Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (00:01):
Welcome to
the Kinder Mind podcast, where
we're devoted to opening upconversations and destigmatizing
mental health.
We'll bring you interviews withpractitioners in the field of
mental health, researchersuncovering new knowledge and
best practices for treatingmental health disorders, and
individuals sharing their mentalhealth journey.
Thanks so much for joining uson this episode of the Kinder
(00:23):
Mind podcast, where we'reTramashika DeWalt and we are
exploring service throughveteran community action.
Thanks so much for joining ustoday, trauma Shica.
Tramashika DeWalt (00:33):
Thank you so
much for having me, Dr.
Barlow.
It is an absolute honor.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (00:40):
So you are
an Army veteran and I'm very
excited to talk to you aboutwhat it looks like to not only
be a service member but aveteran that is really making an
impact in the community.
So, to kick us off, can youtell me a little bit about your
military service and whatinspired you to join the Armed
Forces?
Tramashika DeWalt (01:01):
Okay, awesome
.
I am a United States Armyretired veteran.
I joined the service in 2004.
After graduating high school in2003, I had to turn 18 first.
What inspired me to join themilitary was I truly wanted to
build a life and legacy that Icould be proud of.
(01:23):
I know my parents dideverything they could do to set
me up for success, but therewere things that I wanted to do
after experiencing life in highschool up to that point that I
just wanted to take on, toamplify what was already passed
down to me from them and tocreate something even better for
(01:44):
those that would come after me,whether it was relatives or now
my children.
I just felt that I was made formore, and so I wanted to go out
and do more, and the militarywas providing me with that
opportunity.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (01:57):
So, can,
you tell me what were some of
the most significant challengesand experience that you faced
during your time in the military.
Tramashika DeWalt (02:05):
Okay.
So the first challenge thatcomes to my mind is lack of
information.
If you do not come from amilitary family, so for me and
my family, I'm the first to comeout of my mom's household.
As a military service member, Irelied on all the information I
(02:25):
got from my recruiter who I donot hold accountable for nothing
, and I'm greatly appreciativeof him.
However, I think if I had moreinformational knowledge, I could
have made more insightfuldecisions when joining the
military.
So that was one of mychallenges literally going into
something blind and cold turkey,so to speak.
Apart from that, I didn'tnecessarily have any other
(02:51):
challenges, because I didn'tknow they were going to be
challenges, if that makes sense.
That does make sense Okay,because I was going to give
examples, because I was likesome ladies say it was hard
being a woman.
I was like I don't know if itwas hard being a woman or not,
because I didn't know what myexperiences was going to be like
.
So I just took them head on, orchallenges that you think may
(03:11):
have been challenges for me ornot, because I didn't know they
existed or they were going tohappen.
And as well.
Each person's experience isdifferent.
Just because one personexperiences the challenge
doesn't mean that you're goingto have that same challenge, so
to speak.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (03:28):
That makes
a lot of sense.
It really does.
So how has your militarybackground influenced your
decision to work with veteransin underserved communities?
Tramashika DeWalt (03:38):
So my
military experience has
influenced it a lot because,like I said, I went in blind to
the military.
So some challenges were notchallenges for me, but the few
that were impacted me in a waythat it reshaped me as a soldier
and as a woman and as a personoverall.
(04:00):
With those few challenges I hadto go through them alone, so to
speak, and I didn't reach outto my family, in which I should
have done, but in hindsight Iknow better now.
So I just wanted to be thechange that I wanted to see and
I also wanted to be the beaconof hope, that safe space or that
(04:23):
person that I wish I had when Iwent through those few
challenges in the military.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (04:30):
Okay,
could you tell us a little bit
about the specific programs orinitiatives that you're involved
with with veterans working inunderserved areas, and what that
looks like?
Tramashika DeWalt (04:39):
Of course.
So I am the founder and chiefexecutive officer for my
nonprofit, which is United andservice coalition.
It is a veteran and communitybased nonprofit that eight
veterans in their transitionfrom Military back to civilian
life through the transformativepower of community service,
(05:01):
social engagement andeducational workshops.
