ORLANDO, Fla. – This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray interviews with Izetta Briggs-Bolling, a licensed clinical social worker, about managing mental health during the holiday season.
“I think the first thing we could do is just to acknowledge that it’s not always a happy time for everyone, and I think that we just automatically assume that it is. Everyone doesn’t have family, everyone doesn’t have someone that they that they love, or either that they feel loves them, and so to just kind of be mindful of that not to make someone feel that they’re wrong for their feelings,” Bolling said. “If a person expresses that, this is not the happiest time for me of the year, to acknowledge that and let that be OK for that person.”
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Bolling said “a lot of different things have could have occurred during holiday events” that could make the season difficult for those with bad memories connected to the time of year.
“One of the things that you know you can help a person to try to do is maybe recreate events going forward that may present, or to help them to develop more memories that may be happy going forward, but to also acknowledge the. That give them the space to share what is not happy about the event, because sometimes people want to gloss over that and not allow that person to share what their feeling is currently great,” she said.
Bolling has worked in “a variety of clinical settings focusing on the needs of individuals with mental health, substance use and physical health concerns for over three decades.”
Hear the interview and more in Season 5, Episode 16 of “Black Men Sundays.”
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