Lisa C. Williams: “So, from that experience, how do you think your traumatic experience helps you in your counseling?”
Shawn LaRé Brinkley: Ironically, I had two other accidents, neither of which I was at fault, and one of which was another taxi situation. I was hit by a truck, as well as I was a passenger in a taxi that got hit from behind by a truck. I believe because, I get it, I can understand. I’m not talking about something that I don’t know. Now, thankfully, I’ve never had physical or sexual trauma, but I can imagine, if I felt violated in my experiences, the pain of that kind of abuse has to be even more devastating.
I don’t think your body always necessarily distinguishes the kind of trauma. I think there are things that are unique to a sexual trauma. Even though my traumatic experience wasn’t childhood abuse, physical abuse, or any of the other types, the empathy from my own experience allows me to work with people who have experienced their brand of trauma. With regard to working with children, it’s my love for children, my feeling of protection for children, that allows me to work with them. My understanding and experience of trauma helps me to understand what it is to feel hopeless. When you have experienced trauma, you feel like your body is not yours … I know because when I was 100 pounds heavier, I was living in somebody else’s body. I was a chubby girl living in a dancer’s body.
Lisa C. Williams: “What questions do people usually ask you about working with a therapist?”
Shawn LaRé Brinkley: People have a misconception of who a marriage family therapist is; so I often have to explain that we work with individuals as well as couples, families, and children. Our education includes how to diagnose and treat mental illness. Some questions I frequently get include, how I work, my process, my experience, etc. I have also even been asked how, as an African American woman, I can help a white woman. For that question, I explain that I am a woman, period, and the black woman part is just a bonus; because I can understand from varied perspectives her feelings of oppression as a woman, should that be her experience; as well as the parts of being a woman that are to be celebrated, should she need help with learning to do that. I find humor goes a long way to offset some of the awkward questions that might come up in a therapeutic setting. (Shawn LaRé, please finish this answer with something positive welcoming anyone to contact you.)
To learn more about Shawn LaRé Brinkley, please visit www.livinglovedhealing.org.
