Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight. Each week we hear
from one local business owner letting us know where they
are in their business journey and how they got there.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well, we got to today.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I'm here today with doctor Garrick Bolier and co founder
and licensed psychologist, doctor Alexis Ferguson of psych Me Out.
Thank you both for being here for people who might
not know. Tell us a little bit about psych me Out.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Psyche me Out is a we empowered black community to
prioritize in mental health well being by offering engaging presentations,
interactive workshops, trainings, consultations, and free community events that promote
the quality of life and greater use of mental health services.
It was inspired by myself and doctor Alexis Ferguson. We're
(00:43):
two black millennial clinical psychologists, and we're fueled both by
our professional expertise and lived experience.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
How did you guys get together to think, well, this
is something that we need in this community.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
There's definitely a calling for it.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah. So it was a couple of years ago that
Garret and I were in graduate school getting our doctorates.
Both of us are SID graduates, and we were on
social media as you know, most of us are nowadays,
and we just saw that there was a lot of
misinformation about mental health diagnoses or criteria or symptoms. So
at first we just started the organization as an Instagram
(01:17):
page just to be able to disseminate information to the
black community about like what does depression look like, what
does ADHD look like, what does OCD look like? Right,
And then very quickly we found that there was a
need for us to be able to give back in
other ways to the community. So we decided to create
this grassroots nonprofit sector where now we're able to do
consultations with some organizations. We're able to work with local
(01:41):
chapters or even other organizations across the DMV and the
New York City metro area in order to be able
to provide not just that psycho education, but also interventions
and testing for individuals as they need.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Well, give me an example of some of the programs
that you guys offer there for people.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
So I'd say our largest program that we have is
our annual Unity for Wellness event. So this is wellness
and whatever that looks like to you. So we usually
partner with local departments like the police department. We'll partner
with some other organizations that provide like blood pressure testing,
HIV screenings, will have tarot card readers, We'll have yoga
instructors there, We'll have sound baths, different coping stations, food
(02:20):
sallence health, you name it, in order to pre for
people to be able to better understand what does wellness
look like, not just necessarily mental health, but also their
physical health and some of those overlaps that we have.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Are there actual patients with you? Is there like a
one on one.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yeah, So when it comes to Cite me Out in particular,
myself and doctor Lesis Ferguson are both licensed clinical psychologists. However,
we do not provide any clinical services. When it comes
to our organization. We focus more on other aspects of
service in the community, such as providing you know, workshops, presentations, trainings,
(02:55):
and free community events. So while we do try to
stigmatized therapy and promote the use of therapy, we ourselves
don't provide clingual services through our organization. However, we do
provide information on where to find clinical services.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And have you seen things grow in the past three
or four years with psych me Out?
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Definitely, I'd say, like not just in terms of our
social media presence but also our in person presence the
networking events that we've been able to do. So I'm
primarily located in New York and New Jersey, but GREK
is located in the DMV area, and we've been able
to grow and work with a lot of different organizations
ranging from small kind of like mom and Pops to
also like larger corporate corporations like Amazon or Barclays, and
(03:37):
then as well as like some of like the local hospitals.
So we've been able to definitely increase our outreach and
what that has looked like and being able to provide
worksheets and like specialized services to individuals that have mean
In addition, we've also been able to be like hosted
like through press through the media on different networks like
be et and the Associated Press as well.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Doctor ferguson what what would you say is the biggest
strength of Psychic if you could pick one thing.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
I think we understand that when it comes to mental
health that there's no like one size fits all model,
and I think doctor Gerrick and I are very intentional
about the services and workshops that we provide to everyone,
even if it's two different financial institutions that we're working with,
they have different needs, so we create different resources that
are individualized to that specific population that we're working with.
(04:23):
I think that goes hand in hand with what it
means to be a clinician and how we act with
our clients that we see in private practice and being
able to transfer that over to like workshops that we
provide to organizations is extremely important.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
If you're looking ahead, doctor Garrik, what do you hope
for the future for psych me out?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
How do you want to grow?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, so, like, although we've been successful in our home state,
our hope is to really expand our impact non nationwide
and or for that to be possible, you know, we
want to continue building up our team, gaining more resources
and including you know, expanding that network to grow. Within
the next two to five years, we like to hold
a communit the event that reaches at least five hundred people.
(05:02):
We want to grow our corporate partnerships from like five
to ten. We want to increase our fundraising efforts, establish
the network of mentors, learn from other opportunity entrepreneurs, and
you know, connecting with you know, organizations like yourself, so
we can expand and promote and communicate, you know, the
impact that we've been doing.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah, I'm sure you guys are constantly you have things
going on. But how many actual big events do you
have per year?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
In terms of the number of like large scale events,
I'd say that we try to host at least one
once a quarter, with our May event being the biggest
one because that's the mental health awareness month that we have.
Right However, throughout the year, we might have like smaller things,
even if it's just something small, like you know, we're
doing like an interview for example, like with the Lieutenant
Governor of New Jersey, or we're doing like small other
(05:48):
types of podcasts, or like collaborations that we have, whether
it's for different merchandise or other things about nature throughout
the year, or even just some of the different workshops
that we'll have for the public, Like it might be
each month we might do like a yoga or a
cardio or like hiking or something of that nature.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, that's cool. Different activities.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I mean, where can listeners find out more information about
psych me out Let's get the word out.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, you can follow us on Instagram, psych p s
y c h me dot out. So psyche me dot out,
or you can go to our website at psyche meout
dot org.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Very cool. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I appreciate the introduction to this great organization. I really
appreciate both of you coming on with me and spending
time psych me out.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I love it. Thank you both. I appreciate the time.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Thank you so much for buying us.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
You've been listening to the iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight
This is iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight. Each week we hear
from one local business owner letting us know where they
are in their business journey and how they got there.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well, we got to today.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I'm here today with doctor Garrick Bolier and co founder
and licensed psychologist, doctor Alexis Ferguson of psych Me Out.
