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

Kaye , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Let me start by saying I love and respect my parents a whole lot. I think I made parenting easy for them for the most part. My parents both professionals in their own right, allowed me to be myself. They never stopped me from being me. I had freedom within limits. It’s something I teach parents in parenting groups. Give your children freedom but within the limits of what you are okay with. My parents did a lot of things right. I think the most impactful thing was investing in my education. Whatever I needed to succeed my parents provided. So I attended Catholic school most of my school career (there were a few years I was in public school and another private school). When it came to college I was allowed to decided where I wanted to attend. My parents believe that at some point I would be in control of my life and never wanted me to blame them for making a choice that could impact my future. I always joke, that’s the one time they should have told me no! lol. I was free to be creative and that shows up in everything I do. So thanks mom and dad!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Well I was born on October 1st…nah. I’m Kaye Henry, NYS Licensed Mental Health Counselor; CT, Licensed Professional Counselor and podcast host of Black Therapy Uncensored. My goal was to always be a doctor. Up until Senior year of high school that is what my mind was focused on, medical school. I knew about therapy, but I wasn’t desiring to be a therapist. It wasn’t till I took my first psychology class at the S.T.E.P program at Fordham University and the instructor was a young black woman. She taught us the basics, you know your Psychology 101. It wasn’t till we did personality tests, that I was like, “this is what I want to do”. Remember I was going to be a doctor. In true Kaye fashion, I decided I was going to do both. College comes around and I’m pre-med, with a minor in psychology at Manhattan College (Go Jaspers!). I switched gears in my 2nd year when I realized the dream would be harder to obtain and I was struggling real bad in my science and math classes. So I made a decision, that shocked my mom and focused on psychology. I just couldn’t see myself as a doctor anymore but I saw the potential in becoming a therapist.
Fast forward. I graduated with a B.S. in Psycology, went on and got my Masters in Counseling. I was a school counselor in NYC for 14 years before moving to CT and providing telehealth services to a broad clientele to now back in school providing therapy to adolescents.
I love what I do. I have a reputation as the no nonsense clinician. I am also the fun therapist. I love to laugh with my clients. I am a trauma focused clinician and provide EMDR, TFCBT to clients needing more than traditional talk therapy. In my private practice (Positive Minds Mental Health Counseling, Psychotherapy), I provide workshops, on demand, focused on helping people get out of survival mode and learn how to thrive in their daily life. I provide individual and group therapy. While I do not take insurance (I don’t like when my money is funny), I do provide sliding scale and try to meet most clients where they are at financially. No one should be denied services because they can’t afford it.
What makes me different than all the other therapists? I meet clients where they are at and I get results. I do not see the point in being in therapy and working on the same goals from day 1. No problem is too big for me. I work with the client and we figure it out together. I tell my clients upfront, fire me if I’m not helping you. And then go and get the help you need. This encourages clients to speak up and we overcome those barriers of communication when advocating for themselves. A client can be like, “I don’t like what you said to me last session”. I’m like, “tell me more about what I said, that upset you”. Another clinician would get upset and personalize it but I’ve learned in the 18 years of providing therapy services to a wide range of clients to not take it personal unless they make it personal. They are human and their feelings are valid and a lot of clients will reenact life scenarios with their therapist to see how the therapist will respond to them. That’s why skill building in therapy is so important. If all you are doing as a therapist is talking and not teaching and demonstrating a skill then you are doing a disservice to your clients.
I’m proud of how I’m always willing to learn no matter how long I’ve been in the field of mental health. I recently was trained in EMDR and that change how I was working with clients. Up until that point, I was doing a lot of talking and that’s exhausting. EMDR gives the clients the space, a “safe” space to talk about their triggers and go deeper. It’s such a great modality to use.
As an experienced therapist, I decided in 2020 to launch, Black Therapy Uncensored, a podcast focused on providing listeners who maybe can’t afford therapy or in between therapists, with mental health information they can apply to their everyday life. 4 years going strong. Currently on Season 4. This season I took all my group work and put them into episodes that are easy for listeners to digest. Right now (at time of this article), Prescription to Thriving is live. So listen, learn, apply! lol. I want clients to know that when they work with me, they will be motivated to become the best versions of themselves. I’m really good at what I do, but I do realize I’m not the therapist for everyone and I am honestly okay with that.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

You have to love what you do. You have to love helping people, get better. You have to just love. Let me explain. There are days when you are not going to want to hear another story about your client not being able to do daily life tasks or you feel inadequate, insecure, like an imposter. There will be sessions where you fail your clients, and you don’t listen. There will be a ton of moments where you don’t want to do this anymore, because it pays beans (let’s be honest, therapist do not get paid that much, even with private practice you have to pay your business then pay yourself; some months are better than others). At the end of it all, you have to love what you do, so you can do it another day. You also have to recognize your limitations and play to your skill set. If I had a bull horn, I’d screamed it from the highest peak, “you can not save everyone!”. You can’t! Let go of the expectation now. That’s one sure way to burn out easily. Lastly, prioritizes your needs and model that for your clients. The teacher must also be the student.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I’ve actually been thinking about this as I contemplate going back for my PhD (anyone want to sponsor me?!). Remember when I said I wanted to be a doctor but dropped that to fully focus on psychology?. At the time, blame my youth, I didn’t realize I could still be a doctor after studying psychology. I knew a little an about psychology, but didn’t realize a psychiatrist was a doctor of the mind. So if I could go back, I would be a psychiatrist. I would have completed my dream of being a doctor just in a different speciality than what I originally dreamed. I would choose to be in the field of mental heath but I’d go more into research and become a psychiatrist. Plus that’s where the money is at in this field and they need so many psychiatrists. I love to research and write articles. Actually, I wrote one not too long ago (2021) on anxiety and high blood pressure. Check it out on Psych Central.

Contact Info:

• Website: HTTPS://therapy-university.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blkthrpyuncnsrd
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackTherapyUncensored?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaye-henry-b02b77b9?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Image Credits

Kaye Henry, LMHC, LPC