I just completed three hours of thought-provoking training on artificial intelligence, (A.I.), and ethics in the field of psychotherapy. The training raised a number of questions I was not prepared for and I have since started to think very differently about a number of issues related to the use of artificial intelligence and the degree to which clients have started to use it in their daily lives and ultimately in between sessions with me. This prompted me to revisit a lot of

"If you don't heal from what hurt you, you'll bleed on people who didn't cut you" – Isabella De Bruno I once had an argument with a Facebook friend that resulted in him cutting me off after I held up a mirror to a flaw in his thinking. He was not demonstrating an openness to listening to the lived experiences of others and the situation became so irksome that I felt compelled to tell him exactly how I felt in full Jamaican parlance. As a Jamaican himself, he did not take

As it is Men’s Mental Health Month and this issue appears to be front of mind for many, I decided to share some thoughts about the male loneliness epidemic. As a therapist, I see the unfiltered sides of all my clients. The men I work with share their deepest fears, their darkest thoughts and their most closely guarded secrets. I see men in an unfiltered way because of this. Scrolling through social media, one would believe that ALL heterosexual men are complaining about how

I am writing this on Wednesday, October 29, 2025 from Ontario, Canada. Yesterday, the worst hurricane in the history of my beloved Jamaica hit the country. A category five hurricane is incredibly rare and never in the history of our country were we ever faced with such a dangerous storm. Hurricane Melissa was the strongest hurricane in recorded history in the Atlantic to make landfall. Those of us in the diaspora, (and there are literally MILLIONS of us), likely have memories

I, like most other people on the planet, am watching in abject horror as the constant barrage of awful events unfolds before our helpless eyes. I know that this is a much darker start to my blog than usual but, this is a very weird time to be alive. Since 2020, the population of earth has been subjected to non-stop chaos and trauma inducing events. The COVID-19 pandemic, the climatically disastrous fire in the Amazon rainforest, numerous wars, geo-political instability and un

I want to start this piece by acknowledging my dear friend Stefanie Krasnow who encouraged me to write this in the first place. She has been in my life for ten years and has been there through some of the darkest and most confusing times in my life. She is an amazing therapist, colleague and friend. I have been pondering the experiences of middle-aged heterosexual women who are either newly single, never married or in non-traditional relationships. As a therapist, I have th

This topic has been banging around in my mind for a number of months as I have had several clients and people in my personal life...

This year for International Men’s Day, I thought it would be a good idea to channel the learning I have been doing to become a sex therapist into doing a little education on male sexual function. I have previously briefly addressed a few issues related to male sexual dysfunction in a previous post (here). However, as today is a day for men, it seemed like a good opportunity to normalize talking about penises in a way that was lighthearted and educational. This one will be a s

World Mental Health Day is on October 10. Each year, those of us in mental health try to engage with the public in a manner that supports the destigmatization of mental illnesses, give information about various disorders and generally espouse the message that it’s “okay not to be okay”. However, what gets discussed far less than it should is what mental wellness means and what we can do to promote it. As far as the World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned, mental health i

World Suicide Prevention day is on September 10. I decided to take the opportunity to shed a different light on this tragic topic by...

It is a well-established fact that the systemic nature of patriarchy has been used to subjugate women for millennia. Articles, podcasts and many other forms of media acknowledge this fact in every space known to modern homo sapiens. Patriarchy has been used to justify the murder of women, (Salem witch trials is one example), the over-sexualization of women (painting Black women as “inherent whores” during Slavery), the dehumanization of women, (viewing women as “adult childre

Congratulations! You have decided that you are ready to make major changes to your life and your mental and emotional wellbeing. This is the first step to a truly bountiful life where you have peace of mind and self-awareness. I know that this is a strange experience and that you are likely to experience a flood of different and often conflicting emotions about sharing intimate details of your life with a stranger, so the courage you have demonstrated must be acknowledged. Ve

Recently, a friend of mine revealed that he needed some counselling support for a family member and that he wondered about my reviews of a particular psychiatrist for the person. Having had this conversation very often with random people, family and friends and of course, clients, I felt the need to clarify a few things about the key differences between the terms “Psychiatrist” and “Psychologist” in very simple terms. Those key differences in job function will better help you

On October 30, 2023 my most beloved Jamaica experienced the strongest earthquake in three decades. This is the third event of a major...

I am perimenopausal. I am almost 46 years old and my body seems to have a mind of its own. Sometimes I wake up and wonder why I feel as...

I took a few months away from any creative output as I have had to manage major changes in my own life. However, in that time I have still sat with Black women as clients and in my own life and listened to the same theme arising over and over. When asked “how are you doing?” the inevitable response is “Girl, I am so tired”. I have heard this statement repeated to me so many times that I have come to expect it when I ask the question. I have even heard myself say it several ti

As I approach my 45th birthday, it is becoming more and more apparent that the phase of life I am in has started to change in dramatic ways. I am definitely starting to feel the passing of time physically as my body transitions, (rather dramatically), out of my reproductive years, develops chronic pain conditions and my skin begins to lose its youthful texture. Even though I do not feel “old”, there is an element of being firmly in adulthood that is starting to make me ponder

Many, many years ago, I worked in hospitality in a capacity that required me to be on call 24/7. This meant that no matter what time I was called upon to execute my duties, I was expected to do so without complaint and at the highest levels of efficiency. I have distinct memories of sitting at my desk crying at 2:00 am because although my shift ended hours earlier, reports needed to be written or I would face embarrassment and harsh consequences for “not getting it done”. I h

In June of 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States of America overturned Roe vs. Wade, the law that gave constitutional rights to all citizens at the Federal level to make decisions related to their own reproductive health in relation to having an abortion. This eliminated 50 years of progress in women’s reproductive rights and sent a shock wave of anger, terror and despair across not just the United States, but the rest of the developed world. Here in Canada, Justin Tru

Shortly after my return to Canada, I was having a conversation with one of my friends from Vancouver. I was sharing with her what it was like for me to go back to the Caribbean for the entirety of winter for the first time ever. People who do this annually are called “Snow Birds”. Essentially, people who cannot tolerate, (or simply do not like), winter in North America leave for the duration of winter for warmer climates in much the same manner as migratory birds. For me, who