Life Lessons and Healing: An Interview with Natalee Part 2

Episode Transcript

Marvae (00:00):
Hi, welcome back to my channel.
I'm excited to have NatalieGuray has been all on for the
second portion of her three partseries to talk about her journey
to become a crisis interventionspecialist and psychotherapists,
along with tips and informationon mental health.
Please enjoy and like andsubscribe to receive alerts on a

(00:23):
revalue basis.
Hi, Natalie.
Welcome back.

Natalee (00:28):
Hi.
It's nice to be here again.

Marvae (00:31):
I'm glad you're here for your second episode.
Do you want to give an overviewto our audience of what you're
gonna talk about today?

Natalee (00:40):
Yes.
Thank you.
So this video's intention is togo over just a brief overview of
my title, um, what I do for aliving, how I got.
There, um, some just importantand fun facts that I've carried
along the way, and, um, alsosome techniques and things that
I use to ground myself.

(01:00):
Um, so this is in general just amental health talk.
Um, and then if viewers have anyquestions or they want to follow
up specifically about PTSD anddepression, I'm absolutely happy
to do that.
So, um, without further ado, Iguess I'll go ahead and get
started and then I'm gonna gothrough each kind of subtopic.

(01:21):
I kind of outlined what we weregonna, what I was gonna share
with you today.
So I'm a crisis interventionspecialist and I am also a
psychotherapist in practice,currently attaining, uh,
supervisory hours.
And I have been on a journey toget here.
I do have lived experience.

(01:42):
I was formally diagnosed withPTSD and also major depression
disorder, and I also haveexperience with childhood sexual
abuse.
So I did preface that in myfirst video, and that is
something that I certainly cantalk more about, like I said in
another video, but I wanna giveit to.

(02:03):
Its importance and attentionthat it needs.
So this is not necessarily thevideo for that, but just as a
reminder that that's the lenswhere I'm coming from is really
my lived experience.
It's just, it's the layers ofprocessing that's I've had to go
through to.
Ground myself to feel safewithin my body, to feel safe
within my mind, and to learn howto cope with feelings that I

(02:28):
don't welcome, but they come andwhen they do, I have to process
and take time to do that formyself, for my own mental health
and just overall self-awareness.
So as a crisis interventionspecialist, the short definition
of that is that I am the personthat someone would call if
someone was having a mentalhealth crisis, if they were at

(02:51):
harm of.
Risk to themselves or to someoneelse, or to the environment.
And so what I would do is comein and do my best to deescalate
that situation by using a calmvoice and very open and calm,
physical demeanor, and alsooffering.

(03:12):
Empathy and compassion, tryingto connect if I can and offer
some options.
And of course, there's differentvariations of a crisis, right?
And so for myself, in thecontext of my role, I am at a
space, I work for a, um, what wecall the hub, which is a, um,
resource center for youth.

(03:33):
And so they come and they getwhat they need, food.
Uh, a little bit of shelter forthe day, access to computers and
phone service, um, and showers.
And so if for some reasonthey're just feeling like
they're not safe, then I'm theperson that they would call.
So I'll read the definition of acrisis intervention specialist,

(03:54):
just so your viewers have theformal contact.
So it's to assess if someone'ssafety, stability, or ability to
function is, is at immediaterisk, which could be threats of
self harm or harm to others,severe emotional distress or
breakdown, sudden traumaticevents, aggressive or erratic

(04:16):
behavior.
Any situation that feelsoverwhelming or dangerous.
Now that is a mouthful, and it'sa lot embedded in that
definition, so that's why I tryto give you more of the softened
version of what that actuallylooks like.
I'm the person that has alwaysbeen very calm, stable, and

(04:37):
grounded in my life.
For some reason, this is the waythat God made me and I lean into
crisis.
I lean into.
Difficult things and difficultstressors, and I find that not
only the person that I am, butmy energy that I give off is
very safe and calming.
And so that's why I love what Ido.