And what those initiatives looklike is Utilizing our veterans
and the skill sets that theygained throughout their military
service in their life Ingeneral and using those
skillsets to go and serve andunder resource community.
(05:23):
So United and service has a fewprograms.
We have our green initiativeand we have our drone education
program, as well as ourcommunity service Initiatives
where we train up our veteransor key community service members
and then in turn have them togo back out into under resource
community and educate thechildren or the community
(05:46):
members within that community.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (05:49):
That
sounds like a really great
program and initiative.
Can you share some successstories or examples of veterans
who have really benefited fromthe program?
Tramashika DeWalt (06:00):
So for our
drone education program, not
only have we certified otherveterans who's permission I did
not get today to name them, so Iwill leave them unnamed but we
have a few veterans under ourbelt that we have trained as
certified drone pilots and inturn we provide them with
opportunities at the elementaryschools we serve throughout the
(06:23):
Houston area to go back andteach the students how to be
Safe, recreational drone pilotsin their everyday lives.
Now, once those students hitmiddle school, in high school,
that's when they get on ourpathway program to Become
certified drone pilots afterthey graduate high school so
(06:44):
they can go into the droneindustry, entertain a job.
That's 1 way we utilize ourveterans and some of our success
stories.
Other ways we utilize ourveterans for our community
service initiatives.
Once a month at minimum, we tryto host some type of community
service project.
A great example is we will goout into the schools and we will
(07:05):
help enhance A need or assistwith a need that the district
might not be able to assist themwith.
Some of these needs are likegardens.
We'll go and build a garden ata school and we'll have a
veteran to oversee it.
Sometimes they need benches,they need tables.
We've renovated teacherslounges and teachers work rooms
(07:28):
to help boost the morale of thestaff Not only just the students
but the staff and faculty andwe'll have a veteran to
spearhead that, or we'll haveour veterans to come out and
volunteer with us as we serve atthose schools.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (07:42):
That's
really amazing.
So it sounds like you're makingsome really impactful changes
in the communities throughveteran service.
Have you seen any positivechanges in the mental health of
the veterans that you work withas a result of your work?
Tramashika DeWalt (07:58):
Of course,
united in Service Coalition, nor
does trauma.
She could do all claim to bemental health professionals, but
I do see the impact that it hasin the mental health of our
veteran members as well as thecommunity members that
participate, because mentalhealth affects everyone.
It's not just limited to us asveterans and not only does it
(08:21):
make an impact in their lives,it helps me with my mental
health as well.
I think that's why I always saythe transformative power,
because most people think thatyou need a therapist only or
there's some type of mentalhealth professional that you
need, and not saying that you donot.
I'm all for mental healthprofessionals, but it's the
(08:42):
subtle things that add value toit, like the community service
projects that we do, or like thedrone education certification
program we have for veterans orour green initiative.
It's those things as well thathelp add value to what they are
already doing with their mentalhealth, professional or whatever
(09:03):
mental health capacity.
They are doing the hard workand hard work on.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (09:08):
That makes
100% sense and from the realm
of a helping professional ormental health clinician, I can
definitely say it is a twofoldprocess.
So at no point in time can I doa session with a client and we
can help them with theirdepression or their anxiety or
(09:29):
their motivation just fromtalking for a session, even if
we're having a session twice aweek.
It really is those othercomponents like getting out of
the house, engaging with otherpeople, establishing and
maintaining some community andreally having those important
positive interactions withothers, because if you're
isolating, then you're reallynot able to use those skills of
(09:54):
having that connection and whatit looks like to make an impact
in the life of somebody else.
And so I wholeheartedly agreethat having something that gets
you out of the house, gets youengaged, makes you feel good and
connects you with other peopleis essential in positive mental
health and really makingprogress towards getting to a
good space.
Tramashika DeWalt (10:16):
Exactly yes,
and those are the impacts.
We want to make somethingmeaningful, not only for us,
because it's not about us, butfor the veteran or the person
that we're serving at thatmoment.
