Coming Home w/ Dr. Marian Jefferson

Unraveling Addiction and Mental Health: Insights from Counselor and Coach Mondrea Scott and the Call for Community Action

• Dr. Marian Jefferson

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Delving into the depths of human experience, we're honored to welcome Mondrea Scott to the Griot Journals Coming Home podcast—a beacon of hope in the addiction recovery landscape. As a chemical dependency counselor and recovery coach, Mondria brings her wisdom and passionate dedication to our latest episode, offering invaluable insights into the multifaceted challenges of addiction. From her drive to help others heal from trauma and build healthy coping mechanisms to the critical need for addressing co-occurring disorders, Mondrea's voice weaves a narrative of resilience and the power of collaborative care.

Confronting the tangled web of addiction and mental health, this episode dismantles the myths that addiction stems simply from a lack of willpower or personal failings. We traverse the complexities of chemical imbalances, biological predispositions, and environmental pressures that fuel addictive behaviors, redefining recovery to include harm reduction and family engagement. Hear how Alanon’s educational support casts light on addiction's ripple effect across the family unit and why professional intervention is paramount for those wrestling with co-occurring conditions. This chapter is a candid exploration of the links that bind mental health and substance abuse, seamlessly integrating Mondria's expertise with poignant real-world applications.

Beyond the personal, we navigate the macro-level issue of the border crisis and its implications for drug and human trafficking, pondering the motivations that drive mass migration and the subsequent impact on American communities and beyond. We then pivot to the role of community involvement in overcoming societal challenges, sharing stories of extraordinary triumph over adversity that underscore the importance of resilience. Wrapping up, we extend a heartfelt invitation to join our mission of spreading awareness and support for those grappling with addiction, mental health struggles, or societal hurdles. We leave you with a rallying cry to connect, share, and contribute to the ongoing dialogue that this episode ignites.

Thank you for joining our podcast today. If you have any questions, or comments, or would like to share your own experiences with aromatherapy, please feel free to reach out to us. You can connect with us on social media, or visit our website for additional resources and information.

Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast to stay updated with our latest episodes, and if you enjoyed today's content, please consider leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and it helps others discover the valuable insights shared in our series.

We look forward to having you back with us for our next episode, where we'll continue to explore the wonderful world of aromatherapy and its role in promoting mental and emotional well-being. Until then, take a deep breath, relax, and be well. I hope to hear from you soon. Your feedback is most welcome.


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Griot Journals Coming Home podcast. I'm your host, Dr Mary Ann Jefferson, better known to you as MJ. We have got a wonderful show in store for you today. I have a special guest. Her name is Mondria Scott and she is a renowned chemical dependency counselor, national recovery coach and consultant. Welcome to the show, Mondria, Thank you. Thank you, Glad to be here. Well, tell us what you've been up to. Tell us who you are and about what brought you to the feel of addiction recovery.

Speaker 2:

Mike. What brought me to the field is helping people heal from past trauma Anybody have ACE, which means adverse childhood experiences and teaching people coping skills and know that there are people out there that really care about their well-being. So I am a part of a team, a part of colleagues that are moving in the same direction as me, and that is helping people practice self-care and give back to life as they love it.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. Thank you so much for being with us. So, Mondria, how long have you been in the field?

Speaker 2:

I have been in the field over 10 years now and it's never a little moment, of course, but I love the feel, I love the passion of it. I love seeing people get better. I love seeing people healed. I love sharing that love and faith and hope that there's life after substance use or any addiction.

Speaker 1:

Gotcha, so you deal with more than just abuse of substances and you said any addiction. Can you help us to define what is addiction? How do you define that?

Speaker 2:

So addiction is basically a persistent or obsessive use of an addiction I'm going to go through that that cause mental, physical and behavioral problems. It can be alcohol use. It can be a caffeine use disorder, it can be cannabis. It can be inhalers, it can be opiates, sedative. It can be a non-sustenance or just a behavioral addiction. It can be gambling. It can be compulsive buying. It can be hoarding chronic hoarding. You have sex addiction. You have food addiction, video gaming addiction, internet use disorder. It's a lot eating disorder, Workaholic disorder or work addiction. There's so many addictions out there, even exercise addiction and being an addiction.