(05:00):
Um, the second half is that I amworking as a psychotherapist.
So what does that mean?
My formal title is AssociateClinical Social Worker.
So that means that when I gainall of my hours and I take the
exams in order to becomelicensed, I can practice
psychotherapy.
So I'll go through the typesthat I do offer and that I'm

(05:24):
also practicing in now.
And I will also share the properdefinition of my title right
now, which is to provideindividual family or group
therapy.
Conduct psychosocial assessmentsand intake interviews, develop
and implement treatment plans,monitor client progress, and

(05:45):
adjust interventions.
So the short end of that is Ilove to talk to people and I
love to listen to people.
And people come with manydifferent types of life stories
and some may not need anysupport as far as here, this is
what you need to do.
Some people just need a space tobe validated and heard.

(06:06):
And that's what I love about mywork.
So I've covered that part.
Do you have any questions for mebefore I continue?

Marvae (06:15):
Yes.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe assessment that you might
use.
Are they based on the nature ofthe issue and so you tailor that
assessment based on thatperson's issue?

Natalee (06:35):
That's a really good question.
So psychotherapists will use anarray of assessments to try to
target what the stressors mightbe.
If I am wearing the hat of acrisis intervention specialist,
then I would want to assess forrisk, right?
Suicidal risk, safety risk.

(06:55):
But if I am wearing the hat of apsychotherapist and an LCSW or
licensed clinical social worker,then I am probably using the
depression scale, which is mostcommon or something else
tailored to that.
It might be paired with anxiety.
Um, it might be paired withpsychosis.
So we have different.

(07:16):
Assessments for differentthings, and so it can be common
to go into an office when youfirst meet a psychotherapist for
a psychotherapist to run alongthe lines of ruling out
depression.
Depression in my expertise seemsto be the most common that I
have come up against.
Again, every psychotherapist isdifferent and every demographic

(07:40):
and population they have accessto is different, but that's.
My own, um, experience withpsychotherapy and just the
stressors that I've beeninvolved with.
So I hope that answered yourquestion.
In the next video that we have,I can certainly present and
share screen and show you someof these assessments, if that's

(08:01):
something that you viewers areinterested in.
And also I would say to thatassessments are used as a tool,
so.
Sometimes we don't even usethose assessments.
Sometimes we just talk first, wetalk through what is it that is
mentally, physically, andemotionally causing some stress,

(08:22):
and then we go from there.
So I just preface that and saythat because I would like
viewers to know that it's notalways about just assessing you
and trying to figure out off ofan assessment.
Or sheet what your problem is.
It's a helper, and it can helpguide us in that relationship to
help the person understand, oh,this is why I might be thinking

(08:44):
this way, or This is why I mightbe saying these things, or this
is why I might be repeatingthese behaviors.
But in no means is it the onlything that we use to help our
clients to move through big lifeevents or crises or anything
that's traumatic.

Marvae (09:01):
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you for that.

Natalee (09:02):
You are welcome.

Marvae (09:04):
I have one more question.
If you have a, a client orpatient that comes in and you
notice that they may needmedical help, so maybe
additional, maybe, you know, um,psychiatry, maybe, I'm not sure,

(09:26):
how can you gauge that part ofthe behavior?
To where it's like, sorry, Ican't help this person.
They need.

Natalee (09:38):
That's a great question and, and one that is common.
So how I would explain thiswould, which would be to
differentiate, is there a safetyrisk, right?
Because we are always thinkingabout safety.
Anytime we're engaging withclients, we wanna make sure that
they have a safe place to go.
That they feel safe in theirbody, that wherever they are,
they're not at risk to harmthemselves or anybody else.

(10:00):
Then we go to the next step.
Okay.
Why are you here today?
Can you tell me a little bitmore?
And so if we think or have anyreason to believe that an
individual is in psychosis orgoing through psychosis or
possibly entering into thatspace, and psychosis means that
mentally you are at an unstablepoint, which means you're not

(10:22):
able to think straight or makedecisions properly.
And you might also have somebehavioral things that you're
showing like.
Talking to yourself or delusionsor saying grandiose things that
do not connect anywhere to whoyou are, what you've done, or
your environment.
So those are layers of thingsthat as a psychotherapist, we do

(10:44):
have to work through.
It is our responsibility to knowthat when we meet an individual,
that is one of the first thingsthat we're assessing is how are
you?
Are you stable?
Where are you at?
And let's roll that out firstbefore we move into more of a.
Long term or short termrelationship about how we can
support you.

