We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tiffany Bishop a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tiffany, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

A risk we have has been valuing our worth and taking the initiative to step out on our own. We specialize in black women’s mental health, and often we have to give a disclaimer of why we hold space for black women and couples. A constant struggle is proving why black women deserve priority in their mental wellness. Our practice addresses challenges and provides a safe place for black individuals who are not often held with open ears.

We had to learn about ourselves as therapists, black women, and our own relationship with each other as friends and business partners in order to allow our private practice to thrive. We ground ourselves in defining our niche, serving our aligned clients, and knowing our worth as therapists.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Raising Resilience priority is providing support for black women and couples during their pregnancy and the postpartum period. We help women navigate the emotional challenges of motherhood to be more aligned with their self-identity and reduce burnout in parenting. We are licensed mental health therapists providing therapy for modern motherhood. We understand the number of black women and couples who navigate the challenges of postpartum depression and anxiety alone and how detrimental it can be to them during the most vulnerable time of their life. We also provide psycho-education and mental health products to educate women and providers on the importance of dismantling fear-based birthing experiences for black mothers.

What sets us apart from others in this field is how priority to decrease bias in health and mental health care for black women and couples. We also understand that maternal mental health begins before you have children. There are so many scary messages sent to black women about birth and the emotional challenges of motherhood. Our aim is to bridge the gaps of negative mental health experiences for black women that leave them with an invisible load of regret and shame when it comes to their mental wellness in the postpartum period. We understand the value of mental health for black women

We developed a maternal mental health app this past year. Our app bridges the gap between maternal mental health and technology. We are working on launching our app launch from prototype to in the hands of families. Our app will streamline care coordination, provider directory, telehealth, courses, and real-time access to perinatal mental health screening. This program/app will offer resources to any front-line healthcare providers serving pregnant and postpartum women, including but not limited to OB/GYNs, nurses, midwives, lactation consultants, and pediatricians.

Have you ever had to pivot?

We originally began working with children and adolescents doing trauma and play therapy with children. Working with the population right out of grad school provided us with the lens of how pregnancy and the postpartum period impact children in the early years of life. Often we would find ourselves processing with parents the challenges they had during their pregnancy and postpartum period and now their child would be experiencing mental health challenges. It allowed us to the impact of unaddressed mental health challenges for women during this period. We also so the lack of diverse mental health therapists who served this population of women and parents. We ventured into getting our certification in “Perinatal Mental Health Counseling” and with Tiffany having her first child we knew this was our calling and we had a mission of how we wanted to show up in this space to serve black millennial women.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Therapy is ever-evolving with technology and social media. One thing we have learned is you have to niche down and know where your expertise lies. We have a great experience under our belt as therapists but we also have really gained confidence in where we find fulfillment as a therapist. Being a generalist in this field works for some but we knew our passion was black women’s mental health and maternal mental health. We learned the value of having a say so in the clients you service and the impact it has on how you show up in your sessions. We have also learned in our success the importance of how mental health is evolving and how therapists can make an impact outside of just providing one on one therapy to reach your audience. We also have learned that we have to take care of ourselves as mental health professionals in this profession its easy to become burnout and not show up for yourself.       

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.weareraisingresilience.org/
• Instagram: @raising.resilience https://instagram.com/raising.resilience?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: Raising Resilience (https://www.facebook.com/RaisingRes/)
• Linkedin: Raising Resilience (Maternal Mental Wellness Business) (raising-resilience-5a657b257)
• Twitter: @raising.res (https://twitter.com/Raisingres)
• Youtube: Raising Resilience (https://youtu.be/EvC2KhvzxLU)

Image Credits
Ariel Perry Photography