Speaker 1:

Oh my goodness Physical addiction.

Speaker 2:

So there's a ton of addictions.

Speaker 1:

Wow. And so when people present to you with these various different addictions, how is it that you help them to even identify that there's a problem? Do they already know that they have a problem when they come to you, or do you help them explore that? What does that process look like?

Speaker 2:

So that process is what we call an assessment on a screening, and where we ask a test of questions, and so from that we can formulate a treatment plan or a goal-oriented plan to put in place to help them, to identify what is going on in life, in their life, that is causing these issues.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and are they presenting with multiple problems? And how do you help them to identify that they've got this problem and this problem and then you'll work on this right now, or maybe you don't work on everything Do you ever have to refer out or do you work with a team to help them to address the?

Speaker 2:

other issues. Yes, I love teams. I'm also big on having resources to help the individual. That is very important. So a lot of people have co-incurring disorders, and what a co-incurring disorder is is something used and a mental health disorder. So it just depends on the individual. It depends on their assessment due to the questionnaires that are in place by licensed professionals that will help the client identify what is going on with them. Yeah, sometimes they need help in doing that.

Speaker 1:

Mm-hmm, do you face different populations as far as your treatment? What does that look like as far as the people that you serve?

Speaker 2:

So I have served Caucasians, I have served Italians, I have served African Americans, hispanics. It doesn't matter the nationality. The problem is the mental health disorder or the substance use, and that does not have a race on it. It is a problem that that individual is having. I don't really put race on it because it looks like a group of people and you look at the same similarity as far as symptoms, then the symptoms are the same.

Speaker 1:

You know, the problem is I think what I really, what I was trying to get at, not necessarily ethnicity, although I do think that probably when we get in, if we were to get into statistics, that there may be some difference, maybe not, but you can help me to look at that a little further. But I was thinking in terms of age. Wise, are you seeing more older or does it depend on the substance that you're using, the age, and then demographics, as in male, female, those kinds of demographics.

Speaker 2:

So if you think about the statistics, it depends on the drug. You know each race used. You know most race use this drug, most race use this drug. But I do know that the number of drug overdose in totality has increased more from 2020 to 2021. You know over 75% of nearly 107,000 drug deaths have involved addiction and as it continues to increase in all populations. First it was the opiate addiction epidemic, now it's the fentanyl epidemic. And so the more increase in that now.

Speaker 1:

OK, so would you say then, that there is a specific age group or gender that's experiencing those types of Mortality, that type of mortality?

Speaker 2:

Yes, so now it used to be statistically that the age range is from like 18. To like 28 or something like that. But now we more in the middle age and due to there's a lot of body aches, pains or they need pain management for a lot of injuries. So now you're seeing more in the middle of age of addiction. It's more of the older middle age than it is youth, from what I am seeing. So what are you saying? You're experimental.

Speaker 1:

Okay. So just to clarify what you're saying is they're coming because they have had a physical health issue that may include pain or some other ailment and, as a result, they're being prescribed medications and that's how they're becoming addicted to these, right? So it's a medication issue that is exacerbated.

Speaker 2:

Right. And so you know, like if the doctor said, okay, I'm not going to prescribe you this medication anymore, and so then that person you know, they start experiencing winge rolls and then now they go to the streets to get the medication. It's also an increase of addiction and you know, as we know, medications, you know what you get on the streets is going to be mixed with other chemicals, other substances, yeah, okay, so now is everybody going to the street?

Speaker 1:

Surely there are other ways that they can get the substances besides going to the street, and I get. What I'm at at this point is really kind of exploring what are some of the admitted misconceptions and we've talked about. You know, going to the street is one, but most people would you say that most people are getting this medicine prescribed and then, as a result of not being able to get it through regular means, what are some of the ways other than just going to the street that they might get these medicines?

Speaker 2:

Well, sometimes they can get there are individuals. I have known to get the medication but they're not taking it and they will sell their medication to these individuals.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so they're getting it from some people who are prescribed the medications.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and what about doctor?

Speaker 1:

shopping.

