Therapy for Black Girls

This week we're back with another Ask Dr. Joy episode and today all of your questions are about the unspoken gaps in how many of us were raised to think about love.  Dr. Joy discusses getting back into dating after years away, feeling a quiet disconnect with your spouse, and finally naming why relationships often feel so hard to navigate. These are the kinds of realizations that can sit with you for years before you find the w...

Welcome back to our minisode series, "I Have Some Thoughts." These short episodes are designed to contextualize the pop culture moments we're currently paying attention to through a mental health lens. Pop culture isn't just fun to chat about, it can reveal important information about how we relate, cope, and understand ourselves. Join us each Friday to hear Dr. Joy share her thoughts about the happenings of the week. 

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Dr. Marisa Franco is back, and this time she's turning her attention from friendship to something underneath it: self-worth. Her new book, Worth: The New Science of Self-Esteem and Secure Attachment, starts with a confession. While her relationship was falling apart, she was performing security, saying all the right things, staying calm, doing everything the books tell you to do, while quietly abandoning what she actually felt. She...

Welcome back to our minisode series, "I Have Some Thoughts." These short episodes are designed to contextualize the pop culture moments we're currently paying attention to through a mental health lens. Pop culture isn't just fun to chat about, it can reveal important information about how we relate, cope, and understand ourselves. Join us each Friday to hear Dr. Joy share her thoughts about the happenings of the week. 

This we...

What happens when you combine psychedelics with the therapeutic process? Psychedelic-assisted therapy is gaining attention as more people look beyond more familiar approaches to mental health, but there’s still a lot we’re learning about how it works and what it actually feels like to experience. In this conversation with Dr. Sierra Carter, an Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Family Resea...

Welcome back to our minisode series, "I Have Some Thoughts." These short episodes are designed to contextualize the pop culture moments we're currently paying attention to through a mental health lens. Pop culture isn't just fun to chat about, it can reveal important information about how we relate, cope, and understand ourselves. Join us each Friday to hear Dr. Joy share her thoughts about the happenings of the week. 

This we...

Most of Kier Gaines’ therapy clients are women, many of whom are working through difficult relationships with their fathers. This week, Kier and Dr. Joy discuss what a father wound can look like, how it affects daughters in adulthood, and why receiving an apology may not resolve years of hurt.

He also shares what he had to learn while raising daughters, from ordering underwear online to recognizing the parts of girlhood he co...

Welcome back to our minisode series, "I Have Some Thoughts." These short episodes are designed to contextualize the pop culture moments we're currently paying attention to through a mental health lens. Pop culture isn't just fun to chat about, it can reveal important information about how we relate, cope, and understand ourselves. Join us each Friday to hear Dr. Joy share her thoughts about the happenings of the week. 

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In the final episode of our Surviving Middle School series, we’re answering your questions about navigating this sometimes complicated stage of growing up. Dr. Russell Ledet joins us for a Q&A covering friendships, social media, and newly navigating independence. He shares practical advice and perspective for parents who want to better understand what their middle schoolers are experiencing and stay connected as they grow...

Welcome back to our minisode series, "I Have Some Thoughts." These short episodes are designed to contextualize the pop culture moments we're currently paying attention to through a mental health lens. Pop culture isn't just fun to chat about, it can reveal important information about how we relate, cope, and understand ourselves. Join us each Friday to hear Dr. Joy share her thoughts about the happenings of the week. 

This we...

Middle school changes kids in ways that can feel unrecognizable. Dr. Russell Ledet, child and adolescent psychiatrist and father of two Black girls, joins Dr. Joy to explain why. They walk through the psychological stages driving adolescence, industry versus inferiority giving way to identity versus role confusion. They talk through what's actually happening in the brain as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex develop on different ti...

Welcome back to our minisode series, "I Have Some Thoughts." These short episodes are designed to contextualize the pop culture moments we're currently paying attention to through a mental health lens. Pop culture isn't just fun to chat about, it can reveal important information about how we relate, cope, and understand ourselves. Join us each Friday to hear Dr. Joy share her thoughts about the happenings of the week. 

This we...

In the 1st episode of our “Surviving Middle School” series, we chat with Dr. Whitney J. Raglin Bignall about how to foster a balanced relationship between your middle schooler and technology in a world where tech is at our fingertips around the clock. We get into the real-life effects of group chats, how to integrate technology in a healthy way, and the major importance of building emotional resilience in a world where ...

Welcome back to our minisode series, "I Have Some Thoughts." These short episodes are designed to contextualize the pop culture moments we're currently paying attention to through a mental health lens. Pop culture isn't just fun to chat about, it can reveal important information about how we relate, cope, and understand ourselves. Join us each Friday to hear Dr. Joy share her thoughts about the happenings of the week. 

This we...

Today, Dr. Joy is breaking down the emotional journeys of each of the characters of the series, The Five Star Weekend. We’ll dive into their complicated friendship dynamics, how they navigate grief, and the patterns that drive their decisions throughout the series. Think of this as a therapy session for the characters, exploring the wounds, relationships, and reckonings at the heart of the show. Spoiler warning: we'll be disc...

Welcome back to our minisode series, "I Have Some Thoughts." These short episodes are designed to contextualize the pop culture moments we're currently paying attention to through a mental health lens. Pop culture isn't just fun to chat about, it can reveal important information about how we relate, cope, and understand ourselves. Join us each Friday to hear Dr. Joy share her thoughts about the happenings of the week. 

This we...

Dr. Joy sits down with neuropsychologist Dr. Tanisha Hill-Jarrett, assistant professor at UCSF's Memory and Aging Center, to talk through what brain health means, why it's broader than mental health alone, and the daily habits that support it: cardiovascular exercise, a heart-healthy diet, stress management, social connection, and quality sleep.

They dig into what our phones are doing to us. Dr. Hill-Jarrett breaks down how short-f...

Welcome back to our minisode series, "I Have Some Thoughts." These short episodes are designed to contextualize the pop culture moments we're currently paying attention to through a mental health lens. Pop culture isn't just fun to chat about, it can reveal important information about how we relate, cope, and understand ourselves. Join us each Friday to hear Dr. Joy share her thoughts about the happenings of the week. 

This we...

If you've ever been curious about psychedelic-assisted therapy, this episode is for you. Our very own Director of Podcasts and Digital Content, Ellice Ellis, was invited to attend Beckley Retreat's Guided Sanctuary for Black Women Psilocybin Retreat in Jamaica—a week-long experience designed to support healing through guided psilocybin sessions.

Ellice chats with Dr. Joy to reflect on her experience, sharing what surprised he...