We had the good fortune of connecting with Destiny Redmond and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Destiny, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
The most important lesson my career and business have taught me is to be okay with the unknown and failure. I think a lot of times we only see the success because we never pay attention much until a person’s career or business has expanded or excelled which blinds us to the work that goes into owning a business, making money, and the work it takes to build and figure out how each process works within the business or career itself.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My career as a mental health professional has been so rewarding despite the hardships that come with being a mental health worker such as being overworked and overlooked as a serious profession. Although society is aware mental health is real, it is still overly stigmatized and businesses/companies often provide mental health workers with minimal pay forcing us to work multiple jobs. However, when I think about myself as a mental health worker and trauma professional, what set’s me apart from others is my willingness to work with individuals who are in crisis or who experience triggering systems that can cause one to feel as though they are right back in that initial stage of the crisis. Crisis work can be exhausting because it can also place the therapist in survival mode to assist in helping the client. Yet, I believe that due to my own history of complex trauma, and my willingness to understand what trauma is and how it manifests in the mind and body, when a client is in crisis I have more of a connection and clearer understanding of how to help them calm down, cope and heal. Professionally getting to where I am now wasn’t easy, especially from when I didn’t know how to respond to crisis events to what I know now. Furthermore, due to the commonality of being overworked, I’ve definitely had bouts of burnout and have had to take my own mental health breaks, but it made me realize and reaffirm that as therapists we have to continuously prioritize our mental health. That’s why now within my career working in private practice and also inpatient psych, I always approach the patients, clients, and potential clients alike with grace and humility to help them understand that their experience is not uncommon and being both the therapist and the client, I know all to well the journey of mental health recovery, the stigma, the good and bad days. My goal has always been to practice self-awareness, understanding and conveying the truth that “I am human just like you and I am going to help you get through this struggle to the best of my ability.” That means helping someone, whether it’s one client at a time or to a mass audience of readers who read my blogs trying to find that semblance of hope.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Wow, this is a hard one because I don’t go out much like I used to because I’m so busy with multiple jobs but if my friends were to visit we would definitely go to the midtown area and hit up spots like the ponce city market, the trap museum, a concert/festival event and go to a local brunch spot! Atlanta is known for its brunches and the array of food, drinks, and activities in midtown and certain big festivals and events are held in the piedmont park which is also cool. We get to relax laugh, drink and listen to some good music and vibe!
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would definitely have to give this Shoutout to my mentor, S. La Shay Dowley. She assisted me and guided me into developing my passion and fostering it within her own practice when I was just working on my associates degree. She invited me to business/clinical development meetings to get a sense of what it takes to own and operate as a mental health professional and the importance of collaboration as a team.
Website: www.myfearlessdestiny.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/myfearlessdesiny
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/destiny-redmond-m-s-lapc-ncc-ctp-3b9996a3/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fearlessdestiny06
Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/profile/453005
Image Credits
I have the rights to all the images