Marvae (11:05):
Okay.
good.
Thank you.

Natalee (11:07):
You're welcome.
So going forward, let's talkabout psychotherapy.
So one of the, um, modalitiesthat psychotherapists use is
called cognitive behavioraltherapy.
And basically my definition ofthat is it's working through all
the ways that we think.
Okay.
Why do we think this way?

(11:28):
What are we thinking?
What is triggering us to thinkthat way?
Is it a product of our biologyor is it a product of our
environment?
The focus of CBT is to identifyand change negative thought
patterns and behaviors.
Now I personally support andreally enjoy CBT therapy because

(11:49):
thinking and mental capacity isreally at the heart and
epicenter of what we do.
It's how we move through space,literally 24 hours a day.
So if we have a healthyrelationship with our mind, that
helps us to have a healthyrelationship with everything
else, every other aspect of ourlife.
So CPT is used for depression,anxiety.

(12:12):
P-T-S-D-O-C-D, phobias andeating disorders.
Now that list is not exhaustive.
There's other things that wecould add to that, and I would
say that.
Anytime that I recommend someoneto go into psychotherapy or be
thinking about it, always thinkabout a goodness of fit, just
because one therapist might begood at one modality, they might

(12:33):
not be good at another one, soyou just wanna make sure that
you feel it out and probably doa little bit of research about
the different types of therapiesthat you have questions about.
The next one is interpersonaltherapy.
This one is close to my heartbecause as an individual, I am
very introspective and I love togo inward, and I love the layers

(12:58):
of trying to understand myself,my self-identity, my self-worth
and everything about me, andthat's what.
Literally this therapy does it,it causes you to go inward and
really kind of do checks andbalances within yourself.
So the focus is to improveinterpersonal relationships and
social functioning.

(13:18):
It's used for depression, uh,grief, life transitions, and
relational relationship issues.
So again, it fits right becauseit's focused in on you.
It's focused in on, again, yourmental capacity.
Where are you at with what'shappening in your life, in your,
in your world.

(13:39):
Um, and the approach isstructured and it's focused, and
I like that because I generallymove towards a focused and time
sensitive type of therapy, butI'm always open to extending
that as far as needed.
Right.
As far as the client needs the.
Next one I wanna talk about istrauma-informed therapy.

(14:03):
This one, again, is important inmy personal definition because
yes, this word is thrown arounda lot, but the word has unpacks
a big punch.
Trauma is trauma, and traumameans that you have either.
Physically, mentally,emotionally gone through
something that has pretty muchpulled the rug out from under

(14:26):
your feet, and there is just noway to get back in the boat and
take those oars and startswimming away from it.
There's a hole in the boat, soyou start sinking.
So trauma-informed therapy, thefocus is safety, empowerment and
healing from your trauma,whatever that is.
Um, it is used for complex PTSDabuse survivors and childhood

(14:51):
trauma.
So this is one that I wentthrough because I knew that
that's exactly what I waslooking for.
I needed to work through thelayers of my childhood and what
happened to me and why ithappened to me, and why I, um,
generated these unhealthy copingskills to try and move through
this.

(15:11):
Again, there's many differenttypes of modalities.
My best suggestion is toresearch a little bit and have
some questions ready to try andfigure out what best suits you.
There have been situations wheremodalities have been paired
together and blend in together,so it's not necessarily cookie

(15:31):
cutter.
We do use layers from each one.
The next one I wanna talk aboutis yoga.
Yoga is.
Amazing.
It really does work with all ofyour body and it really helps
you to ground, to focus, tobreathe, and to maintain that

(15:56):
for a sustained amount of time.
Yoga has been used for quite awhile.
It's focused is it integratesphysical postures.
Breath work, meditation andphysical healing.
This is one that I have usedsince the onset of me even
knowing that it existed.
Then I went and got acertification for it because I

