How to Reclaim Rest and Finally Burn The Cape ft. Dr. Raquel Martin [Washday Woosah]

Hey Ba Fam! It's Mandi — yes, human me! And yes, I use em-dashes in real life! This ain't Chatgpt! 

Ok, so you might be surprised (hopefully delighted!) to see new episode of the show in your feed on a Sunday. 

I used to reserve my one-on-one guest interviews for our Monday show, but you know what....Sundays make so much more sense. It's wash day. For our bodies, our hair, our dishes, that overflowing pile of laundry that's been accumulating on the side of our bed all week (I know it aint just me!)) ...maybe we're on our way to spend 5 hours at the African braiding salon getting our summer buss-down boho braids installed... whatever it is, Sunday's the day when we're all looking for something to tune into that doesn't drag us down but rather rejuvenates, reinvigorates, and resets us for the week ahead. 

So, here we go. Every Sunday, we're bringing you our Washday Woosahs, which are inspiring, uplifting conversations from a roster of incredible guests.

For today, I hope you enjoy this conversation with the brilliant and hilarious Dr. Raquel Martin, PHD, a therapist, professor, and viral social media star whose mental health hot takes garner millions of views and genuinely make *US* feel seen. 

On the show, Dr. Martin dives deep into her career as a therapist and how she's working on her first book, running an incredible low-cost group therapy ecosystem for Black women (and how you can join a future cohort!). It's called Burn the Cape > https://www.raquelmartinphd.com/burnthecape

Much love,

MandiMoney 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And it's not possible to have an appropriate relationship with
money or save money or if you don't realize, like
the mental health implications are the way your identity is
linked with money, right, Like I used to have significant
scarcity issues and thinking that I should charge certain fees,
and then I realized that if I don't do that,
I'll be broke and burnt out, like I can at
least be rich and burdock.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
But like, if I just took on every single task
because it used to be, someone would me under rate
and I would automatically think when I was thinking about
saying no, oh, so you're rich, huh, who are you
to say no to like this amount of money?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Hey, hey, ba fam, it's your host of Brown Ambition,
Mandy Money, and I've got a special episode for you
all today. Today's guest is doctor Raquel Martin. She is
a ugh, I don't even know she is. Like, you're
just gonna wish that you could clone a million of
her and have her be just like the assigned therapist
for every black woman in America maybe even the world,

(00:56):
because she is that good and she is that engaging
and insightful and y'all are going to love her. If
you don't already, follow doctor Raquel Martin on Instagram, her
YouTube channel, her podcast monumental What are you waiting for?
You must go find her right now. We'll first listen
to her on Brown Ambition and then go find her
because she is that brilliant. So doctor Martin, she's a

(01:18):
licensed clinical psychologist, she's an assistant professor, a scientist, a
public speaker, and my favorite thing about her is she
has unapologetically focused on us black mental health and liberation psychology.
She not only serves as an assistant professor at Tennessee
State University, she runs her own clinical practice in Nashville, Tennessee.

(01:39):
Doctor Martin specializes in trauma informed therapy, anti racist and
anti oppressive frameworks, and Black identity development. So, in other words,
doctor Martin, her whole mission is in life is to
help us thrive as black people in this country, and
at a time like this, we just need her message
so much. And she's here. She's here today, ba Fan,

(02:00):
I'm she just gonna talk about her journey as a
clinician and how she made the pivot from seeing patients
in her practice to developing or as she says it,
building her own stage and building a thriving business that
has multiple revenue streams and is not just focused on
patient care, but it is focused on patient care. You're
gonna hear all about it. She is an inspiration. I'm

(02:21):
honored to know her, call her a friend, and to
share her with y'all today, Brown Ambition. All right, without
further ado, here is my conversation with doctor Raquel Martin.
All Right, va, fam, welcome to the show. I am
joined by the wonderful doctor Raquel Martin, PhD. How many
different hats? Like your head? Is your neck tired from
all the hats that you have to wear?

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I try to wear them all at the same time,
I would say, I would say, like, okay, So like today,
for example, where I had to dig in my drawer
to find my old laptop because my new laptop I
don't know what's going on with it. Call my husband
freaking out out. He was like, I don't even okay,
so try these things.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Useless but just no.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
But just having someone who could just be like I'm
freaking out and him just being like, okay, doing exactly
what you mentioned, Like okay, well, let's just take a minute.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
It's me. It's only don't weirdo that you sat by
at a conference. Yeah, just like keeps trying to be
your friend? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Are we not friends? Should? Is there an update I
was not aware of?

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Well, you know, I have an anxious attachment style, so
I just need constant reinforcement.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Oh that's never let me tell you something.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Let me tell you so you're not going to give
in to me.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
They ain't never gonna be me my friend.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
And that's why everyone who says, oh, I want to
be your friend, good luck. No, but yeah, no, I
try to balance it pretty pretty well. I'm very I'm
very lucky. That not lucky.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
We work towards our marriage all the time.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
But I'm able to do so much stuff because my
husband just gets it. I think many people have been
in relationships previously with people who like try to shrink themselves,
and I have a shrink them I have a huge personality,
Like that's just always been me.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
And I'm married to someone.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, like I'm married to someone who it's never been
an issue. Like I travel twice a month for work,
which wasn't our default, like originally it's just like professor
and like typical you know, typical jobs. He's an account
I'm a professor, and then science stuff. Would take me
to conferences for every now and then, but lately it's
just way more and we.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Just figure it out. Like I'll meal prep sometime most
of the time.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Actually, but he's like at some point, because the boys
are driving us nuts, He's like, don't worry about feeding
these children because they're.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Just not loveletter to me.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, He's like, they're not even eating it. You know.
I'm like, I'm with someone who gets it.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
And then it's also being normal that Like he's very
different with his career, Like to me, your career is
something to be enamored by, Like it's something that I
just it's my mission. He's like, I'm an accountant. My
job has never been my dream. My dream is to
be able to support my family. So like yeah, but
like I'll be like, don't you want to do some
extra stuff?