Speaker 2:

If you explain it. Yes, doctor shopping too, and also where addiction also I want to start in the youth is they get it from you know their grandparents' medicine cabinets because the medications are not locked up, and so you know they go to school and they hear about these medications. They go look in their parents or you know grandparents' cabinets and see this medication. Oh, I'm going to school to show my friends I have this to be cool or to fit in. You know of repressure. You know it could be a lot of things, but that is a high percentage of you know how addiction even started in the youth population.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and parties. We know that sometimes alcohol and drugs are served at parties, but it's still prevalent that people are bringing these drugs to parties and exposing others to these drugs at that on those occasions as well.

Speaker 2:

Right, it's a good movie, you know. That's called Mama and she exposed them to alcohol and drugs, you know, and the consequences of the youth, you know, fitting in. I think that movie is a good illustration of what can happen, while alcohol can also, you know, open the door to other substances like agency, you know, or you know things like that.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and you said the name of that movie was Mama.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

All right, and you're saying, the portrayal of that movie gives a depiction of someone trusted.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

That exposes younger people to drugs.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and to other things. You know, even sexual drama, not really, but not too extreme, you know, in a movie, but it just gives you. You know what, what they lifestyle can open a door to you. You know, I like to tell my clients, you know the patients I serve, that small compromises leads to bigger consequences. Small compromises leads to bigger consequences. So you have to be careful of what you open in the door to.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so there are a lot of misconceptions about addiction and recovery. Can you tell us a little bit about some of those misconceptions that people have about addiction?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I would like to go through several. One misconception is you can help or change someone with an addiction, so that person feel like you know they're pretty much hopeless, you know. Or another one is you know using alcohol or other drugs is a choice. So if someone gets addicted it's their fault, you know, and they're not thinking of the. You know chemical imbalance. They're not thinking about the biological, you know. You know they're not thinking about. You know those things, you know environmental risk factors.

Speaker 2:

Right, they're not thinking about those things, you know. Or if someone just use willpower, they should be able to stop Right. Of course they stop doing anything. You know there will never be a word called struggle, okay.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

You know, and some people think you know, and you see, this one you know a lot in families is you must apply tough love if you want people with addiction to change Right. You know, and that and that with that kind of mindset that cause the person that's dealing with addiction, where this mental are in a substance to isolate, which worsens.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know, and you know, you know. Or if someone has a stable job and family life, they can be suffering from addiction. But you have people there, like we like to say, the functional addict, mm, hmm, okay, yeah, you're still not functioning, you just living.

Speaker 1:

Mm, hmm, yeah, so what is? How do you define recovery, then, and how is it that recovery can dispel some of those misconceptions that people have?

Speaker 2:

you know I was thinking about the word, you know, harm reduction and I was also thinking about, you know, thinking about harm reduction. And as far as the family, I think the family needs to have, like a brief intervention, maybe some outpatient, you know, health or some day treatment, like as a family structure program, you know, to bring them to get that counseling, that education, that family service, that life skill training, effective communication, that education. You know a lot of people like Alanon because that teaches you how to deal with the person that's suffering from mental health as well as addiction. Okay, what is Alanon? So Alanon is a program that you can go to, is for family. Let's just say somebody's in inpatient treatment and their family members in patient treatment and getting help.

Speaker 2:

Well, a therapist or case manager will refer the family to participate in Alanon to educate them of the disease of addiction, and so when they go there they can ask questions and you know there's a professional there that can educate them and, you know, answer those questions that they have. You know what do I do when I get frustrated? How can I stop throwing this stuff in their face? How can I gain trust back in them? You know, you know. So that's where they can be educated.

Speaker 1:

Gotcha. So what I've heard you say is that addiction is a family issue, and so the family, just like the client or patient, needs to have this wrap around as well, where people are able to put their arms around them and let them know that someone is there for them as well, to provide education and training, so that they're not out there by themselves.

Speaker 2:

Yes. And I want to clue to that as well, Dr Jefferson, a lot of families also have mental health issues and so if this person getting help, then that family member that has some mental health issues he could help as well. So it's like a collaboration of bringing that family together in totality.

Speaker 1:

That's a great point. That's a great point, yeah, so substance abuse issues, challenges, crises, mental health all those things go together, and that's what you were talking about earlier when you talked about co-occurring issues. Right, absolutely. And sometimes it is that family members don't even realize that they have a problem until someone presents with a substance abuse issues issue, or vice versa. So someone presents with a mental health related issue and you find that a lot of their way of coping has been to utilize substances, and then what you have is casual use has turned into substance dependence.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that's correct.