So you hit the nail on the head.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (10:33):
So tell me
about some of the other
organizations or governmentagencies that you collaborate
with to make United and ServiceCoalition so successful.
Tramashika DeWalt (10:43):
We try to
take a national and grassroots
approach because, from ourperspective, yes, we are
national, or that is our goal toexpand to a national, even
global, level.
However, it's the grassrootsorganizations that help, and so
(11:04):
I say it in this capacity it'sthe little things that make the
big picture as grand as it is.
So we work with a lot ofgrassroots organizations as well
as national organizations.
For example, in the city ofHouston, one of my favorite
organizations to work with isNortheast Houston Redevelopment
(11:26):
Council.
They are a grassrootsorganization and they strictly
want to serve the citizens ofNortheast Houston.
So they're there on the ground,next to their community members
, taking their concerns andwriting them down and going to
advocate for them.
And when they have specificthings that United and Service
(11:50):
Coalition can collaborate withthem on, we join our forces
together so we could expand ourreach.
A part of our green initiativeis done with them as well.
United and Service Coalitionwill go around and help them
establish gardens in fooddeserts or food swamps or food
insecure areas, and they willcome and provide the education,
(12:15):
the seeds and the things to helpmaintain it, as well as the
educational component.
And now we've made an impactand we've addressed a concern of
the local community.
So those are the types ofpartners that we work with and
that we want to serve with.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (12:33):
That's
wonderful.
So how can veteran individualsor civilians or organizations
that want to get involved, tosupport your help, like how can
they get involved?
Tramashika DeWalt (12:45):
Awesome.
They can get involved by threemethods of donation.
Of course, they can donatetheir time, they can donate in
kind and they can donatemonetarily.
All three can be done on ourwebsite at
wwwuninservicecoalitionorg Again, that's
(13:06):
wwwuninservicecoalitionorg.
They can also follow us on oursocial media platforms, which is
United and Service Coalition,htx for Houston, texas, on
Facebook and TikTok I'm tryingto remember them and say them at
(13:29):
the same time it's United andService Coalition, and on
Twitter you can find us at ISEEunderscore, so it's underscore
the initials of United andService Coalition, underscore
from there.
Following us there would beawesome because you'll see our
up to date post with the eventswe have coming up or impromptu
(13:50):
events we have coming up likesuch.
So you will see that ourin-kind mind podcast will be
coming up there and it's not onthe website yet, because this
was a beautiful opportunity.
You just provided it to me.
So social media is to get themost up to date things.
We also have a monthlynewsletter that you can register
for by signing up online aswell.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (14:12):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for sharingall that with us.
What are your future goals andaspirations for your work in
supporting veterans andsupporting underserved
communities?
Tramashika DeWalt (14:23):
Awesome.
That's a really great question.
So for the next 12 months, ifwe're given our short term goal,
our current goal within ourfive year plan is to continue to
bring more awareness.
We know that most people arestill learning and discovering
who United and Service Coalitionis, what we do and how we serve
, so we're going to continuewith our outreach efforts, as
(14:46):
well as our community serviceprojects and our social
engagement activities.
That's part of what we're doingin the next 12 months while
going around the United Statesto key places to bring more
awareness and expand our reach.
Dr. Elizabeth Barlow (15:02):
That's so
wonderful.
I think you guys are doingreally great work for getting
veterans out and getting theminvolved in the community and as
well as really benefiting theunderserved areas of the
community, like all the amazingexamples you provided.
Thank you so much for joiningus today, charmeshika.
It was definitely a pleasureand so great to learn about all
the wonderful work that you'redoing to our listeners.
(15:25):
If you want to check out theUnited and Service Coalition
website and follow those socialsso you can see the great work
that this organization is doingas they continue to grow across
the country, maybe you'll seethem in a neighborhood near you.
Thank you so much, listeners,for joining us.
Please stay tuned for detailsabout our next podcast and our
(15:45):
next release date and take care.
Tramashika DeWalt (15:48):
Thank you for
the Dr.
Barlow.
It was a true honor, absolutely.