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Absolutely not.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
I don't know he can't do extra stuff because.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
Now yeah, but like sometimes I'll be like you want
to go on up, No, go on a work conference.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Like you enjoy My husband doesn't have hobbies. This works
out great for me, you.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Know, Like he'll do so like his hobbies.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Okay, so my hobbies most of the time are still
LinkedIn with work, right like at times, No they're not.
I crochet and I bake and stuff like that. But
even if I'm like, oh, you want to, you know,
possibly go to this work conference you can network, no
what no versus me. I'm like, oh my gosh, I
follow this.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Therapist and she's speaking. Oh my god, I can't wait
to hear her speak.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
And have you heard about this new therapy software and
there's this new qualitative analysis and oh my goodness, I'm
so excited.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
And he's just like, I guess, bro, but I'm a.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
It's a man a few words. Is he chatty too.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
No, he's a man of few words. I'm pretty typical.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
I have yet to meet a woman like us who
doesn't have a really quiet, boring, straight and narrow just
like reliable husband.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah that's but you know, I wouldn't even say I
wouldn't even say boring.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
I would say, like, you know, our husbands have like
strong firm values and I don't have to worry about
any craziness, thank goodness. But also like he's like the
textbook southern black man like bring us from Nashville.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
I'm from Philly.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
We're different in a sense with a lot of stuff,
but like value wise and stuff like. That's why whenever
I see the stuff about dating and I'm like, yeah, okay,
you guys are worried about some real superficial stuff because
at the end of the day, somebody gotta go do
pick up and drop off. At the end of the day,
someone has to walk you through the grief of having
to care for or losing your family. At the end
of the day, someone will have to be there with

(06:31):
you postpartum. When the person who's there with you you
want to punch him in the face because they didn't
give birth. Like the flowers are all well and good,
but I will take someone saying, oh, if you want
to do this event, do the event. The boy will
be here when you get back. Over flowers any day,
like y'all. Anytime I talk to people about relationships, I'm like, right, right.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Nobody want to hear that. This is why. No, but
really like we want to hear it. But like I
myself ten years ago wouldn't have wanted to hear that.
And I just feel like, hey though, because it's like,
but it is it is the goddamn truth.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
Think about like what your partner has to walk you through,
Like we're getting older, so our parents are getting older.
If you decide to have children, if you don't decide
to have children. My career has had a huge pivot.
I have a husband who is very private and at
this point he's used to people coming up and saying hey,
and he's like, I'm be over there. Let me know
if you need me to take a picture. But I'm
be over there. So many people right, and not everybody's

(07:25):
cool with pivots, Like you got to have someone who
wants to be with you and your values because like
esthetic stuff will change, like upweight, down weight hair. For
when I met this man, I had what was my
hair straightened?

Speaker 3 (07:37):
All of us met our.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Person.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
I keep looking at him. I'm like I'm like I'm
telling that picture for an hour then and he's like,
this is a trap. I'm not answering this question.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, like people.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
I tried it and someone was talking recently and was
like love is political, but it very much is. And
as a psychologist, I'd be like, y'all, I don't give
off free advice, so like if I'm telling you something
y'all need to flip and listen. You would You're saying
makes no sense and I'm trying to help you out.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
But what was in the beginning for a second? Yeah,
all right, doctor Rickel Martin. First of all, tell the people,
how would you describe yourself?

Speaker 1 (08:16):
Black woman, psychologist, mother wife. I'm from Philly. I typically
describe myself from where I'm from. I think if you've
met a Philly person, I'm pretty textbook Philly like East
Coast person, loud, love to.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Read, I like to bake.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
I used to want to be a pastry chef, but
I decided at seventeen that was not a fiscally responsible decision.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
So I pivoted to like healthcare.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, but like my higher it is stable because my
goal is not tenure.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
We're gonna talk about that.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
Everybody who's like, oh, you know, unstable, I'm like unstable
for you.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
I'm good, I need well, you know. I love talking
about money.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yeah, the what is I gonna say? Academia is more
so like I can take it or leave it. I
love it, but it will never be something I hinge
my hat on because it's it's like oppressive and they're
unreasonable at times, and I'm not here for it.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
I mean, at a time like this, when it feels
like academia is having to like pick a side, there's
a line in the sand that you know, it feels
like our leader, our government has put and it's like
which side are you going to fall on? It's just bizarre.
But I wanted you to introduce yourself because I'm always
interested in the order, and I low key get a
little annoyed when people introduce themselves first as a mom.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Did I say mom first? Her wife first?

Speaker 3 (09:29):
You said black woman? Oh yeah, psychologist, And then I
think you got into the mother and the wife of
it all because we were full humans before, like, of
course I'm a mom and I love that, But you
also got.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
To you got to think if I were you, you
know what I would do. I mean, this is a
data thing, but I would look at if you know,
the people are moms, and then after they describe themselves
and aggregate the data according to the age of their
child versus the likelihood that someone will say mom first,
because if you think about it, you know, like our identity,
the first thing shifts. But when you like you remember,

(10:02):
like in the trenches, like six weeks postpartum, six months postpartum.
I actually don't typically feel like a human until they're
like two or three. Yeah, so I wonder if it's like,
you know, my oldest is six and my youngest is three.
If it was like years ago, i'd be like mom, tired, mom,
you know, like I yeah, yeah, yeah, shifts too because
once they're older.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
I don't even know if my mom says mom for
I doubt it, but because.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
We're all do it kind of is like, you know
how anything else like going on because we're finding out. Yeah,
I have a five and a two year old. I
feel and my little baby just turned too, and I
am really he's so fun and he loves daddy. So
I really feel like I have been like way like
back to myself. Yeah, daddy boy.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, no, my babies aren't like that. I typically don't
feel like a human until they're like.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
Two or three.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
Well, and you have two boys.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
Right, two rambunctious boys.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
Same crazy out here man, lots of penises just flying
at me at all times. No one's so crazy around naked.
I'm like, this is great.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
I'm a big.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah, I'm a technical term person. And my son was
saying something, and I was like he was saying something
hurt and I was like when he was younger, I
was like, oh, your penis.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
And my husband's like, well, yeah, they're weird about it husbands. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
I'm like, he has to know like his penis, like
he has to know the name. And he's just like,
just you ain't got to keep saying it.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Like I'm like, what, Like, what are you talking about.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Aren't you want to create vagina because they'll really curl
up into a ball.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yes. Is it the thing that you guys are obsessed
with these things?