Speaker 1:

So that takes me, I guess, into the next segment, where we are looking at the link between addiction and mental health related issues, and so the relationship between addiction and severe and persistent mental illness, what we call SPMI talk a little bit about that. We've just barely touched on it, but how are they linked together substance use and severe and persistent?

Speaker 2:

mental illness. So if we think about the list of mental health disorders, you know anxiety. You know and you know I'm glad you have that book coming out Keep Come and Mindful On, as well as five minutes skills. I'm glad you have that coming out on Amazon because I'll be purchasing that because a lot of people have that. You know anxiety disorders. They have mood disorders, you have substance related disorders, schizophrenic related disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, feeding and eating disorders, and I can keep going on and on. You know stress related disorders. You know, because you work all day. You know you have the stress. And if you're not practicing self care, you know.

Speaker 2:

And so when the substance come in, you know alcohol. Alcohol is the legal substance and so a lot of people want to wind down with alcohol, but then you use it as your go to, and so when you get stressed you go to alcohol, or if you have an anxiety, you might want to go smoke some marijuana, or if you get stressed you might want to go overeat. And so mental health is substance use. They go together because a psychiatrist want to prescribe you medication for your mental health, but it comes substance abuse. When you store abuses and medication, then you become dependent upon it and then you have cross addiction. You know you have some people that drink alcohol and pop pills or drink alcohol, smoke marijuana or drink alcohol, you know, and go just eat, eat, eat. You know it's like a cross addiction. If a person is not seen by a psychiatrist or a professional, or that mental health disorders, then the substance would take over as the coping instead of the medication.

Speaker 1:

Right. Do you have any advice on how one can identify if they're struggling with a co-occurring issue or cross addiction?

Speaker 2:

Well, one option is like a brief early intervention.

Speaker 1:

You were talking about the family. The family gets together with that person or gets a professional to come and talk.

Speaker 2:

Yes, you have to do that. You have to do that because that's very important for getting someone help that needs the help. It's so many resources. You can get on Google and say I need help with my mental health disorder. Anybody can do that. You can do that from your phone. There's a free hotline. There are so many resources that you can just get on a hit and talk to someone and they will direct you into the path where you need to go. If you have insurance or if you don't have insurance, there's free clinics. There's free help out there. It's just all about doing your research.

Speaker 1:

I would imagine that if you're in the flow of addiction or mental health related issue, that it might be hard though to pick up the phone and make those calls. How would you encourage family members I talk all the time about manufactured family, because not everybody has that closeness because sometimes, because of substance use issues or addictions or severity of mental health, that people have burned bridges, how can they count on people or lean into people that can give them this kind of support as they seek this help?

Speaker 2:

One thing I love is and I often do this myself and I know other people like me there are always people.

Speaker 2:

They think only homeless people be on corners. That's not true. You have advocates out there. I keep cards in my car to give people. A lot of people give me money. I took the initiative of giving my card if you need services, resources, and I have that on that card so that person will always. It's a community effort. In every community there is a resource, there is help. I'm a very spiritual person and so I believe in intervention and I believe in warning signs and it's all about stopping and heeding to those things. A lot of things it's treated behaviorally. It must be a behavioral problem and not a disease. And I think the myth and what we believe, or prescription drugs are not addictive, like street dogs because they came from a doctor, all those type of things. Then a lot of people are raised to sweep things under a rug. Let's not take it outside the house, so let's not show people we look like this or we're struggling with this, and so that type of mindset, that type of cognitive distortion, also help stop people from getting help.

Speaker 1:

So what you're talking about now is the stigma associated with that and then some of our ways of dealing with things that are just kind of hard topics for families to deal with.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

Are you saying to normalize it, or are you saying to think, just to think, to think differently about those particular issues?

Speaker 2:

Right, and you have to think about generational, how things are passed down from generations, how they behave or how they communicate in the family, and so until somebody come and challenge those kinds of distortions, that's when that person can change their way of thinking. As far as you know, that's concern.

