Black Girl Seen

Connection and intimacy: it’s what we all say we want, but we often remain unwilling to do what it takes to get it. In modern times, practicing vulnerability and openness keeps being pushed to the bottom of our lists, especially as adults in an ever-growing lonely world. We’re joined by Michaiah Dominguez-Brown, LMHC to help unpack this and help us open our hearts this summer. Licensed Mental Heal...

to the black girl who is living and healing from a father wound, I see you. If you’ve ever felt hurt, let down, or even harmed by any person who served in a fathering/paternal role to you, your pain is valid. So often, so many of us face these experiences, but are left to pick up the pieces alone.  Though everyone deserves grace, you also deserve to be radically honest about what you experienced,...

to the black girl who is ready to lean into a season of softness, I see you. As we continue the series on feeling more seen this summer, especially in your deservingness, we are exploring the concept of softness. Enjoyed the episode? Subscribe, like, share, and stay tuned for more! Listen to our past episodes: ⁠ ⁠Joy with Jessica Vickers, LMFT⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠Body Care with Herani Argoe, LPC⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠Rest with...

So many of us have strained relationships with confidence and believing in ourselves. We’re often taught that we have both “too much” and “not enough” self-confidence. The tight rope gets tighter, but our inner worlds continue to suffer. Licensed counselor and 2x Olympic Gold medalist Natasha Hastings, LPCA, OLY joins me today to help me talk about how we can practice the vulnerability of believin...

The summer is already a time for fun, adventure, and even exposure. Why not make this summer one where you allow yourself to be seen?  By practicing vulnerability, you allow space for your needs to get met, more intimacy, and more peace by showing up as your true self. Make this the summer you stop hiding by opening up to new practices, focused on light, freedom, and whimsy. In this episode: We ex...

to the black girl who is opening her eyes to how the mother's wound has impacted you, I see you. A few weeks ago, we discussed understanding the mother wound , and now, we’re unpacking what it actually looks like to recognize, heal from, and grow beyond the mother wound. We talk: The big and small way the mother wound shows up in our relationships The roles we unconsciously take on in relationship...

are you hiding in your friendships? we don’t always focus on our friendships, but they are just as much a site of healing and intimacy as any other relationship, sometimes more.  Yet, we often find ourselves showing up in friendships, in the same protective ways we do in other relationships: hiding our true selves, silencing our voice, shrinking, and ultimately resisting the very practices that he...

to the black girl who is living and healing from a mother wound, I see you. If you’ve ever felt hurt, let down, or even harmed by any person who served in a mothering role to you, your pain is valid. So often, so many of us face these experiences, but are left feeling alone because of the pressure to see the Mother as a faultless, blameless entity.  Though everyone deserves grace, you also deserve...

To the black girls who struggle with being still, who feel like resting is failure, and who long to finally feel like they can just breathe , I see you. In our last episode for April’s The Vulnerability of Something New series, we take a deep look at the vulnerability of rest, releasing, and what many of us black women know affectionately as exhaling . Joining me is wellness tech founder and life...

Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is tell the truth of your story. If you’ve ever gotten lost in a book, or found yourself pouring over pages in your journal, we see you. So many of us struggled to make sense of our pasts or find safe spaces to process our experiences, and we’ve found our way through literature.  In this episode, we’re sitting down with the pioneering author and licensed clin...

We say we want joy, but sometimes when joy finds us, we hide from it. In our next episode of the #VulnerabilityofSomethingNew series, we’re getting real about joy: sometimes joy and other pleasant emotions are scary. Many forms of hiding are designed to help us avoid disappointment, and resisting joy can be one of them. Yet, we can learn the art of opening our hearts to joy, fun, and pleasure, whi...

Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is walk away. Too many of us have been hurt by systems that promise to care for us, much like spiritual and religious institutions. For black women, it can look like “big T” traumas like physical or financial harm and control, and it can also look like “little T” traumas like psychological and emotional abuse. From constant guilt tripping, to learning harmful...