Speaker 1 (11:26):
You gotta know what it is, you know, like we
have to know technical names. And he's just like fine.
I'm like, I'm a psychologist. Certain things, it's like it's
a balance. But certain things I'd be like, nope, this
is where you trust me. This is not a discussion
thing every like darn her everything in marriage discussion. But
when it comes to certain things like I wouldn't tell
you how to fix an Excel sheet, don't tell me
about developmentally appropriate.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Terms, put your good flex in a relationship. Because I
am like a wanna be psychologist, I have no credentials.
You would hate this because a lot of your time
on the internet where you go viral and you have
like have a gajillions around the world, but especially in
the US, Like you like to call out misinformation and
mental health. But I am I.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Was like yeah, because it's so frustrated joys me that
I know.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
I know. Well, I want to talk about your career
before we give into what you have going on. So,
Raquel Martin, you said that you wanted to be a
baker and you were like not making enough money there,
so you shift into healthcare and mental health, and then
what like, what's the first ten years of your career life?
Because I have a hunch that you weren't expecting to
become a social media celebrity and like America's psychologist.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, I don't consider myself a social media celebrity. I
consider I think I have less anonymity than some. But
to me, like celebrity is like Tabitha Brown and like
that's a celebrity like people.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, I would say I have less.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
Hung up on that part of the question.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Okay, okay, first ten years so like I'm thirty six.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Oh not you being younger than me.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
I'm thirty six. If we do ten years from my
career start like undergrad. I did my bachelor's, first master,
second master's PhD, and working at Hopkins for like two years,
so that's seventeen to like twenty seven. That's like my
first year. My first ten years is school. I didn't finish.
I was in school up until twenty nineteen. I finished
my last degree twenty nineteen, and then I did two

(13:13):
years post doing work at Hopkins. So yeah, first first
ten years of my career are all.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
School, and what are you heading toward in those ten years,
like what's your end goal?

Speaker 2 (13:24):
And then what PhD?

Speaker 1 (13:25):
And then everyone doesn't have to do a postoc, but
I wanted to do a postdoc because I've already been
working at Hopkins. Do you get access to a bunch of
research resources. I'm a clinical psychologist, but I also conduct research.
I'm a scientist as well, so getting access to like
resources and Hopkins is a good place for you to
make connections and know everything that's going on. Like I
would literally at time have clients who drove like hours

(13:48):
to see us and get the received care or if
we were doing some kind of like expedited manualized treatment,
Like they live somewhere else, but they moved, like they
will be staying in a place for months just to
receive care for their checks and then they would just
go back because it just has way more resources than
a lot of rural places.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
So being able to be in the mental health clinic
like on that.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Site, all the clinics, as much as Hopkins needs to
do significantly better when it comes to practicing with cultural
humility when it comes to resources, because a lot of
times resources are linked up to their endowment, the name
recognizable places. They have money, like so they can afford
the trainings, which is even more concerning that they don't
have enough cultural humility trainings, but they can afford the
trainings and the new products and the novel stuff, and

(14:28):
at times you can do research just for the sake
of it, like hospitals and stuff like that. Like they
have name recognizable abilities, so they have bigger donors, which
means they have more access, which they like I'm so
used to when I was in training. There's a different
clinic for every single mental health thing. So we have
a feeding clinic for people with feeding issues, and the
GI clinic, and then we have the anxiety and then
we have the trauma. I did child and family traumatic

(14:50):
stress and child and family therapy. So I'm intricately trained
in trauma and then family therapy, and then there's a
different one for behavior there like I'm used to like specialists.
So it's one of the reasons why I always stay.
There's power and specialty because I'm used to training in
an environment where yeah, I'll talk to the PCP and
then I'll talk to the feeding clinic and then i'm
their psychologist and then we do our call and then
we figure out our plan and then we move forward

(15:11):
with the client. So this whole realm of generalizability, it
makes no sense to me because that's just not that's
not what I'm used to.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
And you're working with like a team, it's not just
it's by yourself. Yeah, I love that approach. As a patient,
I think about that, but it's hard. I find I
have to get my doctors on that same page. And
I just found a good PCP, and I'm like, I'm
looking for a psychologist right now. You're gonna hate this.
I hate it as much as I do. But ugh,
so I was seeing a psychologist a therapist for not

(15:40):
a psychologist, because she's not it doesn't have a PhD,
So I can't call her that, right, No.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
She has a sie D. She she so PhD and
SidD are both psychologists.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
Okay, I think she was a licensed clinical social worker.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
Oh well, she's a therapist.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
She's a therapist, right, So I had a therapist. Great.
Lauren saw her for like five years. Then she left
her private practice to go join a hospital. And I'm out.
And it's a good time for me because I was
kind of out growing Lauren anyway, and I was looking
for someone different. We were like very chummy, and it
was almost like she was too she was. I was
like able to charm her too much, you know, like

(16:13):
I can really just like do a little tap dance
and it's like, oh no, five minutes left, buddy, you
know what I mean. Don't let you. Probably no clients
like me, and anyway.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
I don't say it with me. I've heard of them.
I like you, Mandy, look at me.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
I'm so cude on charming. I'm fine. So she anyway,
So I was out, and I think I've seen two
therapists since then. I thought I finally found a good one.
Referred to her through my psychiatrist, through her practice. I
did three sessions was finally getting into a groove, and
then their building department was like, oh, actually blue Cross,
Blue Shield change some stuff. We no longer accept this insurance,

(16:53):
so you're gonna pay four hundred dollars a session or deuces.
So now I'm just out here in the wind, been
vetting a couple of different places. Not a great fit.
So but anyway, I'm in this stage now and I
want to get your take on it. Where I know
for a fact, a therapist isn't enough. I need so
many different Like the infrastructure to support my overall holistic

(17:15):
health has grown to include a good primary care physician.
I go like thirty minutes away because I found a
good doctor, psychiatrist, dietitian, therapist when I have one, a
group therapy practice, and then there's the social network, so
like friends and just like day to day people, and
then some kind of like movement, oh in meditation, yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
I mean that's how it's supposed to be. It's not
a lot, though, I mean that's how it's supposed to be.
Therapy is never it was never meant to be enough.
I've been in therapy on and off since my doctoral program,
and we started off with weekly, because honestly, everyone starts
off with weekly, you have to earn bi weekly and
then went to booster and then when we have transitions
in life, I'll check back in with doctor Williams and
stuff like that. But that has been my sense. For

