ORLANDO, Fla. – This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray interviews Dr. Treshonda Baucom, founder and CEO of Enriched Life Counseling & Consulting, and licensed mental health counselor Erika Blunston.
Dr. Baucom’s office, located in Clermont, provides counseling services to teens, adults and parents in need of tools and strategies to overcome mental health struggles such as ADHD, anxiety and depression. She’s no newcomer to the station either, featured earlier this year during a July episode of Breakfast With Bridgett.
“I kind of say the practice chose me,” Baucom told Corie, explaining how she transitioned from licensed mental health counselor to running her own practice. “I had no intentions of building a group, but when I opened, I saw a need for a diverse space, a safe space for diverse individuals to come to, and hence came a group practice (…) we’ve been able to open the doors and meet the needs of individuals just like ourselves.”
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Blunston, Dr. Baucom’s first clinician at Enriched Life Counseling & Consulting, told Corie that listening to people’s stories is one of her favorite things to do and largely inspired the career path that’s led her to Baucom’s side.
“I was working with, I guess they were just friends at the time — they’re sorority sisters now — but I was working with them, and they’re like, ‘Hey, you know, (Dr. Baucom’s) overwhelmed with the amount of increase that’s coming in and the referrals that are coming in, do you want to just help out part time? And I was like, ‘Sure!’ And I started doing private practice. That was my first time doing private practice and I was like, ‘Let’s switch this to full time,’ so I joined her and we’ve been rocking ever since,” Blunston said.
Though her area of expertise is wide to say the least, Dr. Baucom’s office champions the creation and strengthening of family bonds. For her advice on what parents can do at home for their own children, Dr. Baucom suggests that you listen to them.
“I think when it comes to parenting, there is no one size, or one thing is the right thing to do,” she said. “Nowadays, our children are very forthcoming with what they’re struggling with and how they’re struggling and asking to see someone, but it’s up to the parent to then take that information and what to do with it. We can still try some of those old-school methods, right? But if those symptoms and characteristics still persist and they’re not helping to alleviate any of those, then we want to have that extra assistance, because everyone has anxiety. It helps keeps us safe. It’s our body’s alarm system. We need it to kick in. But what happens when anxiety is persistent and chronic? And that can start from a very young age, that can start as a teenager. So, there’s no certain age, demographic, race that this is just privy to as well.”
Hear the full interview and more in Season 5, Episode 2 of “Black Men Sundays.”
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