affects your learning because it’s hard to learn in that type of environment when you know that you’re not they didn’t want us there they had signs out there the day we we arrived at the school that they did not want us there so that that’s hard you’re supposed to learn and excel and learn new things you know but we did but it was hard.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah and and and as a young child who really doesn’t really really understand I mean it’s hurtful and like you said that was in fifth grade and you remember that.
Felicia Houston
Yeah.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
You know and and what happens a lot of times is you got over it to a point you know what I’m saying we get over it to a point.
Felicia Houston
Yeah.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
But it’s still there and for you it made you a stronger person but for some people they end up where they’re they feel so less than so devalued.
Felicia Houston
Yes.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
That and and it effect it has affected their mental health and affected even their physical health but uh Felicia I’m going to take a a quick commercial and um we will be right back because we have a lot more to discuss with.
Felicia Houston
Okay.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay Felicia I am so upset I don’t know what to do with Facebook good god I’m hiding okay we’ll be right back [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] well we are back if you would like to advertise on the show with some eye-catching videos and increase your visibility please contact us at 1-877-667-7 for details or you can email me at jan for now 125 at gmail.com or if you would like to be a guest on relationship matters email jan49125 gmail.com where we’re going to continue our conversation with Felicia Houston welcome back Felicia.
Felicia Houston
Thank you good to be back.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So now um I still have a few questions this to me is a a very very important topic but I want to ask you this what is the worst mental health issue that you’ve had to deal with because of of racism?
Felicia Houston
I would say suicide attempts um because it has got it had been so it was so bad for some people um just the taunting the the mistreatment um the feeling devalued feeling hopeless feeling helpless um suffering from symptoms from depression um and then it just getting to the point where they feel that it’s just better if I just take my life and so I would say that that is the worst um so for people that are experiencing this you know to realize that it does affect your mental health and you may need to talk to somebody um to talk through it because it’s it’s it does affect you and I think many times as a people we just say you know just we’ll be okay we’re strong you know we are but strong people get help you know strong people ask for help um so I would say for people to get help um because it can be overwhelming and it can lead to suicide.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay oh oh wow that’s um that’s horrible it’s really terrible um so what what do you think uh and is there a correlation between the mental health issues caused by racism and physical health issues?
Felicia Houston
Absolutely absolutely just and I would just say if you’re just looking if you just look at it in general just with mental health um when you’re when your mental health is affected it affects your physical health and vice versa so if I have hypertension or if I’m experiencing stroke um or if I have if I get a diagnosis of cancer that affects your mental health because how now I’m thinking what are you thinking what are you feeling you know what am I gonna eat how I’m gonna tell people you know so all of it is intertwined so with the racism um and if you’re going to if you’re just like I’m just using a work environment if you’re in a work environment or as a child a child in a school environment a lot of people want to send their kids to better schools and that’s great I know you want them to get a quality education but think about that child who’s going into their school and they’re taunted every single day because of the color of their skin learning is probably not taking place and their mental health is affected by it and physically they may be complaining of headaches stomachaches you know racing heartbeat all of those are are physical things that could be caused based on from the the racism that they’re experiencing every day so you want to pay attention to those things and not ignore them and like I said maybe get them some help some professional help or maybe it may be time to go to a different school or to go to a different job where you are valued you know so yeah.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
You know I was gonna yeah ask you uh uh about adults and so so you wonder sometime now uh our race is known for having a high incidence of hypertension uh and cancer high yeah cancer high cholesterol and COVID-19 everything you know everything right we’re up there at the top.
Felicia Houston
Right right right right right.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And and so when you look at this it’s like okay uh I I’m just gonna use me as an example but I don’t have high blood pressure but let’s say I have high blood pressure and um so now of course being ill it’s going to ex affect your mental health but now let’s say that um I don’t have the best healthcare uh because maybe I can’t afford it um and so now that’s piled on then I go to a doctor who does not treat me the same as he would treat another patient now that’s piled on so now you have racism affecting by physical health which in turn is affecting my mental health and it’s it’s a vicious cycle that that people really are not aware of and I’m really hoping that what we’re talking about really opened some eyes and opened some ears you know what I’m saying so just so that instead of oh well you know it’s just like this just get over it but to to really be concerned about it be aware about it you know and be educated about it but I do have a question here why isn’t you might not be the answer but just tell me what you think why isn’t there a push to have free mental health from the government to solve most of our societal ills?