(18:01):
some people, it is great to check in because there's
so many times where they don't have someone like salient
to talk to and they don't get that.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
But no, it doesn't sound like a lot to me.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
It's that seems like a reasonable amount, right, especially in
a world that is actively trying to like destroy us,
Like I mean, I yeah, so like and what you
mentioned is a lot of people who have specialties. Because
of that, honestly, therapy would actually probably work even better
because you know what to bring to your therapist. You're
a clinical social worker versus your psychiatrist versus your dietitian
versus your primary care physician. Like, and sometimes when issues

(18:30):
are happening, is everyone's bringing everything to one person and
like that's not me, Like it's like okay, yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
All connected. Yeah, so it's connected to all this and
vice versa. And like my dietitian, I just met with
her and I really like her because she gets it
like she gets the behavioral the cognitive component of food
and like that relationship. For me, it felt really groundbreaking
to realize, Oh, really you really need like so many

(18:56):
layers of support. But I mean, I'm curious because for me,
it just feels like we just got okay with therapy
as a concept as like Black Americans, and now it's
like that's not enough. And I imagine, like with your clients,
like to really get people to embrace this idea of
all the different kind of support we need when it's
really hard just you know, to get people in the
door with one specialist, you know, one person who can

(19:17):
help them.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
I wonder if it's my personality. But like I get
that question a lot, like is it hard to get
people to go to therapy or talk to peop about therapy?

Speaker 2 (19:27):
And I'm always like, not me.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
I've never had an issue with people talking to me
about therapy or recommending stuff or people following up or recommendations.
It might just be my personality style, But most of
the time I'm like, Okay, so you are having issues
with mental health stuff, right. Food is fuel, Food fuels
your body, right, You're struggling with like I eat my
feelings when I'm like stressed out to a certain extent,
Like sometimes I'm like do coping, but sometimes I'm might

(19:49):
eat a freakin donut, Like I'm not always gonna want
to breathe on it.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
That's just life, right.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
But the same way people don't think about food being
connected to mental health is the same way they don't
think about money.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
Being connected to mental health.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
So I'll just break it down, like, Okay, well food
is fuel, you fueling your body appropriately. So you're having
difficulty focusing, which is making you more stressed out, which
is making you feel less than which is impacting your
mood and identity right, Or Like you don't like where
you are in life, and then you don't know what
the habit is with like doing too much work and
like scarcity and stuff like that, so you're constantly thinking
about that, so you're anxious, So that's impacting your mood

(20:19):
and your identity.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
Right, Like it's all wrapped up. I don't think you can.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Ever, it's not possible to lose weight without addressing your
connection with food, like mentally, if your goal is even
losing weight or even eating nutritiously, and it's not possible
to have an appropriate relationship with money or save money
or if you don't realize, like the mental health implications
are the way your identity is linked with money, right,
Like I used to have significant scarcity issues and thinking
that I should charge certain fees, and then I realized

(20:43):
that if I don't do that, I'll be broke and
burnt out. Like I can at least be rich and
burned out, you know what I'm saying. But like if
I just took on every single task, because it used
to be someone when you're under rate, and I would
automatically think when I was thinking about saying no, oh
so you're rich, Huh, who are you to say no
to like this amount of money? This is me talking
to me, and I think I'm doctor Rakeel Martin. I
think I deserve more. You do deserve more. That was

(21:04):
a trick say no, you know, like.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
It's just yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
So it's I think it's hard for some people. But
I also think a lot of people don't meet individuals
where they're at. I think a lot of people will
use like a twenty dollars word when a five dollar
war will do. I think a lot of people aren't
as plugged into historically excluded in marginalized communities as much
as they think they are. So they think they're addressing
one thing, but they're not. And I think some people
just aren't good clinicians.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
All right, BA fans, stay right there. We're going to
be right back after this quick break with more of
my conversation with doctor Raquel Martin. I ran into when
I was vetting a clinician, when I was getting like
an introductory call with a therapist last week, and we
got on the zoom and it was black woman, and
it was so underwhelming. It was like, I mean, this

(21:47):
is telehealth, right, and I mean like for me, I
can get a vibe over a computer. The vibe was
just like I'm clocking in, this is my eight hour shift.
You know, she's like part of this bigger network. And
also it was the first call, and for me, I
feel like it's as much about me interviewing you as
it is like you asking me your intake questions, like
I want to see what it is.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, Mandy, say that again, please.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
I told her. I was like, she just went right in.
She's like, so tell me what brings you here today?
What's your medical And I'm just like wait a second, Hi,
what's your name again? You know, Sharon, like, where are
you from? You know, what's your style? And she was
so jarred by it, and I was like, hmm, this
is not gonna I just kind of knew ten minutes
in that this wasn't my person. I want someone with this,

(22:29):
Doctor Martin, Can I call you? Doctor Martin? You have
a particular way about you. You're very special, you know this.
You have this energy in this you do. You have
an energy, a sparkle of like a vitality, like you
are plugged in. You are an expert in your field
and you care to be one, but you also are

(22:51):
curious and you're learning and I am finding out. And
you know, at this stage when I'm looking for a therapist,
I really want someone who is a voracious as I
am about just like finding things out and learning things.
And yeah, I know it's more about me and the session.
Like I'm not supposed to know a lot about the therapists,
and that's fine, but like I want someone who's like
dialed in and is curious and hungry and bring some

(23:14):
of that energy to me. And that is hard. It's
a lot of therapists, but it's hard to find. I
think that energy that I want.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
Yeah, And I think people also show their energy in
a different way, right, Like I think there's that a
lot of people are booked and also I don't. It's
like it's different generationally when it comes to clinician as well,
because like I remember getting shade on this panel because
I do stuff on social media and someone like on
the panel mentioning like, oh, you know, I know some
of us are involved in social media. I think there

(23:41):
should be a firmer disconnection between mental health and social media.
And I was the only person on the panel they
could have been talking about. So it's also like a
generational thing some of the concepts that individuals want to discuss,
or that the medium is just antiquated. My clients don't know. Well,
I would say maybe some of them know more about
me now. But when I was seeing client I've been

