We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Antwan Mckenzie-Plez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Antwan below.

Antwan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back on your career, have you ever worked with a great leader or boss? We’d love to hear about the experience and what you think made them such a great leader.

I have come to understand what a good supervisor looks like. One thing that I have come to understand about myself is that I was not created to work for one particular entity or company. I
feel my work is independent and I now understand that I do my best work when I am not
shackled or confined by micro managers. Yes, I understand that this work comes with
professional boundaries and expectations, however, being a business owner, I can create my own
expectations for my business, my professional practice, and collaboratively with and for those
individuals that are on my team. In short, I have come to the conclusion that I was created with
an entrepreneurial spirit- despite my initial belief that I was not interested in sales or PR, and that
I favored predictability and the security of a steady paycheck.
I recently received a job offer that paid extremely well (more than I take home now in private
practice), and that I thought would have been a great fit for me at the time. The salary was
amazing, and I was going to be able to travel to provide therapy and education to those in need.
Eventually, I declined the job offer after doing some soul searching. I realized that no amount of
money in the world seemed to be enough to trade in what I value most- autonomy and freedom
to self-determine. I actually had come to appreciate the autonomy of working for myself more
than a dollar value.

Antwan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Antwan McKenzie-Plez, Owner & Clinical Director of Its All Grief, LLC, Grief & Trauma Specialist, Author, and bona fide Neuroscience Fanatic. I love the human brain and all of
its amazing capabilities, including its ability to access true healing and restoration. I study it
intensely and am constantly engaged in perfecting strategies to help people do just that. I
consider myself, "Counselor by Profession… Healer by Calling". It's important to know that I
practice therapy in a very de-colonized, non-traditional, and non-oppressive manner. By that, I
mean that in our relationship, I may be the expert on mental health and healing, but YOU ARE
THE EXPERT ON YOUR LIFE! So we both use our best skills to work together in healing and
liberating you.
I am also an author of a children’s book entitled “Kareem Learns To Cope With Traumatic
Loss”, the “My Grief” Journal for Kids: A guided journal for processing traumatic loss, as well
as a coloring book and diary for Black Queer Youth entitled “To be Young, Gifted, Queer, and
Black”.
I am a mental health counselor located in Broward County, Florida. I am a Licensed Mental
Health Counselor (LMHC), licensed by the State of Florida (currently working on licensure in
additional states). I am a Nationally Certified Counselor (board certification) and a Certified
Grief-Informed Professional.
I hold a Bachelor of Science in ESE K-12, a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health
Counseling, and a Graduate Certification in Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counseling. I am trained and
experienced in providing various types of therapy, including Brainspotting, EMDR, Cognitive
Processing Therapy, and Trauma-Focused CBT just to name a few.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn that the end always justifies the means. This is a dangerous concept to believe in, because it can often lead to self-neglect. I used to burn myself out trying to meet others’
expectations. I was so focused on the goal, I would forget about my own self-care. I have been a
perfectionist most of my life. Therefore, when I start a project, I have to see the project through
to completion and perfection was the standard. I would overwork myself to the point of
exhaustion and illness. Through some painful life experiences as the result of my burnout and
poor boundaries, I had to learn to accept my own limitations, learn to say no, and learn to set
clearer personal and professional boundaries. I had to unlearn my cultural conditioning of the
meaning of hard work and re-think the phrase “at all costs”.

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

Embracing your own lived experience. The most important aspect of who you are as a therapist is your own lived experience and background. That is truly the thing that separates you from the
pack, and the more you can learn to embrace that, the freer you feel to bring those aspects of you
into all of the work that you do. In grad school, we are trained to leave our personal lives outside
of the work- and to a certain extent, that is appropriate. However, who am I- as a therapist or
otherwise- if I am not allowed to just be “Twan”? While I am a trained professional with great
professional skills and credentials to be able to help others, I am “Twan” first and foremost. So, I
am always sure to come from a place of authenticity in each and every interaction with clients. I
want my clients to feel comfortable in knowing that they are coming to see and work with a real
person. This is what is often underlying great rapport-building with clients, and subsequently,
great results in people’s lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.itsallgrief.com
• Instagram: @itsallgrief | @twanthecounselor
• Facebook: @itsallgrief | @twanthecounselor
• Twitter: @itsallgrief | @twandacounselor
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC0r2f9lkoJ0mN6g8nmo7zrQ

Image Credits
Key Footage Studios