by Ashley Sowers
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“I started Heal The Culture to provide a support system for others that was not truly in place when I was first diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in the early 90’s.”
Founded in 2020 by University Heights native Roosevelt Stringer, Heal The Culture (HTC) creates a unique space for people of color to heal collectively. March 27th marked HTC’s first event—“Brunch & Heal”. Over 30 men and women were split into separate groups—each having a 1-hour group session with the featured therapist, Billie Gilliam, M.Ed, PCC-s, LICDC. Kyasha (Edmond) Williams attended with her husband and in-laws and reflected fondly on her experience:
“The [therapy] session was extremely informative, the food was delicious, and my favorite nugget for my mental toolkit is to create containers for negativity in life…”
Full disclosure, I’ve been involved with HTC for over a year now. The mental health arena can feel extremely isolating as a person of color. Not only is it hard to find providers who resonate with your particular struggle, it can be even harder to find that in peer support. I joined HTC because I wanted to help create the space that I felt was missing.
I sat down with licensed therapist Billie Gilliam to talk about her experience working with HTC.
Can you tell me about your background and how you practice therapy?
I’ve been in practice for about 17 years. I’m a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and a bit about my theoretical orientation is that I like to combine 2 or 3 types of therapies. You’re supposed to fit the therapeutic intervention to the person and not the person to the therapeutic intervention. There are a few [methods] that I pull from. One is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy combined with Narrative Therapy, using a systems approach (considering family, culture, and socioeconomic status, for example).
You’re fairly new to HTC. Can you talk about your involvement in the organization?
Part of my process is to help people properly advocate for themselves and to find a person that fits. Especially as a culture, we really don’t know how to tackle mental health systems. Other cultures have been utilizing it for a long time and they really know how to advocate for themselves. [On the other hand], we tend to look at the therapist and/or psychiatrist as the [primary] expert…we don’t know what to ask or what our rights are. And finally, I provide a presence at [HTC] events, further promoting the mental health focus.
Why Heal The Culture?
So when I do a presentation, that’s touching more people with less time. And especially when it comes to our culture, that’s near and dear to my heart. African Americans come into the process with a set of symptoms that we see, but we don’t even recognize all the stuff that’s been there historically that we have to work through. So I have a passion for us to have healing that is systemically oriented.
What were your takeaways from Saturday?
I thought it was awesome! It was millennial-focused, but it was great because there is a different mindset toward mental health that is more of a challenge amongst my age group and older. Because of the messaging, we have been told, “it’s your business…keep it to yourself.”
I was very surprised by the men and their capacity and desire to do something different. They were open to talk to me, especially being a woman, without them having the perception of being weak. Overall, everyone was open and receptive.
Billie Gilliam currently practices at Progression Counseling Group, hosts a youtube channel, and is the author of the fictional self-help book “The Session” about the life, death, and resurrection of relationships.