Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Bertrina Olivia West Al-Mahdi.
Dr. O (or Olivia if you want to be less formal), we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
At the age of 17, I thought I only had two options after high school: college or the military. The only things I knew about college was: 1. you had to take the SAT or ACT, 2. get a scholarship, or 3. be in debt the rest of your life. My parents nor my older sister attended college; thus, I didn’t have any guidance within my immediate family. I did not want to be in debt for the rest of my life, so I needed to obtain a scholarship. I was working at McDonald’s at the time, and they offered a scholarship, so I applied. It was the ONLY scholarship I applied for because I did not know anything else about how to search and apply for scholarships. Despite my best effort, I did not receive the scholarship, so I joined the military.
I enlisted in the U.S. Navy for three years and was honorably discharged at the end of my three year commitment. Following my military enlistment, I became a law enforcement officer with the Hillsborough Count Sheriff’s Department (HCSD) in Tampa, FL. I have always been passionate about civil rights, human rights, and equality. By becoming a law enforcement officer, I felt I could make positive changes in my community and have a small role in changing the injustices that we see daily.
After four years working with HCSD, I relocated to Atlanta, GA with the intention of transferring to the Atlanta Police Department (APD). Before I started with APD, they instituted a 2-year hiring freeze, which halted all hiring and transfers. Without many options, I decided to leverage my military and law enforcement experiences and joined a private security firm. This career decision was more challenging than expected. There were many long nights and limited career advancement opportunities. The workload and irregular work hours began to negatively affect my family. In fact, I recall many times, I had to bring my son to work and hid him under my desk with a book, crayons, and a tablet, because there were no childcare options that fit within my irregular work hours.
One day a colleague asked me, “Why don’t you go back to school?”. I brushed off the idea because college was not for me. I did not have the money for college and I thought that I was not smart enough for college. I was diagnosed with dyslexia and dyscalculia at the age of five. I made decent grades in high school, but I often lacked confidence and felt stupid and not smart enough for college. These feelings were compounded by frustration because I had to work much harder than my peers with minimal results.
My colleague continued to ask me about attending college and I continuously dismissed the suggestion. One day I saw a commercial for a local college that stated, “Call us today!”. I was hesitant to call because I knew I wouldn’t be accepted, but I decided to call to validate my negative thoughts. At each phase of the application process, I was self-defeating. “I know I won’t call me back,” but they did. “I know I’m not going to pass the entrance exam,” but I did. “I know they won’t accept me,” but they did. “I know I won’t pass this call,” but I did. After finishing my first semester, I gained confidence in myself and began to say to myself “Hey, maybe I am smart enough!”. I had great professors and mentors who believed in me and led me through my educational career. After attaining my Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice, I continued my education and attained my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology.
Initially, I thought I wanted to be a Forensic Psychologist, combining my background in law enforcement with my newfound love of psychology. A mentor informed me that I wanted to become a Clinical Psychologist and conduct Forensic Evaluations. With my son in tow, I moved to Phowniz, AZ to continue my educational journey and pursue my Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology. Phoenix was a life-changing experience for me and my family. College was definately hard, but manageable while working to attain my associate’s and bachelor’s degrees. But statistics in Clinical Psychology was no joke. I was struggling. Bad.
I recall being in the bathroom one day with one of my classmates. I stopped her and asked, “Why do you always leave class when it’s time for a test?” She said, “Oh because I have dyslexia and I get extended time to do my test.” This baffled me! This “white woman” was proud to tell me she had a learning disability. The same learning disability that caused me great shame and had a crippling effect on my life. Not only was she not ashamed, but she ALSO received special accommodations for said learning disability!
For so many years, I was ashamed because I believed I fit the stereotype of being BLACK and DUMB. I NEVER wanted to be viewed as Black and dumb, so I hid my disability. All this time, I was hiding, I could have been receiving help. That moment was so empowering to me. I no longer had to struggle. I was not alone; and I was not dumb. I was able to obtain accommodations that assisted me through the remainder of my Master’s degree and Doctoral degree programs.