Speaker 1:

Okay, yeah, I'd like to come back to stigma in just a bit, but do you have any? I mean, we've been talking about the statistics and the rising rates of overdose we talked a little bit about, especially in recent years. I was thinking, listening to the news and different reports about the number of people that are coming in through the border and they're being spread throughout the United States and they're coming in with a lot of issues, but they're just talking about the numbers. They're really not talking about the issues that they're coming in with and I was just wondering if that is adding to some of the problems that we're having, for instance, with fentanyl and heroin and those kinds of things, adding to the numbers of overdose and suicide rates. Do you have any information on that or how do you see that in your practice.

Speaker 2:

I think that is a big issue with people coming over through the border because they are trafficking substances. Substances come from Mexico, a lot of substances come from Mexico actually, and so I'm looking at what the Supreme Court sided with the federal agents here, because I'm in Texas to remove the razor wire to put in place by Texas along the real brand and they tried to have these agents to block the border control. So if you look at what's going on right here and you look on what's going on with the presidential with the fentanyl, I think it's not being addressed. I think it's two-sided. There's not an agreement in whole heartedly as far as the government and the president on how to handle this situation.

Speaker 1:

Okay, what kind of agreement could they come to that would address the issue? Do you think what are some of the things that could happen?

Speaker 2:

You said that I was thinking why are we not trying to figure out, or take the time to process, why they are fleeing from Mexico? Why are they coming over here? What can be done in that state to help them from where they won't desire to leave? And I think about how the United States help the things that's going on in the war right now, the things that's going on with Ukraine and all these wars that's going on, but we have an award right now on our border, and so I'm thinking we send all this help to them. The US border reported more than 1.6 million encounters with migrants along the US border in the year of 2021, the fees of the year, so that has now quadrupled, and so I think that we need to look at why is Mexico? Why are there immigrants? Why are there people running? Why do they want to come to Texas? I think we need to figure that out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I don't think it's so much that they want to come to Texas, because they're coming in at every border point. Our borders are porous, and I think so much about many years ago when there was escape in the other direction, when there was slavery and people left this country to go into other places to escape the atrocities that were here, and I don't know that it is not any different for them, and so from that standpoint we really have to have a heart for those, although not every person that's crossing that border is coming necessarily because they're running from something that is wrong, because this is the land of opportunity. So I think there are all kind of reasons why they're crossing that border. But my concern is not only the drugs, but the drug trafficking, the human trafficking, the unaccompanied minors that are coming across there. So many people are being harmed.

Speaker 1:

And then we talk about how treacherous that trip is across the Rio Grande into the state of Texas, but we don't talk about the potential for all of the lives that didn't make it across there. And what do they have to turn themselves in? But some people are not turning themselves in, and so those drugs making it to the interior of the United States and people are being harmed and families are being forever changed because of the drugs that are making it into these parties, these schools, and we have churches, because these children are members of churches, these families are members of churches, they're members of civic groups, they're members of universities, and so these numbers are really touching us in an alarming way. And it really is this heartening that it has become a political football, because these are people, and once you have to be present when someone has lost their lives, that's something that you don't forget.

Speaker 2:

Well, I care about people in totality and my own thoughts personally. If I may say, quote unquote is I wish they would just open it all and just make it a one whole community.

Speaker 1:

Are you saying you wish there was no border?

Speaker 2:

No border, just make it a whole whatever.

Speaker 1:

OK, so that's an interesting take on that. That's very.

Speaker 2:

I mean to think about it, I mean opening up, you know, if you go all over the history of, you know when the war was, when Texas, you know San Antonio and you know Mexico went to war and they put the little back. You know I love to go to that museum, but anyway, if you just take away the Alamo, yes, ok, look at the history on that Alamo.

Speaker 1:

I love the Alamo, all right, Let me, let me ask you this before we get to this discussion because I think it is important and the reason is important not just about the border, but just if I think about my household and I think about the people in my household. I am comforted when I drive up to my home and walk up the pathway and I stick my key in the door and open that door and close that door behind me. What are some of the feelings that you have? You think the world is outside, but I'm inside of my home where I'm safe and sound to to a degree right when my kids get in, I breathe a sigh of relief because they are now also behind the wall where we are safe and sound. And if we hear things outside, our mind goes to where is everyone if they are behind this wall, where we are their protector, where we have a reasonable sense of security, where everyone is safe and sound?

