Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. Morais Cassell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dr. Morais , appreciate you joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

My journey in the counseling/mental health field began in the Northeast where I served youth and families in local churches, many of whom like myself, were labeled at-risk. In my junior year of high school the former mayor of New York City, the late David Dinkins launched a peer youth crisis hotline, I was recruited and received extensive training in crisis intervention to help youth cope, manage, and navigate life’s issues. I believe both my time as a youth worker in church, and at the New York City youth crisis hotline, helped to unearth a passion for coming alongside others in offering hope and healing. I have learned that people want to be seen, heard, valued, and journeyed with. A personal lesson learned, is that while offering healing to others, you can disrupt negative labels, create new norms and narratives for yourself. Being raised by a single parent mother, an immigrant, and growing up in New York City, I was labeled at-risk. Today I share with young people, “You are not at-risk, you are at-potential”.

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

I am Dr. Morais Lee Cassell PhD, LPC, NCC, MA, MS
Behavioral Health Specialist/Therapist
Licensed Professional Counselor
QPR Suicide Awareness (Certified)
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI Georgia), Program Specialist
Founding Member Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (NAMI Georgia)
C3 – In This Together, LLC (Director).

As NAMI program specialist and director of C3 – In This Together mental management, I partner with individuals and organizations to end the silence, shame and stigma of mental health, suicide, and disability. I have coined the phrase, “We need to treat mental health the way we treat roaches…roaches function in the dark, but the moment we turn on the lights, they go scattering”. Additionally, I challenge people to be Be An Emotional Loan Officer!

I can loan to people what they emotionally need in the moment.

I loan you my hope, my strength, my resilience.

I loan you my silence in the midst of your chaos.

Instead of calm down, I say to you, “What can I do to help?”

I loan it to you, until you are able to loan to it others. @Dr. Morais Cassell

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

As a clinician when I work clients/patients, much of my work is drawn from a strength-based approach, where I help people identify “what’s working in your life”?, “who or what gives you strength”?, this helps to foster resilience. In my own journey of resilience, I recall that my single parent mother was told that as an immigrant child, and being raised in New York City, I was going to give her a lot of trouble and end up in prison. My response, what was said was partially correct, while I did not end up incarcerated, I did become a “prisoner of hope and a hope dealer”. In addition to my faith, I am guided by my favorite childhood Latin motto, “Fortis Cadere Cedere Non Potest” – “The Brave May Fall But Never Yield.”

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

As children, we were asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up”? Looking back, I realize that it is not “what I wanted to be when I grew up”, “it was who I wanted to be when I grew up” and my journey speaks to that, through out my life I have always found myself in the caring/helping profession. I have been blessed to come alongside people in a church setting, as an educator, and as a clinician in varied contexts ( crisis hotline, mobile crisis unit, crisis stabilization center, hospital emergency room, school therapist, in a primary care clinic, and in private practice).

Contact Info:

• Website: www.c3inthistogether.com
• Instagram: moraiscassell
• Youtube: C3 – In This Together with Dr. Morais Cassell. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG-2B4si4aRbv_zOVDCuPCg

Image Credits
NAMI Georgia (Public Event)