Self-Care & Mental Wellness: Whitley Grant-Goodman On The Top Five Self-Care Practices That Improve Mental Wellness

Self-care impacts mental wellness because it is the precursor to mental wellness. People often think of self-care as manicures and massages, but self-care is actually going to the doctor regularly. Self-care is taking your medication as prescribed, exercising for thirty minutes daily, or putting on sunscreen. Self-care is an overall preventive tool that leads to and maintains mental wellness.

Let’s face it. It seems that everyone is under a great deal of stress these days. This takes a toll on our mental wellness. What are some of the best self-care practices that we can use to help improve our mental wellness and mental well-being? In this interview series, we are talking to medical doctors, mental health professionals, health and wellness professionals, and experts about self-care or mental health who can share insights from their experience about How Each Of Us Can Use Self Care To Improve Our Mental Wellness. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Whitley Grant-Goodman, LCMHCS, LCAS.

Whitley Grant-Goodman is a licensed clinical mental health counselor supervisor and licensed clinical addiction specialist located in Charlotte, NC. She is a business owner, speaker, and consultant with almost ten years of experience in the mental health field. She specializes in working with women of color with life transitions, anxiety, self-esteem, work-life balance, and self-care issues. www.themelanatedspace.com

Thank you so much for doing this interview with us. It is a great honor. Our readers would love to learn more about you and your personal background. Can you please share your personal story? What has brought you to this point in your life?

Many years ago, I decided to become a therapist to work specifically with college students. I enjoyed college so much and wanted to have a positive impact on college students. Over the last five years, through various work experiences, I realized that many professional women of color struggle with work/life balance. There is a shortage of Black female therapists, so I decided to shift my focus to professional women of color looking for a safe place to heal. Since beginning my private practice in the fall of 2020, I have helped hundreds of women find self-care and healing. I plan to have a more significant impact throughout my lifetime.

What is your “WHY” behind what you do? What fuels you?

My why is knowing that there is a shortage of women of color who are therapists. In today’s society, it is so essential for people to take care of themselves, especially their mental health. Therefore, I have made it my mission to market myself in a way where women who struggle with self-care and coping feel connected to my work and seek me out for services. I grew up in a family and have been surrounded by women all my life who I know could have benefited from mental health services, but they were unable to have access, or there was a negative stigma related to mental health. What fuels me is when I positively impact a client or a group I am working with, and they share that they learned a lot about themselves from the information I provided.

Sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake or failure which you now appreciate has taught you a valuable lesson?

The mistake that I made was “doing too much”. Even over the last two weeks, I missed meetings and deadlines. This has taught me that I need to prioritize self-care and I really need to slow down. I have also made mistakes in allowing imposter syndrome to get in my way of seeking certain opportunities. My main lesson is to just “do it anyway”. It does not have to be perfect. I am still working through this with my own therapist, but it has certainly been a lesson.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

The three character traits that have been most instrumental are resilience, courage, and flexibility. Resiliency has been a character trait that has been a part of my journey because it has allowed me to keep going in spite of it. I’ve had setbacks, starting with a terrible accident when I was in college. Negative experiences at work have also felt like setbacks. However, resilience gave me the strength to follow through. Courage is the next character trait that has been beneficial to me. In 2020, I challenged the status quo at my job and created a support space for my colleagues at work to help process racial trauma. This was met with pushback, but being courageous allowed me to do it anyway. I am glad I did because the people of color at my job needed a space to process, and I am so happy I was able to provide a safe space for them. Flexibility is the last character trait because it means that I can pivot. Even starting my career in 2014 and deciding to pivot to a different group made me realize that you have to have some level of flexibility to grow. I could not be successful if I only had a way of looking at things and was stuck in my ways.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting new projects you are working on now? How do you think that will help people?

I am in the process of creating a group for women of color who struggle with imposter syndrome. This will be helpful because this is not always widely discussed. Women of color enter into roles every day and, doubt themselves and try to overcompensate. This group will provide education on imposter syndrome and techniques for combating it. I will later produce an e-book on this same topic.

OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview, about the interface between self-care and mental health. From where you stand personally or professionally, why are you so passionate about mental well-being?

Well, professionally, I am a therapist, so naturally, this is important to me. From a personal standpoint, I know that many people can suffer when they are mentally unwell. For example, stress is one of the main factors that can lead to heart disease and strokes. I know people who have experienced these things in their 30s and 40s because they have not cared for themselves mentally.

Based on your research or experience, how exactly does self-care impact our mental wellness?

Self-care impacts mental wellness because it is the precursor to mental wellness. People often think of self-care as manicures and massages, but self-care is actually going to the doctor regularly. Self-care is taking your medication as prescribed, exercising for thirty minutes daily, or putting on sunscreen. Self-care is an overall preventive tool that leads to and maintains mental wellness.

Can you please share your “Top Five Self-care Practices That Each Of Us Can Use To Improve Our Mental Wellness”?

The first strategy is to do a time audit of your week. A lot of times, people make excuses for not being able to do self-care because they don’t have the time. You can start today and write down your activities/schedule for the week. From there, you can look back and see where you can find those self-care activities.

The second self-care practice is attending your health appointments regularly. This includes annual primary care visits and dentist visits twice a year. These visits will help ensure nothing impacts your health and help you track what is happening in your body.

The third self-care practice is meditation and grounding. This practice is a top strategy because it is so accessible. One that I like to use regularly is the 5–4–3–2–1 grounding technique. This technique helps you center yourself and brings you into the present moment using the five senses.

A fourth self-care practice is moving your body at least thirty minutes a day. We would all love to be Pilates or cycling people, but that may be too challenging for many of us. However, if you’re intentional about a thirty-minute YouTube exercise or a thirty-minute walk at some point throughout the day, you are doing wonders with your health and self-care.

Lastly, for self-care, I strongly encourage maintaining some type of social contact with your community. This could look like checking in with a family member or friend on a weekly basis or joining a new club or organization. The reality is we need each other, and social connection is necessary.

Can you please share a few of the main roadblocks that prevent people from making better self-care choices? What would you suggest can be done to overcome those roadblocks?

Time is a big factor that serves as a roadblock. As I mentioned previously, do a time audit of your week to see where you can fit self-care in. A second roadblock is motivation. This is where social support comes in helpful. Sometimes, we need that intrinsic motivation in the form of accountability partners to get us going.

In one sentence, what would you say to someone who doesn’t prioritize their mental well-being?

You can either prioritize your mental health voluntarily, or your body will respond involuntarily when something terrible happens.

Thank you for all that great insight! Let’s start wrapping up. Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does this quote resonate with you so much?

My favorite quote is by Audre Lorde. “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence; it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare. First of all, I love the works of Audre Lorde and resonate with all of her work. Secondly, this quote reminds you to prioritize yourself despite the world being stacked against you.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? They might just see this, especially if we both tag them :-)

I’d love to have lunch or breakfast with Patricia Hill Collins. I am using Dr. Collin’s theoretical framework in my research and mental health practice. I’d love to discuss with her more about how she created the framework and how she feels about how I have used it in my work.

I truly appreciate your time and valuable contribution. One last question. How can our readers best reach or follow you?

You can follow me on Instagram @whitleygrantgoodman or connect with me on linked in @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitley-grant-lcmhcs-lcas-ccs-i/

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.