(16:18):
wanted to be able to teach this.
So again, there are.
People who move towards aholistic way of healing, not
necessarily their traditionalpsychotherapy therapist client
relationship.
So that's why I say there's aplethora of things out there,

(16:38):
and I would encourage viewers toat least try or talk to friends
and family and see if they'vetried any of these things and
talk about their experiencesthat they've had.
And last but not least, art.
Art is another really close oneto my heart.
I think that sometimes words arenot enough and we need to

(17:00):
actually express what it is thatwe're thinking, what we're
feeling, and what we're seeingin our mind.
And art.
Isn't just necessarily apaintbrush and paint, right?
Art can be in many forms.
So art in the sense of dancingand movement and drama and

(17:22):
music.
There's so many things and waysthat you can go about this.
I dabbled a little bit in, um,gardening and there is a.
They call it nature therapy, butit's basically immerse in
yourself in the naturalisticecosystem.

(17:42):
And the foundation of that isthat nature gives us life.
And so when we're immersed init, we also share in that
energy.
So there's a lot there.
There's a lot out there.
So I would definitely encourage,uh, listeners to just be curious

(18:02):
about yourself and you know,what you think you can get out
of these things.
So, do you have any questionsabout those modalities that I
went through?

Marvae (18:13):
I do, if so.
you can just recap quicklyagain, what is a modality and
does hypnosis fit into that?
Uh, somewhere at all, or is thatcan be that a modality.

Natalee (18:31):
Great question.
So modality is a word that Ilike to use that viewers will
probably see a lot when they'redoing research online for
psychotherapy.
But in general, modality isjust, it's, it's a, it's a
driver, right?
It's, it's a, it's a thing thatwe can use.
It's a tool that we can use tohelp something.
So when I talk about modality inthe context of psychotherapy,

(18:54):
that's what I'm talking about isthis particular set.
Of, uh, roles and frameworksand, um, thought processes and
exercises that we use to helpwith a certain type of, um,
mental health issue or stressor.
And to answer your questionabout hypnosis or hypnotherapy,

(19:16):
yes it is.
A option, and I don't personallyhave experience with it, but I
have talked with friends, uh,along the way who have used it
and have a lot of great thingsto say about it.
So, like I said, you couldeasily reach out to a
psychotherapist who ispracticing and just ask some

(19:36):
questions about what it is andwhat it might do for, for the
viewer or the person who'sinterested.

Marvae (19:45):
Okay, good.
I got some good clarificationthen.
Thank you.

Natalee (19:50):
You're welcome.
So let's go into education.
Of course, I didn't just wake upand become a crisis intervention
specialist, uh, slashpsychotherapist, so this part.
Is close to my heart because ithas taken me an extremely long
time to get here.

(20:11):
But I was a mom and I was caringfor two kids and also trying to
go to school.
So I made it happen and I had alot of support and help along
the way.
So the first thing to keep inmind is that most likely someone
who's looking to get a degreeand to go into licensure will

(20:32):
wanna start with.
Your general education, you cando that at a community college.
You can get an aa.
Uh, if it were me, I would'vegotten an AA in psychology.
But in the beginning, I wasn'tlooking to go into this.
I actually was looking to gointo early childhood education.
So I got an AA in ECE, butthought process wise in going
back, if I had to redo it, Iprobably would get an AA in

(20:54):
psychology.
So you start there and then onceyou're ready to transfer to a
four year college, you would getyour bachelor's.
Um, I got a bachelor's inpsychology.
However, there's other areas ofstudy that would still apply to
social work, so you would wannatalk to your academic counselor

(21:14):
about what those other degreescould be, because I don't wanna
be a tunnel vision when it comesto psychology.
Psychology is a, is a, a, amassive topic and.
I don't feel like I will ever bean expert at psychology.
So with that said, it'sinteresting and you could easily

(21:35):
pick up some recommended bookson the shelf and start reading
about it and see if it'ssomething that you want to be
degreed in.
So I have my bachelor's inpsychology.
From there, I went to a two anda half to three year school, and
I got a degree in social work,so a master's in social work.

