We’re looking forward to introducing you to Sandtrice Russell. Check out our conversation below.
Sandtrice, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
My therapist asked me a similar question during my therapy session today, and my answer remains the same- Self-Love. People often say that they love themselves, but it takes many of us years to learn how to practice self-love and compassion. Especially within the black community, I think that intergenerational trauma and internalized racism cause many of us to see ourselves through a negative lens because many of us were taught to minimize ourselves, be seen and not heard, and do as we were told.
Struggling with Self-Love is the root cause of a lot of our Pain, especially within American society. Many of us do not love ourselves fully because we do not truly know who we are. I’ve struggled with this for many years, and I’m happy to say that “I LOVE ME”!!! If you are secretly struggling with this, don’t suffer in silence. Get help and do the Work!!!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a therapist based in Atlanta, specializing in anxiety, depression, relationship issues, and supporting LGBTQIA+ individuals. I host the “Self Aware & F**ked Up Podcast”, create workshops for counselor education, and promote mental health awareness and suicide prevention through community activism. Through my organization, Unique Destiny Counseling, I’ve developed journals like the “Minding My Own Mental Health Journal”, “Until I Find a Therapist”, and “The Self Aware & F**ked Up Journal” to help people address their mental health. I’m currently working on two new journals for Black women who’ve experienced childhood sexual assault and for stoners who use marijuana for self-medication. My organization’s mission is “Empowerment through Education.” Be sure to check out all that I offer through Unique Destiny Inc. & Minding My Own Mental Health.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As a kid, I believed that nobody loved me. I was raised by my paternal great-grandmother and paternal great-aunt, and I truly felt like no one cared about me and what I was going through. I was misunderstood from a very young age. It was pretty common during the crack epidemic in the 80s for children to be raised by other relatives, but I always felt like, because my parents weren’t there, that I wasn’t good enough or deserving of love. I used to sing a song when I was a kid, “Nobody loves me, I can’t understand it,” and even acknowledged that recently in therapy was a bit painful to me.
If I’m being perfectly honest, it took me until my 30s to truly tap into self-love, which allowed me to recognize the love shown to me by others. It was through my friendship with my best friend of 30 years, Cassy Gates, that I truly understood what unconditional love looked like. I know that I’m loved, and I’m truly grateful to all of those who have shown love to me over the years and continue to show up for me.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There have been so many times that I’ve wanted to give up. The most recent time was a few weeks ago. I’m currently hosting and producing season four of The Self Aware & F**ked Up Podcast. While I absolutely love what I do, it can be discouraging not to have the level of support and the audience reach that I think this podcast deserves. I put my heart, soul, sweat, blood, and tears into this work, and it’s disappointing to see the people around me not support the work that I do for them.
My goal is to empower the people and the work that goes into booking guests, recording episodes, editing episodes, and then promoting episodes can be exhausting, and the math just isn’t mathing right now. In the age of social media, it’s hard not to feel like I’m back in high school, where you have to be popular to have a certain level of support or social capital. But I didn’t give up this time or the past 10x that I’ve wanted to give up over the past four years. I refuse to quit because I understand that it’s bigger than me and my fragile ego!
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
I would say that 95% of the time, what you see is what you get. I’m pretty unfiltered because I’m a Sagittarius, and naturally, we are just honest, impulsive, whatever comes up, comes out sort of people. I do recognize that sometimes I lose aspects of my authenticity in certain settings. For example, if I’m interviewing a certain type of guest on the Self Aware & F**ked Up Podcast, I might be a bit more reserved and switch from “TreetheLPC” to Sandtrice Russell, LPC mode.
I think that, being a counselor in some settings, once my profession is brought into the mix, I switch to “counselor mode” because I don’t want the counseling profession as a whole to be perceived negatively. I don’t like talking about what I do for a living in general because I automatically feel like I have to perform then. I would say that the majority of the time, publicly, I’m the same respectful a**hole that I am privately.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: When do you feel most at peace?
I feel most at peace when I’m on a beach/island vacation surrounded by water and sand. The beach is my happy place. It is a place of deep restoration, healing, and peace for me. I feel closest to God when I’m staring out into the water with my feet feeling the sand beneath.
In June 2014, I remember visiting San Juan, Puerto Rico, with my male best friend, Ron. I had just received the news that my grandmother’s cancer was terminal, and I had to begin mentally preparing for what was to come. I recall sitting out on the beach and immediately feeling calm and grounded. Since that particular trip, I’ve tried to get to the beach as often as possible because it’s the one place that I absolutely feel the presence of God.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mindingmyownmentalhealth.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/treethelpc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandtrice-russell-lpc-cpcs-90533282/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/treethelpc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/treethelpc
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@treethelpc
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/treesie-zachary
- Other: https://www.unqiuedestiny.org
Image Credits
Tourvoisier Zachary
