Serving: 13th

Today was a very unusual day for me. Typically my Saturday's are filled with a myriad of things to do and this Saturday I allowed myself to do something that I often do not get the chance to do, which is NOTHING. A couple of days ago, a friend insisted that I check out a new Netflix documentary called 13th, directed by Ava DuVernay. My instant thought was, "where in the world am I going to find the time to watch a two hour documentary"! In comes a Saturday filled with no plans or obligations. After committing an hour and forty minutes of my time to this very eye-opening and impactful body of work, I started to reevaluate many things. First, my role as a single black woman. I began to think, how am I using my platform to bring glory to God while impacting the lives of others. Without disclosing too much of the documentary, I most appreciate how it took you on a journey of exploring the different systems of oppression; while exposing you to subtle and overt systematic influences, such as slavery, racism, the "criminal" justice system, the war on drugs and prison institutions. I started to look at my profession. For almost 10 years I have worked as a substance abuse counselor. I intentionally do not disclose my role as an addictions therapist because, many people do not understand what it entails. It is a profession that is fairly new and still developing and evolving. After many years of training and also being licensed, I'm often times faced with people telling me what my job consists of, how it should be done, and some with the utmost audacity tell me what it is that my clientele/patients are looking for. I used to get so frustrated because many would not be able to bear to hear about some of the issues I see and counsel on a daily basis. It's a very hard profession, where many substance abuse clinicians burn out after five years of practice. Even for myself, after the first five years I was completely burned out. I promised myself that if ever presented with the opportunity to leave this profession, I would do so and never return again. After leaving for six months, something in me was very unsettled.  I knew substance abuse counseling was something I have to continue. After watching this film, I have began the process of reassessing my role, purpose, and platform as a clinician.  After fighting myself, and in some weird way fighting my purpose for so long, I have finally embraced the idea that God has me doing this for a reason. Instead of being ashamed of what it is I'm trained to do professionally, I have to learn how to combat the stereotypes of "counselors" and "counseling" in my culture and community, in addition to advocating the importance of developing and maintaining good mental health. I'm very glad that on a Saturday filled with nothing to do, and still processing my plan of action moving forward, I was able to be exposed to something that will definitely impact my own future and the future of others. It is definitely something that I will share with my clients/patients and students.