My educational experiences in Phoenix also changed my career path. While in class for cultural competency, I realized there was a huge disconnect between the academic literature and the referenced populations. A lot of what was being taught about the mental health of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) populations was written by White people. I recall reading in a textbook where the author discussed body language, it stated something along the lines of “when a Black woman has a hand on her hip, it means she has an attitude.” There were so many inaccuracies, stereotypes, and microaggressions about BIPOC populations, it was disheartening. I could not believe this was being taught to primarily White clinicians about BIPOC populations. Once again, I put on my advocacy hat and created a Diversity and Inclusion support group. This group fought against the inaccuracies being taught in the curriculum, the lack of diversity in the program, and discrimination experienced at many of the practicum assignments.
Ultimately, I decided Clinical Psychology was not the path for me. I wanted something aligned with social, racial, and human rights equality, incorporating culture and diversity, and did not succumb to the Westernized ideals of psychology. After completing my Master’s degree program, I attained my Doctoral degree in International Psychology with a concentration in trauma. I wanted to incorporate my passion for human and civil rights equality with my love of psychology to bridge the gap between western and international philosophies on the mental health treatment of diverse populations.
As an International Psychologist, I have traveled the world studying international populations and the impact of trauma. I wanted to gain an understanding of how cultural values and beliefs impact the treatment of diverse populations. I immersed myself in various cultures learning about how our values and beliefs shape our thoughts and behaviors. I did not want to provide a cookie-cutter form of westernized treatment diluted with words and concepts to make me culturally competent. I wanted to learn about each ethnic group, culture, and sub-culture so that I could provide the most informed and effective treatment to my clients. After traveling to many countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia, I decided to return home to apply my knowledge to local people within my community. To continue my efforts in empowerment and advocacy, in 2016, I founded ToGetHerEmpowered, Inc, a nonprofit organization to Unite and Empower Women and Girls of Color Globally, through Love, Sisterhood, and Service. In 2018, I founded Out of the Box, Counseling, Coaching, and Consulting a division of ToGetHer Empowered to provide quality, low-cost, and culturally relevant mental healthcare services to underrepresented populations both nationally and internationally.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
My journey has not been smooth at all. My story is not unique. I’ve experienced systematic and generational trauma, domestic violence, racism, learning disability, discrimination, substance abuse, homelessness, sex abuse, and poverty. I learned to be “Be Strong.”, which is sort of a cliche because Black women, always have to be strong. I learned how to be strong from my mother. She had her obstacles, but always took care of her kids, paid her bills, and worked hard. She was a single mother of two for the majority of my life, after separating from my father when I was two-years-old. You never would know the struggles she faced and obstacles she’d overcome because she was always strong.
Many of us think, in the absence of strength is weakness. But that is not true. I saw my mom fight many battles, cry many nights, and pray for strength to carry on. This did not make her weak. This made her human. She remarried when I was 12 years old, but her struggles did not end there. She was diagnosed with cancer when I was 13 years old. She went into remission after having her breast removed. Cancer returned when I was 14 years old. She went into remission again after having a hysterectomy. At 21, my mom’s cancer returned, this time in her brain. She did not survive. The loss of my mother has been the most challenging obstacle in my life.
At the age of 19, I had my first child and experienced many of the same challenges my mother experienced as a single mother. Military life and single motherhood were a challenge, which ultimately led to my separation. In 2016, my stepfather was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and died a few months later. During my second year of my doctoral program, I became pregnant with my second child. I was a hard worker and committed to finishing my program on time, so I did not take any time off except for the day I gave birth. Our daughter was born with sickle cell disease. I spent many days, nights, weeks, and months in the hospital not knowing if she would survivor through the night. In September 2019, my biological father was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, he died less than a month after diagnosis and 1-week after I relocated him to Atlanta for treatment. A smooth road? Ha. But life has only just begun!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am the founder of ToGetHer Empowered, Inc. a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to unite and empower women and girls of color globally through our core values of Love, Sisterhood, and Service. ToGetHer Empowered provide several mentorship and community-based programs to strengthen and empower women and girls starting at the age of 5. We are also a membership-based organization, where accomplished women of color can build relationships with other successful women of color, while also giving back to our community.