(24:02):
working with for a minute and the doorbell head rang
and I had just gotten up to get the doorbell.
But it's the first time I ever had to do that.
I was like nine months pregnant. She was like, you're
pregnant because.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
This is.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
And I was like, I am pregnant. My bad, Like
you know, but it's like session, it's not really.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
It's also a trick man because sometimes you talk too much.
At one, you talk too much about you shouldn't bring
yourself into session. But two, sometimes clients will get they
want to know more about you because this is also
the week that they thought that they were going to
bring in trauma. But like, why do I, well, I should.
I don't need to talk about my trauma because she's
sharing about her. You're not gonna You're not gonna rook me,
like I'm not new here, you know. So it's like, yeah,
like that has nothing. What does I have to do

(24:41):
with this? Yes, I was like, oh, yes, I am pregnant,
So sorry about the doorbell. Let's get back to what
we were doing, you know, Like that has nothing to
do with this. Now, even with social media, I share
a lot about me and my and my life. But
that's honestly, it's more so for clinicians, honestly, so that
they can see that normal people can be clinicians. It's
for people who are black and want to be clinicians,
because only five percent of licensed psychologists in the US

(25:01):
are black, and I want them to know that you
can share what you want to share, but there's also
a line like you don't see my babies online. I'll
talk about them. Everyone knows Russell and Jaden exist, but
I don't include them. I talk about Brandon, but like
I don't really include him. I don't know what I
would include him in, like you know, like in terms
of stuff like that, Like there is a line yeah
in the accounting right, like books are good, but I

(25:23):
think it's also the way some people are trained, like
I also I specialize in black health and well being.
When I was in training, I was told that you
cannot specialize in black health and well being, like we
were told, you know, you can specialize in children, family,
and there's personalities, ords and stuff like that, but black
health and well being wasn't a thing, right, And that's
what I was told when I was training, right, or
even specifying black instead of saying like bipop, that's that

(25:45):
I specialize in black. And it's also like the personality style,
like coming from an HBCU going to all these pwis
and seeing how generic they would try to apply everything
to us, to people that look like us, and I'm like, well,
the scientists don't look like us. They didn't prioritize us
in the research, they didn't priority in the clinical care,
and you think this is going to work with us
even acknowledging the justified fear that we have with therapy

(26:07):
or the medical system in the first place, It's like
they would just try to act like it didn't happen.
And I'm like, that's why, y'all, that's why these that's
why they don't like you. It's just like even when
they be like, oh, they seem to really gravitate towards you,
I was like, I don't know how much it is
that I'm exceptional versus it's that like I actually try
to do the work and actually don't try to generalize
and put everything on one person. And I think that's

(26:27):
what it is, even the person that you mentioned. A
lot of clinicians are also burnt out. But to me,
that is it's a system issue and it's a personal issue, right,
Like one my goal is to get more involved in
policy with the fact that, like, the way these insurance
companies work is horrific, and you have all of these
people making laws about who can accept your insurance and
they've never stepped a day in an office in their life.

(26:47):
So that's actually like, that's my next tenure plan. But
it's also the fact that like I balance my stuff
out so well that I can't see myself really getting
burnt out on therapy because I don't just do therapy, right,
I do the speaking. I also teach at my university.
I conduct research. I'm currently creating a new model of
Black identity development. I have the liberation or into ecosystem.

(27:08):
I have burned the cape. So many times people feel
as though the only way, because this is what they
were taught, is only to do therapy. But as someone
who specialized in trauma and black health and well being,
there's only so many trauma patients I can take right
because we get to collaborate with you guys on your goals,
which is amazing. But I literally am just paying for
a living. So like I am working with someone on
their trauma and their racism related stress while also dealing

(27:30):
with racism and oppression in my own world. There should
be a limit to how many clients people are taking.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
They should vary it.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
Not because I want everyone to be an entrepreneur, but
there's going to be a limit to how many people
you can reach when you're only working with them clinically.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
I started social.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
Media just because my caseload filled up, and I was like, yeah,
but I still have way more that I want to share,
and there weren't people who were sharing it the way
that I wanted to.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
It was kind of out of scarcity.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
But I was like, my caseload is filled up, so
I'm only allowed to help ten people per week.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
That's absurd, Like there are.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
So many more people who need help that are outside
of my accounting loades. So then I started social media
and I moved to Nashville, and I was like, I'm
never going to be able to do as many local
gigs here, So then I travel more to speak right,
And I feel as though it also helps me to
stop getting burnt out because oh, can you see me
as a client?

Speaker 3 (28:10):
Note?

Speaker 1 (28:10):
But I have fifteen free resources on my website. I
have these many talks, and I also have this way
to locate people, so like, my client load will probably
never go over six a week ever unless I get
rid of everything else. But I will do two speaking
gigs a month. I do like five to ten low
costs for free speaking gigs a year. I make sure
my stuff is recording and I disseminate it and you
probably get three new mental health guides on my website

(28:31):
each month. Like it's also being burnt out because it's
like that's the first meeting. I remember when my son
started his first day at school and I'm like the
teacher was like very subdued, and I was like, dang,
you can't fake it for the first day. Like I
never never let that go and that was for me
the whole time. And I'm like, it's the first day, bro,
Like this is the easiest it's gonna be with these kids.

(28:52):
So like you can't ask me my name and I
didn't get grace.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
I get what you're saying. I can give grace, but
doesn't mean that I need to sign up for that,
you know, Like.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
Yeah, it should be it should be both. I with grace,
I will never see you again. So I hope that
grace reaches you.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yes, it's not going to come from this. Yeah, this
is the right fit for me. And you know, as
a career coach, like I try to explain to people
that that energy is coming across in an interview, like
when you walk in defeated or you walked in burnt out,
That's why sometimes I'm like, you have to have an
fu fund for the time. Why, Yeah, you're ready to
walk away, but you're not mentally ready to be in

(29:29):
an interview right now. Like you're still hung up on
your ex. You're still getting over that trauma and you
need to like do some healing because you'll bring in
that like energy into an interview and it's like you're
not as likely to get the job or you know,
negotiate successfully. It's a whole thing. Can I talk about
business for a sec because you brought it up.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
One of the things that I love about you is
that you as a person who is so service oriented
and so unapologetically focused on the black especially black women,
my female community. I appreciate. I mean, my podcast is
Brown Ambition. I'm writing a book for black women, and
I had to find a publisher that was not going
to tell me to generalize it.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
Well, and at the same time, like that passion, that
service driven, mission driven professional you're not always thinking of
yourself as a business and coming up with these varying
income streams. When did that journey start for you and
how has that been sort of like trying to tap
into the business side of things, like how do you
build a diverse, thriving business that still helps you do