Thank you both for being here for people who might
not know. Tell us a little bit about psych me Out.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Psyche me Out is a we empowered black community to
prioritize in mental health well being by offering engaging presentations,
interactive workshops, trainings, consultations, and free community events that promote
the quality of life and greater use of mental health services.
It was inspired by myself and doctor Alexis Ferguson. We're
(00:43):
two black millennial clinical psychologists, and we're fueled both by
our professional expertise and lived experience.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
How did you guys get together to think, well, this
is something that we need in this community.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
There's definitely a calling for it.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah. So it was a couple of years ago that
Garret and I were in graduate school getting our doctorates.
Both of us are SID graduates, and we were on
social media as you know, most of us are nowadays,
and we just saw that there was a lot of
misinformation about mental health diagnoses or criteria or symptoms. So
at first we just started the organization as an Instagram
(01:17):
page just to be able to disseminate information to the
black community about like what does depression look like, what
does ADHD look like, what does OCD look like? Right,
And then very quickly we found that there was a
need for us to be able to give back in
other ways to the community. So we decided to create
this grassroots nonprofit sector where now we're able to do
consultations with some organizations. We're able to work with local
(01:41):
chapters or even other organizations across the DMV and the
New York City metro area in order to be able
to provide not just that psycho education, but also interventions
and testing for individuals as they need.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Well, give me an example of some of the programs
that you guys offer there for people.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
So I'd say our largest program that we have is
our annual Unity for Wellness event. So this is wellness
and whatever that looks like to you. So we usually
partner with local departments like the police department. We'll partner
with some other organizations that provide like blood pressure testing,
HIV screenings, will have tarot card readers, We'll have yoga
instructors there, We'll have sound baths, different coping stations, food
(02:20):
sallence health, you name it, in order to pre for
people to be able to better understand what does wellness
look like, not just necessarily mental health, but also their
physical health and some of those overlaps that we have.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Are there actual patients with you? Is there like a
one on one.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yeah, So when it comes to Cite me Out in particular,
myself and doctor Lesis Ferguson are both licensed clinical psychologists. However,
we do not provide any clinical services. When it comes
to our organization. We focus more on other aspects of
service in the community, such as providing you know, workshops, presentations, trainings,
(02:55):
and free community events. So while we do try to
stigmatized therapy and promote the use of therapy, we ourselves
don't provide clingual services through our organization. However, we do
provide information on where to find clinical services.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And have you seen things grow in the past three
or four years with psych me Out?
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Definitely, I'd say, like not just in terms of our
social media presence but also our in person presence the
networking events that we've been able to do. So I'm
primarily located in New York and New Jersey, but GREK
is located in the DMV area, and we've been able
to grow and work with a lot of different organizations
ranging from small kind of like mom and Pops to
also like larger corporate corporations like Amazon or Barclays, and
(03:37):
then as well as like some of like the local hospitals.
So we've been able to definitely increase our outreach and
what that has looked like and being able to provide
worksheets and like specialized services to individuals that have mean
In addition, we've also been able to be like hosted
like through press through the media on different networks like
be et and the Associated Press as well.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Doctor ferguson what what would you say is the biggest
strength of Psychic if you could pick one thing.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
I think we understand that when it comes to mental
health that there's no like one size fits all model,
and I think doctor Gerrick and I are very intentional
about the services and workshops that we provide to everyone,
even if it's two different financial institutions that we're working with,
they have different needs, so we create different resources that
are individualized to that specific population that we're working with.
(04:23):
I think that goes hand in hand with what it
means to be a clinician and how we act with
our clients that we see in private practice and being
able to transfer that over to like workshops that we
provide to organizations is extremely important.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
If you're looking ahead, doctor Garrik, what do you hope
for the future for psych me out?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
How do you want to grow?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, so, like, although we've been successful in our home state,
our hope is to really expand our impact non nationwide
and or for that to be possible, you know, we
want to continue building up our team, gaining more resources
and including you know, expanding that network to grow. Within
the next two to five years, we like to hold
a communit the event that reaches at least five hundred people.
(05:02):
We want to grow our corporate partnerships from like five
to ten. We want to increase our fundraising efforts, establish
the network of mentors, learn from other opportunity entrepreneurs, and
you know, connecting with you know, organizations like yourself, so
we can expand and promote and communicate, you know, the
impact that we've been doing.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah, I'm sure you guys are constantly you have things
going on. But how many actual big events do you
have per year?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
In terms of the number of like large scale events,
I'd say that we try to host at least one
once a quarter, with our May event being the biggest
one because that's the mental health awareness month that we have.
Right However, throughout the year, we might have like smaller things,
even if it's just something small, like you know, we're
doing like an interview for example, like with the Lieutenant
Governor of New Jersey, or we're doing like small other
(05:48):
types of podcasts, or like collaborations that we have, whether
it's for different merchandise or other things about nature throughout
the year, or even just some of the different workshops
that we'll have for the public, Like it might be
each month we might do like a yoga or a
cardio or like hiking or something of that nature.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, that's cool. Different activities.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I mean, where can listeners find out more information about
psych me out Let's get the word out.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, you can follow us on Instagram, psych p s
y c h me dot out. So psyche me dot out,
or you can go to our website at psyche meout
dot org.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Very cool. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I appreciate the introduction to this great organization. I really
appreciate both of you coming on with me and spending
time psych me out.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I love it. Thank you both. I appreciate the time.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Thank you so much for buying us.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
You've been listening to the iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight
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