Out of the Box Counseling, Coaching, and Consulting (OOTB) is a private group practice established under the umbrella of ToGetHer Empowered, Inc. While providing services to the community through ToGetHer Empowered, I witnessed first-hand the huge gap in access to quality and affordable mental healthcare services to BIPOC and lower socioeconomic (SES) communities. I wanted to break the stigmatization of mental healthcare and help bridge the gap between the haves and the have nots. Thus, OOTB was established in 2018 to provides quality, affordable, and culturally relevant mental healthcare, coaching, and consulting services to all despite race, creed, color, ethnicity, language, SES, sexual orientation, ability, or disability.
I am the Clinical Director of the OOTB which consists of 10 therapists, 3 interns, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, and growing. We have diverse specialties but primarily focus on trauma and the residual effects of trauma including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, behavioral problems, and eating disorders, only to name a few. What sets us apart from other practices is not only do we provide affordable mental healthcare services, (we accept insurance, offer sliding scale fees, and sometimes pro bono services for those who qualify), we also believe in breaking barriers by taking a Meet Me Where I Am (MMWIA) approach. We understand the barriers that people often face that interfere with seeking mental healthcare treatment. It is not always about affordability, but also access and addressing stigmatizations around mental health treatment. Pre-COVID we would physically immerse ourselves into the community to meet the direct needs of the client, by providing therapy in the office, at home, in school, at work, in the community, and virtually. We believe in breaking barriers of accessibility, so we would go wherever services were needed. Of course, COVID has limited our ability to provide care in the community, however, we offer 100% virtual sessions, and work with other community-based organizations to provide clients with the necessary equipment needed for telehealth and virtual learning.
Another aspect of OOTB that sets us apart from other group practices, is that we take a global approach to the treatment of our clients. We understand how a persons’ culture, beliefs, values, etc. impact and shape their psyche, thus we believe it would be negligent of us not to take into consideration these differences and incorporate these individual aspects when providing treatment and therapy. In addition to taking a global approach, we also conceptualize our treatment planning through a trauma lens. Studies show that over 70% of the US population have or will experience a traumatic event in their lifetime! Studies of epigenetics also indicate that trauma can be passed down through generations via our DNA! Think of all the residual trauma we face as a result of heritage. From slavery to the holocaust, war, genocide, famine, family separation due to immigration, and so much more. But we are resilient and overcomers. Most people don’t conceptualize life stressors as trauma. It’s just life. Trauma is not only first-hand experiences of war, assault, abuse, death, etc. Trauma is simply STRESS. Everyone experiences stress! Trauma occurs when stress becomes so overwhelming that it affects our daily functioning. Many people do not realize that the root cause of their debilitating distress is due unresolved trauma. Trauma can include anything from sexual assault, abuse, war, death, violence, to systemic trauma, race-based trauma, generational trauma, or witnessing trauma happened to someone else (vicarious trauma). We take all of this into consideration when working with our clients and provide individualized plans to meet the unique needs of each client.
As a clinician, I am most proud of being able to help my clients when they were hopeless and thought they were helpless. I am most proud of the success stories, watching my practice grow, and being able to reach underrepresented populations nationally and internationally. We are accepting new patients and adding to our team of clinicians. Contact us if you are interested in joining our team.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
OMG, so many lessons. Not to sound cliche, but never give up (on your dream). My dream was never to be a doctor. I just wanted to escape the cycle of poverty I found many of my friends and family subjected to. I was faced with many obstacles along the way from not getting into college, sex abuse, pregnancy, learning disability, and death, but I never gave up. I wanted to give up many times, I wish I could say the most important lesson is to always believe in yourself. But many days, I did not. I am not the same insecure girl I was when I started my life’s journey. I am a happily married, mother of two wonderful children, a survivor of sexual, domestic, and race-based trauma, I am an overcomer of systematic inequalities and injustices, I have PTSD, a LD (learning disability), and a Ph.D. I am smart, educated, and loved. I am resilient and resourceful. I am a fighter. I may not have always believed in myself, but I never stopped fighting.
Contact Info:
- Email: olivia@outoftheboxccc.com
- Website: www.outoftheboxccc.com; www.togetherempoweredinc.org