(30:31):
the work that you want to do.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
I'm still working on that, honestly. So like I recently
got my my highest paid gig, which shifted my minimum
to like, for virtual my minimum is tan k and
for my in person my minimum is fifteen K for
like a one hour And it was because with this gig,
I gave them my typical rate and they actually they
upped it like five K. And they were like, oh, no,
would we would pay this? This is what we have

(30:53):
And they said, like, we paid more for less, like
you know, like so this is reasonable. But also talking
to my colleagues, I will say care Gains is someone
who I talk to a lot about money, and he'll.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Be like, Doug, that this is what I charged, this
is what you should be charging.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Or even like when I'll be thinking about different realms
of like what am I thinking? Because we see it differently.
I'm a doctor who creates content. He always says he's
a content creator who is also a therapist. Right, so
even when I'm talking about money, He's like, so when
I'm talking about content gigs, I'm thinking about it that way,
he said, But your stuff is different because like you're
the person who trains the clinician. He's like, when I
go to your content, it's to learn how to be
a better clinician. And he's like, that's what I look

(31:31):
at your stuff for. So he said, my stuff may
be videos. He said, your stuff would be like newsletter
and like all the other stuff. So I have a
lot of people who are open with talking to me
about money because I've always learned to talk about and
it's easy for me because I grew up bro so
like it's easy to talk about money because like we
don't really have none. So it's it's weird to me
to not talk about money. If I make more than you,
I'll tell you how I got it. If you make

(31:52):
more than me, tell me how you got it. I'm
still working on seeing myself as a business because I'm
that whole five to ten low or no colls speaking
gigs a year, Like it took me a while to
get comfortable with that number because there's only so many
speaking gigs I can give low cost or free because
they take time and energy, and especially if they're travel gigs.
I'm leaving my babies and they will never be this
young again. So I also have to realize that I

(32:13):
thought about diversifying when I thought more about the way
that people ask me to show up and what they
were asking me for. Like, social media to me is
a business card. A lot of people will treat social
media as a business but like, for example, if there
is a certain event that I want to do, or
if there's a certain topic I want to discuss, I'll
create content around it and then I'll include that in
a pitch to be like this shows that this is

(32:33):
stuff that people want to hear about.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
So I use it as a business card.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
But I always get asked to train on certain things.
So I wanted to get certified and teaching continuing education
courses so I can teach the courses of clinicians the
way I wanted to and get paid for it because
you can charge more if they're getting continuing education credits
for it. So I thought about it that way, And
when it came to traveling more being in Nashville, I
just had to acknowledge the fact that there's only so
many gigs I'm going to get booked for in this

(32:57):
red state. A lot of people will say that Nashville
is a blue dot state is not shading every single
day like we are Trump County here, So getting comfortable,
more comfortable with traveling. And when I first started doing
the speaking for eight months to like a year, I
spoke for free, free or low cost because just because
I have my credentials doesn't mean I was good at
like what I was doing in terms of speaking. So
I would make a deal like, oh, I need the
social assets from it so I can come up with

(33:18):
the speaker real I need a review from you. And
I've always learned that my my current gig was always
in the room, and academia just kind of has been a.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
More slow down for a second. I love that your
current gig is always in the room, or your next
gigs in the room.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Oh, my next gig is always in the room.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
Yes, Hell, person who's gonna book.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
For my next event is always in the room. They
have always heard me speak on something else like like
there hasn't been so even if they're seeing my business
card on social media or they saw me at a
conference and they decided to hire me to train their
private practice. Every single time.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
That's why when you're really so your bag is like
you're and it's it's smart too from like a financial
perspective because you're going after the institutions that are training
and they have the budget. It's not like they have
the budget for speaking. They're a bigger institution. I just
feel like that opens up even more potential for that
part of your business because it's not like a B

(34:11):
two C. You know, I mean you are B two C.
You have your clients, you have your patients. But if
that's your only model and you're always trying to figure
out how do I get more out of these single humans, yes,
is like you know these bigger speaking opportunities. I just
think that's really smart.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
That's how you can keep your rates lower if that's
your goal, right, Because one of the main reasons why
people's rates have to be, of course higher, they have
to account for paying for their own insurance and liability insurance.
Because the clinicians we pay for own liability insurance. They
have to account for paying for their own independent insurance.
They have to account for no shows, they have to
account for like this is my main job me. I
make the most money from speaking and from like my

(34:47):
independent health educator courses, which allows me to set my
therapy rate to what I want to set it for
because insurance is like really hard. They'll do clawbacks, they'll clawbacks.
Are you paid for therapy with me? And we did
it through insurance and we did it for like we've
been working together for eight weeks, like doing everything, and
then week nine comes and Blue Cross reaches out to
me like, hey, doctor Martin, I know you've been working

(35:09):
with Mandy for for eight weeks and we said that
we were in reimburse you one hundred dollars, but we're
not going to reimburse you at all, and that one
hundred dollars that we've been giving you for each appointment,
we will need that back. So like you've been working
with her for eight weeks, we've given you eight hundred dollars,
but we need that money back because what we've decided
is like we're no longer going to cover that, and
those are called clawbacks.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
So like there's like therapets recently, it was like, yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:35):
Why do we why do why do people not accept insurance?
And then it's like you spent you were on the
phone with them for like five hours just to get
that fixed and you could have had five clients, So
now you have to account for that right like versus me.
I'm like, when I think about like the cap of
six clients a week or six people on my caseload,
it's because I'm able to accommodate it with speaking. And
there's also like I consider it, you have your like

(35:57):
academia gigs and your civilian gigs, kakademia gigs. I have
American Psychological Association, I'm speaking at INAACP convention, I'm speaking
at Urban League, I'm speaking at civilian gigs. Are if
we're doing like an essence fest, or if we're doing
like a blavity, or if we're doing like a I
did a Future Way Forward, those are like civilian ones.
And the reason why it's very different is because the

(36:18):
clientele or the people who attend are going to be
very different. They're both really important because my target audience
are not at the American Psychological Association a convention every
single year. They're not like the people who I'm actually
helping most of the time. General audience people who are
looking for clients clinicians to a certain extent, but they'll
go to that too. But like black people, brown people,

(36:38):
they're going to essence, they go off to women fest,
They're going to all these they're the ones who are
like I would love to hear more about that, Oh
you did speak this event? How would you think about?
Like they both inform so like I can never just
do one or the other because they both make me
a better clinician. One helps me know the science because
I'm also a scientist, So like I get to nerd
out and being like did you hear about that new
qualitative analysis that is going to take twenty minutes off

(36:59):
the data?