To the black girl who is in the season she always hoped for, but it doesn’t feel how you expected, I see you. Healing isn’t always flowers and rainbows. Sometimes, even when we get exactly what we hoped, wished, and prayed for, we still find ourselves feeling uncomfortable. In healing, we might still get triggered, feel anxiety, and go through our highs and lows. It’s not that healing isn’t possib...

To the black girl who is in the gap between where you started, and where you hope to go, I see you. We don’t talk enough about waiting—the moments in the middle where we don’t know when the seeds we’ve planted will actually bloom . This is where we get antsy, frustrated, and sometimes, where we decide to give up completely. I’ve been there so many times, and, when I’ve approached seasons of waitin...

To the black girl who is grieving the life she thought she would have by now, I see you. So many of us are living in a reality that we never expected or planned for. We feel angry, we feel lost, we may even feel numb here. Yet, what we refuse to feel may be the key to actually transcending this space and moving towards something greater: grief. Grief can be a heavy emotional experience that’s hard...

To the black girl answering the call to step into something new, even when it’s scary, I see you. As much as we want to bloom like beautiful flowers, we might resist the journey it takes to get there. The process of growth and transformation is one of the most vulnerable, unsettling times in our lives. Change asks us to grieve who and what we know, and open our hearts to who we know we were destin...

Healing our relationships with our bodies may be one of the most challenging forms of love we know. In this episode, we’re joined by Trauma + Disordered Eating/Eating Disorder Therapist Herani Argoe, LPC to explore what it means to feel “seen” in your body. We’re tackling the topic of repairing and cultivating a safe and restorative relationship with our bodies. We’ll discuss: What radical body ca...

It might be time to revisit the ways your family relationships shaped your world. While we may be familiar with family dynamics leaving us feeling unseen, we’re not always comfortable acknowledging what that means for our healing work and our needs.  In this episode, we discuss: How we heal from the experience of feeling unseen in our families of origin Four main “relational injuries” we might exp...

Many of us struggle with boundaries and even consider them as barriers to others, but what if boundaries are the foundations of the love we want? Let’s dive even deeper into boundary-setting with Dr. Ayanna Abrams, a sought-after licensed psychologist and Relationship and Boundaries expert. In this episode, we discuss boundary-setting as a vulnerability practice and how they protect our well-being...

Sometimes we hide in the one relationship type we’d never suspect: in romance. Hiding in romantic relationships can look like a variety of ways we try to stay safe, resist real intimacy, or protect from getting hurt. The problem? It doesn’t always save us from pain and disappointment, but it often blocks us from experiencing the love we want. In this episode, we discuss: How we hide in romantic re...

What happens when we hide from feelings? In this episode, we learn about the ways we hold our breath by over-valuing being “strong”, how the art of unraveling is sacred healing, and finally letting it out can help us feel seen. We discuss: What the Art of Unraveling is and why it’s so crucial to our healing The Strong Black Woman (SBW) schema is, where it comes from (hint: not from us!), and how i...

What happens when we hide from ourselves? In this episode, we learn about the ways we self-abandon, and how the art of staying can help us feel seen. We discuss: Why we self-abandon and self-neglect Offering ourselves grace for how we’ve let ourselves down How to connect the dots behind why we hide from ourselves How self-hiding perpetuates the very patterns we want to be free from And how to begi...

Sometimes, the key to having the year you hope for… is allowing yourself to be seen. By practicing vulnerability, you allow space for your needs to get met, more intimacy, and more peace by showing up as your true self. Make this year you stop hiding by opening up to new practices that once felt out of reach. In this episode: We explore how allowing yourself to be seen helps you build a life you l...

I hope you end this year feeling seen.  The end of the year can be emotional and heavy, especially if the year felt challenging. In this episode, I’m sharing a few warm words to help you remember the core of it all: you deserve your flowers for making it through this year. Whether you’re celebrating the year you just had, or grieving it, you deserve your flowers. We’ll remind ourselves of what we...

‘Tis the season for…boundaries. With many of us facing people, places, and situations we often have the luxury of avoiding—like family gatherings and run-ins with old friends—it’s becoming especially important that we beef-up our boundary-setting skills. Setting boundaries is one of the most powerful ways we practice vulnerability. We often think of boundaries as a way we put on armor, strictly fo...