Felicia Houston
That is a million-dollar question I will tell you a million-dollar question that’s a million-dollar question I will I will answer that but but before I answer that I want to go back to something you said just a minute ago about wanting to see a doctor and being mistreated and how that affects your mental health how it also affects people is that’s why a lot of people don’t go to the doctor so when you don’t go to the doctor and you finally do go to the doctor that’s why when you go to the doctor you’re at stage four cancer or you have breast cancer because you haven’t been to the doctor because the last time you went to the doctor or the last four times you went you were mistreated and you you were treated differently like I can still remember in college going to the doctor I had a lot of pain in my abdominal area and I remember the doctor saying well maybe you have an STD and I said what oh geez where did that come from um and what happened was I ended up having seven fibroid tumors but he but he was so nasty and like he looked down on me like I was just a piece of dirt it could have deterred me from going to the doctor but I I was determined to find out what was wrong and I was determined to not go back to him but that’s not everybody’s story so now your question about the government and free and so this is my thought on that mental health is a business this is a business and I know this because I’ve worked in the hospital settings for years I know how much we charge I know how much the insurance companies charge I know how much money they get per patient per day how much the doctors get it’s a business so I don’t think that they are interested in that because this is a billion dollar industry that is my thought that’s my theory um and so as long as people are sick you keep the doors open um so I think it’s up to us um as the providers um those of us who know to fight to apply for grants so that you can get some of those free the money so that you can offer the free services um in the communities where it’s most needed because the communities that really need it there is limited mental health services in the areas that need it the most like there are other areas where there’s tons of resources and then there’s other areas where there’s no very limited resources and unfortunately those are communities that look like you and I.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
You know uh I uh read some stats about uh incarcerated uh young men and as far as men of color there’s a higher level of mental health issues than it is for me young men who are don’t look like you and I.
Felicia Houston
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And yeah so now yeah right and and like you say in in the communities that need it the most there are there aren’t enough resources also when you look back historically at at the young men and how they are have been brought up no I don’t mean by their parents or anything like that but I’d say the environment that they’re in and what they have experienced has caused these mental health issues which often can lead to aggressive behavior.
Felicia Houston
No you go ahead.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I was just going to say and to take it a step further Dr. Jan I used to have a position as a systems administrator for the mental health juvenile justice program for that position I traveled to all of the prisons in the state of Illinois to do psychological testing and I was amazed at how many million young men in those prisons had mental health issues that were not being addressed I started to look at the department of corrections very differently because I thought that it was supposed to be about rehabilitation and that’s not what I was getting from from them but as a result of us doing we did a five-year longitudinal study we created a program called the mental health juvenile justice program where services were offered to them once they came back into the community um so that was the good thing about it but you’re right I would say I had an office in the judges chambers down on Hamilton 90 of the people who showed up to court look like you and I and the other 10 percent they had adequate representation and most of the time they didn’t make it to the department of corrections.
Felicia Houston
Really?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes.
Felicia Houston
Wow.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Now that our our young men were showing up and they were showing up with symptoms of depression symptoms of anxiety you know anger management issues all of those things but when you when there’s a system that doesn’t treat you fairly like how can 90 of the people there look like us you know but right but none of their mental health a lot of their mental health issues were not being addressed I know it has changed since then but I’m sure in the department of corrections there’s still a lot of people in there who are not the treat they’re not getting the treatment that they need so what’s going to happen when they’re released and put back into society they’re probably going to reoffend and then you’re going to go back and it’s a vicious cycle so it is a vicious cycle it is a vicious cycle um what I’m uh uh I guess I would say not happy about but but more pleased about is that you and other people are addressing the mental health issues that are caused by racism because I think that’s something that’s just been overlooked I mean I haven’t even overlooked it you know to tell you the truth and that how it really affects your mental health you know uh and and I know my husband would always say you know what um psychological services or counseling services need to be free you know for everybody not just for people can afford to go to a therapist you know who can afford to go to a psychologist or psychiatrist but for for everyone because I’m sure and I’ll say this in everyone’s life there’s a time when you really need to talk to somebody you know what I’m saying and and if it’s racially motivated if your stress your anxiety is or your depression is racially motivated you really really really need to have the resources where you can talk with someone about it um I gotta do one little brief self-promotion okay and then uh we’ll be right back to uh to to wind this up so we’ll be right back okay [Music] and I am so happy that your relationship with your daughter has improved [Music] well that was a little of promotion and um you saw my book the secrets to how not to throw Obama from the train because I am an adult daughter aging mother relationship coach now that’s the most important relationship you have in the world it’s the very first relationship you have that’s a relationship you have if your mom is still with you if your mom has passed even if you never knew your mom so if you feel that you would like to talk to someone about your relationship with your adult daughter or with your aging mother or you know someone contact me at jan for now 125 at gmail dot com that’s jan for now j-a-n the number four n-o-w one two five can’t forget that one two five at gmail.com so let’s get uh Felicia back we only have a few minutes to go so uh Felicia what can we do what what can a person do to learn to cope and to build some resiliency to protect their mental health what can people do?