Speaker 1:

When we get in our car in the morning, we unlock the door. We really haven't left that door unlocked because the things that are in the car we've hold valuable. In the car itself we hold valuable. We pay on it monthly. That's our property. We own it. It's important to us. If it weren't important, then we would not lock the door and we would leave the key in the car, and so I guess my question to you is did you lock the door to your home today? Did you lock the car door to your car today?

Speaker 2:

I'm going to be honest with you. I did not.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so that means that you don't want your property, that you could care less about going out there if it's there or not, and so you didn't lock the door to your home either. Is what I'm gathering? No, no, I did.

Speaker 2:

I left the lock in the car. If you lock the door, what's that mean?

Speaker 1:

That everything behind that door is valuable. You locked it to keep it safe and secure, because your expectation was to keep things the way they were when you left. So when people say to me that they want to do away with the border, what they're saying is it's okay for those people who were trafficking human beings to just walk across the border unencumbered and create another form of slavery on this side, because that's exactly what that trafficking leads to, right and drugs come along with it, along with the increase in suicide. It's okay to walk across that border for those cartels to set up shop over here and to bring everything in the life that they knew over here and to live the same way over here as they lived over there, and don't worry about stopping them, because there's no such thing as a border.

Speaker 1:

We don't need a border. Well, that's ridiculous. I don't know anybody who walks out of their houses is. When I get back, if there are squatters here, if there are 50 people sleeping in my bed, I'm going to be okay with that. It's a big, wide world. We got room enough for everybody.

Speaker 2:

No one is going to do that. No one is going to do that.

Speaker 1:

It's the same with the border. It's the same with the border. So when I grew up, I remember my house was the first house in the community to have a fence. That's because I played in the backyard and really it was a vast land. There was very few houses in the community at that time and I'd laugh when people talk about their seeing.

Speaker 1:

Say is how they learn the animals Mine was matching, say they sat me at the backyard and said point to the animals you'd see outside there was just all of that foxes, rabbits, chickens, deer all of that was back there. We didn't need PBS. Don't forget about the cows.

Speaker 1:

And all of that was back there. I was shot in the head with a pellet rifle, which forever changed my family, because I had physical symptoms as a result of that and I still have some of those same. I'm 53 years old and I have some of the same symptoms from the headaches that I get from that way back then. And so my daddy erected a fence. You know the people said that was your responsibility to make sure you took care of your child. You didn't have a fence up, you were responsible for that, and he took that to heart and I never I never forgot that and that was a freak accident. That was the way we lived, you know.

Speaker 1:

But we are responsible for that border and what comes across that border Right now. It's a political football and people are playing, you know, russian roulette with the lives of our families in the United States by not erecting that fence. I was very surprised at the Supreme Court citing with the president on cutting down that razor wire. Very surprised because Texas has sovereignty and what's at stake is federalizing the Texas Guard to be able to let down that fence so that people can just run across that border. Right now, in Chicago and in New York they don't have the money to take care of these people, though they have promised them if they come over here, they can take care of them At the same time. Yeah, in Washington and other places, but at the same time, we have had a. As you mentioned earlier, we have had poverty in this country that has been unspoken to in a meaningful way for a lifetime, and so now you're adding to that and these migrants are upset because they've been promised the moon.

Speaker 1:

No and the bonds are not there. They're dying too.

Speaker 2:

I wanna say this, you know that goes back to what I said earlier, that they need to get to the core problem in their own Mexico of what is going on while people are rushing over here. It takes the president, it takes the government, it takes all these people to do that and it goes in again. You say it's a lot of homelessness here and I agree with you. We have epidemics in the United States going on here. You know I don't wanna really get into the trickle down effect because that does not work. So it's politicking and I think you know people are not being mindful of others, of how you know this decision affects families, how it affects individuals in totality, because it's selfish, it is and it's creating more of a problem because we're not working together in unity.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I think we're on the same page on that one. I think it is very selfish by government. I think they could do more. I think they should do more. But I also think that many communities have been talked to just expect money, money, money, money, money, and as long as the money is rolling in, they have something to do.