Speaker 2 (37:01):
My god?

Speaker 1 (37:02):
And then I also get to be like did you
see Mary J. Blase walk past? I recognize those boots?

Speaker 2 (37:07):
My god?

Speaker 1 (37:08):
Like you know, like you kind of have to. They
inform me to be a better clinician. But like I
split my money up that way, and I will say
for more clinicians, if there are a lot of clinicians listening,
you do have to work on trying to decide if
you want to build your own stage, because that is
more so what I'm working on now. Like I am
certified to do continuant education courses myself. We have to
take courses to stay certified and being a licensed clinician, right,

(37:31):
So Normally you go to like APA, or you go
to these conferences, or you go to ones that are
funded by them, and they're just they're kind of dry,
they're kind of boring, but you still have to take them.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
But you can get.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
Certified to teach these courses yourself.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
I think it took like three.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
Thousand dollars or whatever, and then we're up. We're good
for like a couple of years. You do your course,
you come up with the objectives, you come up with that,
and people pay you for that. For example, if I'm
doing three you get three CE credits. I'm doing that course,
I would probably charge you one hundred, one hundred and
twenty five. It's all digital. You get your credits and
stuff like that. I cap it at one hundred people
per course so that people can ask questions. So for

(38:06):
one three hour course, you'll likely make twelve thousand, five
hundred dollars.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
I've never had a.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
Course not sell out, right, So you get to teach
this course, make like thirteen k. So three hour course,
you can figure out how you bank it or whether
you pay for something else. And you decide the course,
You decide the ejectives, you decide the topic you decide
when you teach it, and then you can decide whether
or not to get further certified so that you can
record it professionally, all on your time, and then you
still get money for that course too, instead of having

(38:30):
to go according to someone else's time slot, speak on
someone else's stage, do the conference all of my courses
that I teach, and like, okay, well I'm free more
so in June. So I'm going to teach an anti
racist and antipress of course in June, and we're going
to do that. And I made thirteen thousand dollars in
that three hours. And then not only did I do that,
it's a business card because I get more reviews and
it's one of the reasons why I get called to

(38:50):
speak in and courses. We had the student who took
your CE course and they actually would love it if
you've trained our counseling center. Like as clinicians or scientists,
we kind of get framed to think about this like
you're supposed to it's supposed to be scholarly work. I
can have scholarly work and still also be happy visiting
my place at Martha's Vineyard every year that I ain't.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
Me yet say, can I get an invite?

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Nah? Yeah, I still ain't never been.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
But the way they try to make us think about money,
it's like the fact that caring for others means that
we can't care for ourselves, and that is simply not true,
because you're only going to be able to focus so
much when maybe Mandy is your fifth client of the
day and it's only noon, and you have to keep
doing this because you've never diversified the money that you
came in and you think it doesn't come off. But
Mandy ain't never calling you again because you as rude
as all get out or like.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
You were not warm, and then you're wondering why you're good.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
And then you also have to keep recruiting new clients
because for some reason, nobody comes past the consultation. It's like,
I'm not saying everyone needs to be an entrepreneur. I'm
saying one of the reasons why clinicians are struggling. And
I will say you're the third person this month two
people reached out to me. One person I just heard
about it on their story about struggling with like having

(39:56):
issues with clinicians. A lot of them are tired, but
they don't know how to say no, and and they
also they don't have any other option. Well, I have
to see twenty clients a week as the only way
that I could, and they don't think about something else
in terms of money, And it really shows and you're
able to help people less and you're going to session
and they're not making progress. And it's because they're also
not spending enough time on their clients. Because a one

(40:17):
hour session that's the beginning of it. I have to
check in with your treatment plan, I do a case conceptualization.
I have to do updates on your goals one client,
which is an hour, I likely spend probably two, like
an extra hour just thinking about like your treatment plan.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
How do I know if you're not meeting your goals?

Speaker 1 (40:32):
If we didn't set down your goals, how do I
know if this transition changes the way I'm conceptualizing the
things contributing to your attachment issue if I haven't written
it down. One of the reasons why people aren't getting
that much out of therapy is because people are so
overworked that they're forgetting that, like the one hour recession
is half of the time that we're dedicating to our clients.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
And they're just not doing a good job. And once
I could.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Also provide you with grace, but I could also say,
I mean like, I'm gonna give you grace, and in
that grace, I'm gonna let you know this is why
you're doing a bad job. I'm not going to tell
you not doing a bad job. You're doing a bad job.
It's because of this. But the bad job is there nonetheless, right,
And it's all.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
She called me a week later and was like, hey,
so I noticed she didn't make a follow up and
I'm gonna I'm not proud of it. I was like, oh, yeah, well,
I'm just really busy right now. The baby, Oh yeah,
I'll get I'll take a look at that later. I
can book online, right.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
But it's up to you how you decide to share.
Don't feel bad.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
About it, like we have not about burned the Cape.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
I am so sorry. Yes, so burn and that's where
I'm going to I'm going to burn the Cape.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
Hell, everybody, brown ambition. You need to know about burn.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
The Cape's it's a liberation based I don't feel right
calling this support group. It's more so like a liberation
based ecosystem created by me black women for Black women,
about releasing the unrealistic expectations of being everything to everyone,
not only talking about reclaiming rest and reflection and self care,
but showing you how to do it, because at the
end of the day, we've been conditioned to wear a

(41:52):
cape like superheroes, but the cape is heavy, and we
were never meant to fly solo in the first place,
which is why I do it in a group, community
based group. Sometimes the strongest thing you can do is
just set something on fire. And that's why I say
burned the cape and like started new. So it's ten
weeks curriculum base. I created the curriculum. This cohort has
fifteen groups. It's run by two facilitators per group. I
facilitate one group, but we have fourteen other groups.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
Fifteen groups, so fifteen different groups. Yeah, are doing how many?
How big are those groups?