Felicia Houston
That’s a great question um Dr. Jan so I would say the first thing that we can do or individual can do is to be honest with yourself um to not ignore it and act like it’s not affecting you because I see a lot of people say it’s fine you know I don’t care and it’s like no you do because you bring it up every day so you do so so stop pretending that it doesn’t matter um and then pay attention to the signs and symptoms because there are signs and symptoms like if every time when you go to that place your stomach is hurting your head is hurting um you feel nauseous it is affecting you but then I think being honest with yourself um that I may need to go and talk to somebody about this um and like you said earlier about services there are services available and I agree with you that services should be available for free but they aren’t um and so what I will say is invest in your mental health like you invest like we invest in our hair our nails our makeup you know all of that we invest in all those things so invest in your mental health because your mental health is more important than any of those things um and then look for quality mental health services because it’s not about quantity but it’s about quality all therapists are not created equal you know some people do not know what they’re doing at all so you know do your research google the person check out the reviews you know and then ask ask people hey I’m looking for someone do you know anyone but I think being honest but also being open and honest and having those conversations with people who don’t look like us because some people that don’t look like us don’t know they don’t have a clue any opportunity I get to educate I take that opportunity to educate because some people just don’t know um so those are some things that I would say you know stay informed stay engaged but then like during this time when the with the trial that was going on with the George Floyd trial to protect my mental health I couldn’t watch the entire trial because it was re-trauma I was re-traumatized so I would say protect your mental health minimize the amount of news you watch you know certain social media outlets it affects your mental health when we’re talking about racism so you have to know what what you can take you know and when to cut it off um so those are just some things um that I would say and then like I said before get some help um there are a lot of professional help um out there if you have private insurance check with your private insurance provider in regards to behavioral health services you can ask for an African-American if you’re Latino you can ask for a Spanish-speaking person because they have them in their directory so but get some help because racism does affect your mental health because it causes trauma so don’t ignore it and act like it’s going to go away because it’s not.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Right and if if if people want to get in contact with you for your services how can they reach you?
Felicia Houston
Um they can reach me I’m on Facebook as Felicia Houston I’m on Instagram as Felicia Marie Speaks um and then I see my webs the website is going across um and I also have a stress less coloring book it’s called Stress Less Live More um you can find it on Amazon because I do believe that you have to have some coping skills you know when you’re having all those stressful things happening you have to have some other outlet like running dancing you know singing coloring you know that could be very therapeutic so make sure that you have some things in your toolbox to help you when you have those stressful times.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I saw your coloring book and I thought oh wow you know that’s great I might have to get that myself so I can color.
Felicia Houston
That was something I created during the pandemic just you know because I had time to do it yeah it was something I created so yeah so there’s 50 different designs I’ve never done anything like that before but I worked with someone we recreated it and it didn’t take us that long so that’s what I would encourage you to do you know during this time you know try some new things um and figure out how you can help other people to navigate these unprecedented times.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay well thank you so much Felicia for being my guest and if you’re looking for a person who can help you who can counsel you go to Felicia’s website order her coloring book order her services Felicia Marie Houston dot com thank you Felicia so much for my guest I I really appreciate it and you know what I’m I’m going to find out about what happened with this Facebook because it just didn’t make sense to me but anyway we’ll find out what happened we’ll find out thank you for having me I great great great great great and um I’ll be seeing you again soon all right you take care Dr. Jan bye-bye.
Felicia Houston
Okay you too Felicia bye-bye.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Well that was a very interesting interesting uh conversation and I hope that um you all my audience will get a chance to see it I’m going to make sure that you get a chance to see it but in the meantime I want you to remember that there are all kinds of relationship matters there are all kinds of relationships and remember relationships matter and remember to tune in next week to the Relationship Matters TV show 7 p.m. Central Time 8 p.m. Eastern Time 5 p.m. Pacific 5. Pacific Time so great to see you have a blessed rest of your morning afternoon or evening bye [Music]