Dr. Kenika Holloway discovered her calling in high school when classmates naturally confided their problems to her. Today, she’s a licensed professional counselor with two degrees from Mercer University and the founder of Activating Wellness Within. Her practice focuses on helping individuals, couples, and families navigate life transitions, anxiety, and relationship challenges while emphasizing the power of listening and personal growth.
Dr. Holloway shares insights on selecting qualified mental health professionals, recognizing when to seek help, and addressing specific challenges facing the Black community.
When looking for a mental health professional, what are three reasons why someone should choose a licensed provider?
First, you want to make sure you’re in good hands. Licensed clinicians are trained to help people with various diagnoses, and it’s not always about diagnosis. We treat people with life problems like career transitions or major life changes that aren’t necessarily diagnosable conditions but impact mental health.
Second, qualified professionals are educated in treating various diagnoses and know how to create human connections to help clients succeed. Third, the relationship is most important. That clinician takes time to really get to know you. It shouldn’t be a cookie-cutter approach to therapy. I may have six different people with the same issue, but how I approach them will be different because I have a toolbox of various treatment modalities based on their unique situation.
What signs indicate it’s time to seek help for depression or anxiety?
We all have situations that bring our mood down, but it’s when it goes beyond two weeks and creates a very dire situation in your life. If you’re not sleeping well, not eating or eating too much, having thoughts of suicide, feeling helpless or hopeless, having trouble regulating your mood, being really irritable, having concentration problems, or relationship troubles because you’re not yourself.
It’s when this continues for an extended period and impacts various life functions like work, family, and social life. Maybe you’re isolating, not engaging in hobbies you used to enjoy, and life just feels different. With anxiety, when worry feels too much from waking up to going to bed and you can’t think of anything else, your body feels keyed up, and it’s impacting your sleep because your mind is racing.
I like to explain the difference between mental health and a mental health diagnosis. Everybody has mental health that can be good or bad. Exercising, taking care of your body, eating right, and saying positive things about yourself affects your mental health. When we’re not taking care of that mental health, it can lead to a mental health diagnosis like depression and anxiety.
How should someone newly diagnosed with HIV find appropriate therapeutic support?
Start by using your insurance to see who’s in your network. Most therapists allow consultations, usually a 15-minute phone call or video meeting, which is free. During that consultation, ask if they’ve worked with someone with a new HIV diagnosis, inquire about their special training, and assess their comfort level with your disclosure.
When someone is newly diagnosed, there are many emotions to sort out. The initial emotion is generally shock, it may feel surreal. Some people go through grief stages: anger, depression, bargaining like “I wish I would have done this differently.” Those thoughts can bring heavy low self-esteem and shame.
The first appointment is an intake where the therapist asks about your background, family, support system, other ailments, and other doctors for care coordination. After assessment, there’s a treatment plan. Therapists should let you guide what you want to work on over the next six months.
Many losses can come up, loss of the future they envisioned, fear and anxiety about telling people, anxiety about managing other responsibilities while adhering to medical treatment. HIV isn’t just a diagnosis; it’s an emotional journey, and mental health matters.
Why is mental health support crucial for someone experiencing job loss?
Seeking professional help allows someone to be honest about what’s happening. When we speak from truth without judgment, clinicians aren’t here to judge, it creates release. Sometimes, especially women, we carry everything, and feeling like we can’t be vulnerable where we need to be can be intimidating.
With therapy, you can be whoever you are in that moment. When surrounded by uncertainty, speaking about it creates healing. That therapist can offer options you hadn’t considered and help you navigate this new journey. Often people get caught up in current reality and forget they can still dream and create new reality based on information they have now.
Why must Black women prioritize self-care over the “superwoman” complex?
Many of us have been trained to just do it because we’ve seen other women do it, but it’s so important to rest. We are not machines or robots. If we don’t slow down, our bodies will. We have a mind, body, spirit connection.
Some people think self-care is selfish. No, it’s self-preservation. We have to take care of ourselves to take care of others. We cannot pour from an empty cup. If we’re constantly pouring out, who is pouring into us? We have to pause and remember that we matter too.
That cape isn’t real, it’s something you’ve learned to do. Maybe you get some benefit from it, but it’s okay to take a break. You deserve it. When I work with women involved in organizations and pulled in 17 different ways, they say people depend on them. But if you’re not healthy, how can you continue to execute? Learning the balance of taking care of yourself so you can be present for others is critical.
How has the shift toward accepting mental health treatment affected your practice?
I love it. My practice is called Activating Wellness Within, and my thought is if we start with ourselves, it’ll be like a pebble dropped in a pond. The benefits of us being healthy, healed, and whole can have a ripple effect. I can be healthy for my family, and because I’m healthy, they’re living more joyously and prosperously, not just money, but joy in their lives.
It spills into the community. This shift in reducing mental health stigma means healing is happening, healthier families, children, husbands, wives, and communities, getting back to what matters, people. But it starts with you because we cannot change what we don’t acknowledge. When people wake up and acknowledge they’re not okay and know what to do about it, we’re winning.
link