(21:57):
So to get to the higher levels,you will, you will need to get
to the higher levels, excuse me,to be able to do what I do,
which is psychotherapy.
So you'll want to get yourmaster's and you can also, uh,
you'll wanna make sure that theschool is accredited.
So that's really important,especially if, well, for any

(22:18):
higher level, you wanna makesure that it's accredited.
I know there are some collegesthat don't give accreditation or
are not accredited, um, soyou'll just wanna make sure you
double check that.
Um, but it is required topractice therapy.
And so you'll wanna make surethe school is accredited.
And it took me about two and ahalf years, and this was all
online, so I was not physicallyin person for my master's, but I

(22:40):
was for my bachelor's.
From there, once you.
Uh, graduate, then you will findan internship opportunity, and
that is where you will get yourfirst exposure to the topic of
study, which for me was socialwork.
And you'll start working withclients and start accruing
hours.

(23:01):
So for an A CSW, you need tocomplete 3000 supervised hours
over a two plus year timeframe.
And you also.
Need to pass the California Lawand Ethics Exam and the A CSW
clinical exam.
So there's two powerhouse examsthat we have to do to be

(23:22):
licensed.
Now this information is tailoredto the state of California, so
please keep that in mind whenyou are going to do your
research.
It will be different fordifferent states.
But that in its in a sense is,um, how I got to where I'm at.
In a nutshell, everything isaccessible online.
You could easily talk to anacademic counselor about this,

(23:44):
and if you're more concernedabout whether you want to do
social work or more specializedlike.
Marriage and family therapy.
The only reason why I chose todo social work is because I felt
that there was far more jobopportunity and my scope could
be wider, so I could work inmany different types of areas of

(24:07):
social work with my licensure.
So, for example, I worked for ashort term residential facility
for about three years, andthat's where I did my
internship.
So I was case carrying, meaningthat I had a caseload of about
13 clients, and I would rotateand meet with them and offer
them group therapy throughoutthe week.

(24:27):
Then I transitioned over tobecoming a crisis clinician
Different.
And so in that space I amassessing for suicidal risk and
possibly putting on a 51 50hold.
So psychiatric hold and movingthat client to stability, uh,
longer term.
Then I moved over to, uh, thecounty of Santa Clara, where I

(24:52):
worked as a dependencyinvestigations, um, social
worker.
Again, three differentpositions.
If I was a marriage and familytherapist, I believe that I
could still have done all thosethings, but marriage and family
therapy is a specific type oftherapy, so that's something

(25:12):
that viewers would wanna keep inmind is understanding.
What, how exactly do you want toserve the population?
Do you wanna serve a largegroup?
Do you wanna serve individual?
Do you wanna do one-on-one?
Do you wanna do family?
So those are just layers ofthings to think about when
you're going to look at youracademic schedule and, um, your

(25:35):
goals.
So going back to doing school inperson and online.
So I did get my bachelor's inperson and I loved.
Every moment of that experience.
I met some great people and weshared four years together, and

(25:55):
I think it was just reallyawesome to be able to talk with
those people about real lifethings that were happening in
real time and have access tothem, like right there.
I literally went to school inthe city that I lived, so I was
very grateful for that.
So the flexibility and theconvenience was.
Absolutely great, and I reallyloved the face-to-face

(26:19):
interaction.
Like that was a, a big one forme.
And of course there's always thecampus experience too as well.
Um, there's many groups that youcould be involved in.
Sports, you could be involved inclubs.
So if that's something that'smore your style, then certainly
in person can be fantasticbecause it can tailor to your

(26:41):
learning styles.
Now I did my master's, um,online.
And so again, it still offeredflexibility and convenience, and
it also offered accessibilitybecause as a parent, I needed
that.
I needed to know that I couldlog in at certain times.
I had a schedule for me, but Ididn't have the pressure, didn't

(27:01):
have to have the pressure ofphysically driving to campus to
try to be there on time.
So those are two ways ofthinking about, uh, in-person or
online.
Any questions about, about thatpart?

Marvae (27:15):
So, being that you're in that field, did you find that
the online aspect of it was alittle, um, not difficult
because you're, again, you'relogging in and you're posting,
um, and it might be a littlebit.

