We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Justice Payne-Tyson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Justice below.
Justice, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When you’ve been a professional in an industry for long enough, you’ll experience moments when the entire field takes a U-Turn, an instance where the consensus completely flips upside down or where the “best practices” completely change. If you’ve experienced such a U-Turn over the course of your professional career, we’d love to hear about it.
There were two significant U-turns that happened in the Mental Health field at the same exact time. That was the telehealth boom and the authenticity of the providers. Stereotypically when you think of mental health therapy, you envision someone sitting on a couch in front of a provider who’s nodding their head going “uh huh, and how does that make you feel?” It was kind of robotic in nature. Not in 2019! The pandemic brought many things that I don’t care to name with it, but two were fear and authenticity. People did not want to come outside due to fear. This led to innovative thinking on the providers’ half. We had to meet clients where they were. Because they weren’t coming outside and neither were we, technology was the next best thing. Since then many clients and providers actually prefer telehealth over the face to face interaction. Many providers now cannot be seen in person due to being 100% virtual. Prior to 2019, this was unheard of.
In regards to the authenticity that was brought out, you can see it on social media and when you schedule a session with your provider. There seems to be a new wave of providers who are creative and unafraid of being themselves while helping clients. Traditionally schools taught providers to be personable but to keep it scientific at all times. That traditional mentality seems to be disappearing completely since the pandemic and I’m here for it!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Justice Payne-Tyson and I’m known socially as The Neighbor “Hood” Therapist. I grew up in Paterson, NJ during the 90s and if you know then you know, some things just don’t need to be explained. I experienced much trauma growing up, but I persisted and made my family proud once I graduated from college. After college, I became a mental health therapist in order to become the representation I wanted to see in the field. Don’t get me wrong, there was representation, but something was missing. They may have looked like me, but I couldn’t find any that related to me or any that were authentic to who they were while still keeping it professional. I decided It was my job to become what I was looking for. Years later I have accomplished my goal and am now teaching others how to do the same through All Us We Counseling in Texas and The Neighborhood Counseling Foundation in New Jersey.
I specialize in helping Black Men feel understood and reminding couples why they fell in love in the first place. My humble upbringing and creative thought process allow me to reach clients on levels that other providers cannot or will not go. I know how to reach people deep in those dark places and still stay ethical and efficient. It’s not easy, but it’s who I am and who I’ve always been, hence the authenticity piece I spoke about earlier. My overall goal with anyone I meet is for them to persist and be at peace. I want people to remember that I made them feel something unique and spark their minds to change the world and live in their purpose.
Overall, I’m just thankful to be alive honestly. I had a near-death experience in 2009 and I haven’t forgotten it. I’m most proud of the fact that I haven’t forgotten my humble beginnings and that every day I remember to be grateful and give grace. I’m not heavy on social media, but my work speaks for itself when you meet people who have been around me. I want people to know WE exist. Your therapist can look like you, relate, be authentic and still be professional.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think my reputation as the Neighbor “Hood” Therapist grew when I became the best version of myself. Clients could really tell I was there to help and that I wasn’t making their session about my beliefs and opinions. I was there to listen fully and respond only when necessary. A lot of the times I like to tell my people I don’t have all the answers, but I’ll walk with you along the way so we can bounce solutions off of each other. Two heads better than one type of mantra. The authenticity, my creative solutions, and personality are the reason I believe my reputation has been built within my market. It also doesn’t hurt that I actually do what I say I will and am on time with clients. I’m being petty at this point, but I said what I said.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn that other therapists were my competition and had to unlearn it quickly! During graduate school and internship, I would always listen to professors speak about how they would never go into private practice because it required being in competition with fellow therapists. Even during internships, supervisors would state that you couldn’t make it in the business of therapy without “knocking out the competition”. I really thought this was the only way to run your practice. They were mistaken. I’ve come to understand when it comes to the “business of therapy” if you’re great at what you do and just do a slight bit of marketing, you’ll be at capacity rather quickly. You can’t see all the clients in the world nor should you want to. If you do “good business” believe me you will thrive. I refer clients out to my fellow therapists and vice versa all the time. It’s a healthy comradery amongst us, never competition. They can’t do what I do and I can’t do what they do, because we are each unique in that manner. I’m my only competition, that’s what I had to learn.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alluswecounseling.com/
- Instagram: @theneighborhoodtherapist
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllUsWeCounseling
- Other: The Black Man Misunderstood Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-black-man-misunderstood-podcast/id1522167698
Image Credits
@marzdouble