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Thirteen each?

Speaker 3 (42:23):
Thirteen?

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Yeah, So typically I run one hundred and ninety five women,
not to include the black women facilitators who are all
licensed mental health professionals as well, so they're co facilitating,
so thirty licensemental professionals as well licensed mental health facilitators.
They get a stipend. It's one thousand dollars per person.
It should be more, but that's all we can afford.
We're solely donation based. And then the members attend every

(42:46):
single week. It's a ten week curriculum, ninety minutes per week,
and they receive a journal journal that I made. We're
redesigning it and stuff like that too. Each week we
cover a different topic that contributes to combating Black Superwoman's
schema but also having mental health autonomy. Like the one
week we're we talk about stereotypes. We acknowledge stereotypes, where
they came from, and how they fuel oppression, how do
we combat them, and then we talk about ways to

(43:06):
break them down in our everyday lives. This week we're
talking about self compassion, so we're talking about how self
compassion is antithetical to what we were reared out of
and when it comes to black women historically, kind of
like how you mentioned like, oh, it's hard for us
to when you think like, oh, isn't it so much
to do like nutrition is and a doctor and stuff
like that, but it's not. We've kind of been we've
been programmed to think that anything other than like the
bare minimum that we're handed is too much and it's

(43:28):
never too much, right, So we talk about that and
we do tools, but each week is framed the same way.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
We do like a psycho education.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
We have discussion throughout all culturally based and then we
have mental health tools, journal prompts and every single week
and at the end of the ten weeks, all of
the women get a care package, which, in addition to
the group fueling black women, the care package also fuels
black businesses because every single thing in the care package
is a black business. Last year's care package we had
products through a black owned tea company, soap company, black

(43:56):
owned journal company, and this one we always always have
a book by a black p Liae Nisi, And this
this cohort is doing the same exact thing because the
goal is not only to fuel it with black women
like through the therapy, but it's also to fuel money,
infuse money into black businesses and not through donations like
I pay them for the things that go into the
care package, because they deserve money as well.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yeah yeah, how many people donate.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
We're going to put a link in the profile. Oh yeah, sorry,
link in the show notes we have because we don't
charge these women. This is free. They got to pay
like forty bucks.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
Yeah, want to show journal because I should. I shipped
the journal to them, but it's.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Theirs journal and you're getting this for free. So RAC
doctor Martin has created this program and was very you know,
strong and the idea that she doesn't want to charge people,
and so yeah, we have to do completely grassroots. You've
raised over one hundred thousand dollars. I saw that's yeah,

(44:49):
we're at like.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
One hundred and twenty seven thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
So I month do do a month with donation through
my auto pay to the bank account because like even
I would forget to donate, but gofund me allows you
to have monthly donors. I just got this alert that
we have monthly donors that just automatically donate every month,
which was so cool.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
Yeah did I do that for ACLU? Why not?

Speaker 2 (45:09):
Yeah? I I never knew that, so like, yeah, you
just forget Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
Yeah, So I was like, that's cool, awesome, Like I automatically.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
The next cohort start because you have cohort right now.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
You have a cohort right now. This week we're all
lose seven.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
The next cohort starts in July, and then the last
Cohort of the Year will start in September. Luckily we're
fully funded for Cohort three. We're not fully funded for
Cohort four. But since we are fully funded for Cohort three,
now I can start trying to apply to grants. It's
just me, so I really need someone to help administratively.
Have a nonprofit organization now, and it's wrapped into that.
The goal is to be able to apply to some

(45:43):
groups to get grants, to get administrative help. Because everything
from the emails, to the journals, to the shipping, to
the contact and the vendors, to the packing the packages.
I have two hundred and fifteen packages and I'm going
to have to park from now to next week. I
do by myself, but once I get like enough money
to fund someone, I'll be able to do that too.
So this will fully be the last cohort where I
am doing everything alone.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
Please let that be unique.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
In addition to the facilitator. The facilitators are amazing. They're amazing.
I would not be able to do this without them
because I'm not running fifteen groups alone.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
I only run my own group.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
It's two facilitators for other groups, So like I would
not be able to do this without them. They're all
black women, all licensed mental professionals. They're amazing. They give
me a lot of grace when it's like, hey, remember
when I send you this email, you said you're gonna
reply back, and you did reply back, and I'm like,
I do, like I still need that answered, doctor Martin.
They're amazing, Like, I don't know what I would do
without them, So.

Speaker 3 (46:31):
Like, is it too? Can people still it's an application? Right?
Do Can you still reply to be a part of it? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (46:38):
You would just send an email to Alexis. She's my
administrative systant who helps me out. She but she's my
administrati assistant for everything, Doctor Martin and burn the Cape
is just one of the many things that I do.
So please also provide her with some grace because every
time I add a new project, I'm like, hey.

Speaker 3 (46:50):
Girl, how do you email her? What's the email?

Speaker 1 (46:52):
It's admin at rackelmrtinphd dot com.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Okay, so email if you'd like an application.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
Yes, email if you like an application, and add you
to the wait list and we just go down the waitlist.
So if you don't reply back in time, we will
just keep you on the wait list, and we'll just
go down the line unless you specifically stay I want
to be removed.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
We don't remove people.

Speaker 3 (47:10):
Can I just say I want to endorse group therapy
so much. I've talked about my group therapy practice this
past year. It's wonderful. So if you're thinking, even if
you don't have I mean, it's nice to have an
individual therapist, but even if you're not sure, like is
a group the kind of like the right place for me?
I can't recommend this, like this ten week program that
is just so extraordinary, the fact that it is so

(47:31):
low cost, it's such a huge accomplishment, doctor Martin, And
I just want to give you those flowers because you
deserve them. And I hope it goes on for one
hundred thousand cohorts too, and it becomes the norm.

Speaker 2 (47:44):
So yeah, I hope it's becomes so much.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Well, thank you for coming on Brown Ambition and sharing
your light and your energy with me. And I'm going
to let you go because you got to go help
those women burn the cape.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
I do, and thank you, thank you,