Speaker 1:

But the reality is is that all of the money that is being funneled to our communities from the federal government originated from our own paychecks, and so we're responsible for how that money is being spent. We need to pick up arms, if you will and I don't mean pitchforks, I just mean show up, talk to people that are running for office and really figure out where their heart is. What are you going to do about the problem? Because all politics, at the end of the day, really is local. Once these people start coming into the community and they take dollar bills away, there's not enough dollar bills to really do what we need to do in our community. That means that our money is not being maximized and we are responsible. We are the stewards. We are the stewards of the dollar bills, so we have to do that.

Speaker 2:

So it takes the community, people going into the community and have to vote and the stigma on that. People have the mentality that thinks that their vote does not matter.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And that's one thing that we need to change in the community and totality.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, agree. So I don't you know what I want to talk about hope. Do you have any stories that you can tell us where people have sought help and they have been able to utilize that help to pull themselves up and others with them, and have not just experienced recovery but resilience?

Speaker 2:

Oh, yes, I know a story of a person that done 21 years, you know, been incarcerated, and the individual you know educated themselves while they were there and they came, you know, home with a not allowing their past to dictate their future.

Speaker 2:

And so one way you do not allow your past to dictate your future is look at your past as a stepping stone of the things that you have gotten through, you know, and so that makes a person resilient.

Speaker 2:

So, if you look at the definition of the word resilient being able to bounce back no matter the opposition, being able to bounce back no matter how hard the struggle is, being able to bounce back and keep pushing and keep moving so there is a story of hope. Hope is a word from when you overcome, you have hope and seeing what you cannot see right now, you know, you have faith in that hope, you have that community, you have help, you have resources. You know, when you feel like you can't be hopeful for yourself, look out for the resources, look out for those people that motivate you and encourage you. Then you can have that same hope as the individual that did 21 years or that individual that you know went through a lot of trauma and they feel like they wasn't gonna get through it. But when you wanna feel like you wanna give up, look back on the things that you thought you wasn't gonna make it. And you did Look back on those things and say, if I made it through that, then I can make it through this.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. Yeah, can you share an example of someone who might be experiencing a mental health challenge that found it difficult to find a resource that was able to link to you? How did that come about, and how were you able to help them to find other resources so they stayed engaged in the healing process?

Speaker 2:

Well, one thing I really love and I love going to conferences, and the reason why I go to these conferences is because I can get many, many, many business who are from people in the States, people from other countries, people, and if I can't help someone, then I know someone who can, and if that person can help someone, then they can utilize my services, depending on the individual, depending on what's going on in their personal life. We all together, as professionals, use one another as resources in order to help individuals, whether it's in the private sector, whether it's in the outpatient, whether it's in inpatient, whether it's in life coaching, it does not matter. That person need will be met.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome, ombandria. We're going to wrap up here, but tell us what are you doing these days? I know you're very active in the community, serving the community. Are there any conferences that are coming up that you're participating in? Then we'll talk a little bit about both the materials that we have that we're offering selling on the website. We've got the five-minute skills to master your anxiety and panic attacks. Then we have Keep Calm and Mindfully On. Those books will be out in March, available for pre-sell on Amazon. But tell us, if someone wanted to reach you for life coaching, if they wanted to find out how to link to you to get some help, how would they reach you?

Speaker 2:

Okay, On one way they can reach me. I'm pulling it right now so I can make sure it's completely accurate. They can reach me at mscounselingtexascom. Again, that's mscounselingtexastx at gmailcom. They can reach me there.

Speaker 1:

Okay, awesome. I want to remind our listeners to like and subscribe our podcast. We're looking forward to your feedback. Thank you again, mondria, for being with us today. We really have enjoyed our time together. I hope, listeners, that you've heard something that has been a beneficial to you. If not for you, remember, if you can't use it, somebody you know can Keep us in mind, keep people in mind so that you can share this information and help someone else who might not have access to what you have access to. In case you haven't heard it anytime recently, welcome home. We will see you on our next podcast, the Coming Home Podcast, with Dr Mary and Jefferson. Thanks, andrea.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. You have a blessed day and thank you for having me. By the way, before we close, you can reach me at 6829789223. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

You're so welcome. Thank you again.