(27:37):
Difficult if you have groupprojects together, maybe because
you're

Natalee (27:41):
Mm-hmm.

Marvae (27:42):
You know, you're communicating online with them.
So that can be an obstacle.

Natalee (27:50):
Absolutely.
That is a really, really goodpoint.
So the way that the program wasstructured, the group projects
and the communication was builtinto the program.
So we were guided as to how weshould connect.
When we should connect.
And then we had our ownflexibility about coming up with
the time of when it worked foreverybody.

(28:11):
So it actually did bring us kindof closer together.
'cause we really did have to tagteam and figure out,'cause I am
on, um, I'm not on East Coasttime, I'm on Pacific Standard
Time.
So we really had to like factorin.
There were people from allaround the US trying to figure
out when are we gonna meet.
So the other thing I would sayis that the biggest thing is
time management.

(28:32):
And that's important because.
You have assignments that youare given for that block of that
week, and then it's your job todecide how many hours you're
going to divvy up per day.
And a set aside time to read,watch the videos, do the group
discussions, and also do theassignments.
So that's something to keep inmind.

(28:53):
If you're a full-time worker andyou have any other hobbies on
the side, online is great, butyou wanna have good time
management if you're gonna.
Gonna connect with what you'redoing and absorb the learning of
what you're doing.

Marvae (29:07):
It sounds like since you went, you had experience in both
classroom, face-to-face online.
Um, was a good, you, you had twodifferent, uh, platforms of
learning.
So the experience iswell-rounded and, and you have

(29:28):
dedicated, your peers werededicated to get the group
projects done.
'cause that, that could be aproblem if that person, if they
all decide that, you know, wehave this group project done and
initially you're trying tofigure out schedules.
And then maybe somebody dropsthe ball.
So that can be, that can be alittle bit hairy.

Natalee (29:54):
Absolutely.
And it was, I'm not gonna saythat I didn't experience that.
I absolutely did.
And so again, it's going to beaccountability.
If you are doing your work,you're putting in the work, then
you're communicating with yourprofessor, Hey, this person
isn't quite meetingexpectations, what should we do?
So that was a couple ofsituations that I was in.

(30:16):
For the most part, everyonepulled in and and pulled their
weight.
But yes, that is definitelysomething to think about.
I think in general, you know,yes I did have a well-rounded
experience educationally, but Ialso went to school in the city
that I lived in.
So I wasn't.
Commuting very far to go tocollege.
So that's another part of it.

(30:37):
If you're a commuter and youlove to be in the car and you
know you wanna commute to schoolbecause you wanna be physically
in person and and absorbed thatway.
Great.
I liked online because it wasn'tan overwhelming lecture.
Every single time it was avideo, it was timed.
I watched it and then I could goback and watch it, so it was

(30:59):
tagged, meaning that it wasrecorded and it was in the
ether, so I could access itmultiple times to help absorb
the information.
So let's move along.
This is my favorite part of thetalk, which is coping skills
and.
I love this part because I feelthat in general, humans are

(31:23):
built to do amazing things.
We already have internal andexternal capacities to create
magic, and I love remindingpeople of that, and that's where
coping skills comes in.
So of course, coping skills, itpromotes mental health and it
emotionally.

(31:43):
Regulates you.
So there's so many benefits tousing different things to help
move heavy energy.
And I love it because I'm alwaystelling my clients your coping
skills.
It helps to manage your emotionslike anger and sadness and

(32:04):
anxiety and fear.
And we naturally, as humans, weare doers.
We want to be doing things.
We, we are, we naturally get upand we know we're supposed to do
something.
So what is that thing gonna bethat day?
Most of the time it's a nine tofive job.
Right?
But then after that, when youdisconnect from the work hat,

(32:27):
then who are you?
Right?
Creatively, and that's the thingthat I always like to remind
people, is that you're not thesum of the job that you do, and
you, you do it well.
The other side of you is.
The true humanness of you.
What is your expression?
What is your creativeexpression?
Um, some other things that arebenefits, um, reducing the risk

(32:50):
of developing depression andanxiety disorders or emotional
dysregulation.
So it's really a preventativething, and that's always
something that we, I feel likeas a society are really trying
to do is prevent things fromgetting really bad.
So why wouldn't we want toinvest in taking time to figure

(33:11):
out.
What are those coping skillsthat's gonna make my life be the
best life that I can live?
The other aspect is preventescalation of stress.
Again, prevention.
We want to avoid having chronicillness, chronic mental health
issues, and we wanna have ahealthy brain and body.

