ORLANDO, Fla. – This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corey Murray interviews Dr. Treshonda Baucom, founder and CEO of Enriched Life Counseling & Consulting, and Erica Branston, licensed mental health counselor.
Dr. Baucom's office in Clermont provides counseling services to teens, adults and parents who need tools and strategies to overcome mental illnesses such as ADHD, anxiety, depression, etc. She's not new to the station, having been featured in an episode of “Breakfast with Bridget” in July of this year.
“In a way, this clinic chose me,” Baucom told Corley, explaining how she went from being a licensed mental health counselor to running her own clinic. “I never intended to do groups, but when I opened, I saw a need for a diverse space, a safe space where diverse people could come, so I started doing groups… We were able to open our doors and meet the needs of individuals who looked like us.”
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Branston, who served as Dr. Baucom's first clinician at Enriched Life Counseling & Consulting, said listening to people's stories is one of the things Corey loves most and was a major inspiration for the career path that led her to Dr. Baucom's side.
“I guess we were just friends then, but now we're sorority girls. We worked together, and they said, 'Hey, you know what, Dr. Baucom is really struggling with an increase in cases and referrals. Would you like to help out part-time?' I said, 'Sure!' and I started in private practice. That was my first private practice, and I thought, 'I'm going to make this full-time,' so I started working with her, and it's been going great ever since,” Branston said.
Dr. Baucom's area of expertise is broad, to say the least, but her office promotes building and strengthening family bonds. In terms of advice on what parents can do for their children at home, Dr. Baucom encourages parents to listen.
“When it comes to parenting, I don't think there's one right way to do it,” she says. “These days, kids are very open about what's bothering them, how it's bothering them, and they ask to talk to someone, but it's up to the parents to decide how to take that information. You can try the old-fashioned way, right? But if the symptoms and the traits are still there and that's not helping, then you need some extra help. Because everyone has anxiety. Anxiety helps keep us safe. It's our body's alarm system. It needs to go off. But what happens when anxiety persists and becomes chronic? It can start at a very young age, it can start as a teenager. So it's not limited to a particular age, demographic or race.”
You can hear the full interview and more in “Black Men Sundays” Season 5, Episode 2.
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