Meet Mayana Geathers

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mayana Geathers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mayana below.

Hi Mayana, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
I am constantly working on my sense of well being, my sense of self, my confidence and my self esteem. It starts with reminders that I am worthy. That I am worthy to take up space, to have my perspective, to try new things and to simply be. When we think about confidence and self esteem, it often lives in the binary, we either have it or we don’t, rather than something that we must continuously work on. As a black biracial woman, I live in a world, where my worth as a human is often questioned. So, I work on validating my feelings, validating my experiences, resting and reflecting as a way to nurture my confidence and my self esteem. I also work very hard on surrounding myself with a support network that is full of people who love me for who I am, and have no issues reminding me of who I am when I question myself. We do not live in a vacuum and our community and the folks in our lives play important roles in mirroring and supporting us as we hold space for being our most empowered selves.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a biracial African-American woman from the Bay Area, who has called Southern California home since 2006. I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who identifies as a feminist therapist. I work from an empowerment and social justice framework and specializes in supporting survivors of trauma on their healing journeys. I am one of the co-founders of Bridges to Healing, Counseling and Training Center, a feminist therapy group practice that provides nonjudgmental, collaborative, trauma-informed, anti-oppressive therapy that is inclusive of all intersecting identities, located in Long Beach, Ca. We just celebrated 10 years as a business!
I am also a writer, creator of original guided meditations, a trauma-informed/social justice trainer, and a speaker. I am passionate about demystifying the mental health world to make it more accessible and understandable to all people, but especially BIPOC people who have experienced historical and systemic oppression. I believe in supporting people in accessing healing, and I do so through providing individual therapy, my guided meditations, hosting sound healing events and my writing.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Three qualities that have been most impactful on my journey is my commitment to follow through, my stubbornness and my humor. My commitment and my stubbornness often go hand in hand as they propel me to stay focused on a task or topic until I have understood it, made it my own and completed it. They also contribute to my willingness to think outside the box. It is this tenacity that has often made me very outspoken and willing to challenge the status quo. It is my humor that helps me center joy in my life. I love a good laugh and find that while there are so many serious things in this world, the power of humor can be helpful in marching through it. My advice for folks early in their journey is: Don’t give up. Don’t believe negative messages about yourself and doubt is part of the process.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
I wear many hats, so I have more than one ideal client! For those who seek therapy with a therapist who believes in empowerment, honoring an individual’s expertise and holds space for your intersecting identities, then I would be a good fit for you! For those who are looking for soothing, regulation and support in meditation, you can access my guided meditations on all major streaming platforms, Youtube, Bandcamp and Insight timer. I provide safe, dynamic trainings on a variety of mental health topics as well as grounding sound healing experiences, perfect for organizations, businesses and collectives! If you are looking for a dynamic speaker I love to discuss all things mental health and proudly have appeared on several podcasts. Overall, I value transparency, empowerment and equality and aim to bring empathy, safety and support for anyone who works with me.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Geathers Photography

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