(33:34):
We want that system to beconnected and moving that
energy.
And so coping strategies arereally, they're a helper, right?
They're, they're a buffer.
For all of the things that ourbodies are trying to regulate
throughout the day, and that'sessentially what our bodies do.
We we're regulating throughoutthe day, so that's why I go back
to the epicenter of our mind.

(33:55):
If we have a healthy mind, ifour mental state is healthy,
then everything else in our lifecan certainly.
I'm not saying that there isn'tgonna be bumps and bruises,
right?
There always is, but you will beable to bounce back much faster
when you know what you need toget you to be grounded.
So some things that I investedin was salsa dancing.

(34:18):
I am a salsa teacher now.
I spent years learning how todance.
I took classes, and then I juststarted going out into the
community and finding places tomove.
I love the music and I love whatit's taught me.
It really has taught me toconnect back with myself and my

(34:41):
sensuality.
Who I am and, and the expressionthat I love to give, and that is
through movement.
The second thing is yoga, and Idid talk about it earlier.
Yoga is a beautiful investment,and I have heard many different
pros and cons about yoga andyoga therapy.
Yoga in itself is meant for youto center ground, breathe, close

(35:07):
out.
All of the static and the whitenoise and come back to self.
That essentially is what yogais.
Now, there's different ways thatyoga has been commercialized in
society.
And so for me it's more of aspiritual journey, and that is
okay if it's a form of exercisethat is okay.

(35:27):
If it's something where you feellike instead of working out
today, this is what my bodyneeds.
There's nothing wrong with that.
It's just for me in the way thatI speak about it, I speak about
it more in a spiritual sensebecause it really has connected
me to, um, my higher self,connected me more to God and and
appreciation for myself and mybody.

(35:50):
So those are some things thatI've done.
I could list a million otherthings, but those are probably
the top two that I practiceevery week.
Now, I will say that I do workout three times a week, and for
me, working out is more of.
The component of making sure myphysical body is being

(36:15):
activated.
So that's why I do it.
But again, it's another copingskill that helps you move this
kind of tension and heavinessthat you carry when things
happen to you, whatever thatmight be.
So do you have any questionsabout coping skills in general

(36:36):
or anything that you want me torecap there?

Marvae (36:40):
No, I think that, um, what I would, will, what I'll do
is ask you more questions on ourthird episode because there are
some areas that I wanted to.
Get into a little bit moredetail, but I know that we're,
you know, we're getting ready tokinda wind things up here.

(37:04):
But, uh, is there, is thereanything else that you wanted
to, to share?

Natalee (37:13):
Yes, so I will leave your viewers with some fun facts
about mental health.
They are the top 10 that I thinkare essential to just.
No, you can be curious about it.
You could say, Natalie, I heardit, but I really don't care.
Whatever you wanna do with it,you do with it.

(37:34):
I just wanna make sure that Iput it out there in the ether.
So the first one is, everyonehas mental health.
Mental health.
So a lot of times I have heardpeople refer to this word in a
very negative way.
Mental health means that yourbrain, your thought process is
healthy.
That's what that means when weuse the words mental health.

(37:58):
We are talking specificallyabout your mind and, and how
those things process.
So when we say mental healthstruggles, we really mean, okay,
there's something going on inour mind that is causing us to
be off scale.
The scales are not balanced.
What do, what do we need to doto get it back there?

(38:20):
It's just like physical health.
It's something that needs to benurtured every single day.

Marvae (38:25):
I just wanna give Natalie a warm thank you for
being here and giving of hertime so freely and sharing her
information.
She's quite a remarkable youngwoman and she has been through
quite the trauma in her life,and I hope that you're able to,
uh, tune into our third episode.

(38:47):
The third of the three partseries,