Therapist Spotlight Part 1: Asasia Richardson
What inspired you to be a clinician? How did you get here?
Well, I’ve always been interested in mental health. When I was young—probably too young—I was already reading magazine articles about it. As I got older, people would come to me with their problems. I found myself being that support figure for them. By the time I was 16 or 17, I started thinking, “I might make a good therapist.” And so, I double majored in psychology and women's studies in college. It was my women's studies courses that made me want to focus on the social justice aspect of mental health, which ultimately led me to social work instead of psychology.
Would you care to elaborate on the psychology vs. social work swerve that you did?
When I was taking my psychology courses as undergrad, I found they were focused, almost exclusively, on diagnosis and what constituted a ‘psychological disorder.’ We didn't really talk about how overlapping systems oppression, culture, and identity have an effect on mental health.
Then I started to meet people who were doing social work, and I started to research it myself. I knew that I cared about the effect of overlapping systems on mental health; I knew that I wanted to work predominantly with people who had less access to resources, people experiencing oppression. But I didn't know that there was a school of thought, a discipline that offered training to do just that. So, once I was exposed to social work, to its systemic perspective and its commitment to social justice, I realized, “Oh, that's what I am, a social worker.”
What's your favorite part about being a therapist?
The moment when things 'click' with someone I’m working with. Seeing them reach a new self-awareness, or the moment when they realize that their feelings are really valid, and that it's not something that's ‘fundamentally wrong’ with them, but that their symptoms are a typical response to their experience or the situations they're in.
Seeing the change and the growth happen, I feel really lucky that I get to see that happen. I think a lot of people don't get to see people grow that way.
That's powerful.
Right, I'm really interested in trauma, partly because our brain’s way of responding to trauma can be so weird and confusing for people when they experience it. You might do or say certain things in the wake of a trauma that might not make sense to other people, least of all to yourself. So when someone is sharing those experiences with me, I get to provide the psycho-education piece that helps them better understand their body’s often involuntary responses. There's that “Aha” moment for the client. They can take the blame off themselves for ‘freezing’ or ‘making a mistake’ in the past. That's always really affirming for me.
What would you say a typical session is like with you?
It starts with a conversation. Seeing what the client is wanting to focus on, what's coming up for them, or following up on what we've discussed before. I think it’s important that I’m not taking an ‘authoritative’ stance on their experience....
It sounds like you try to avoid a power imbalance, that you prefer a kind of partnership with the client.
As a clinician, I might be an 'expert,' but I'll never be the expert of someone else's experience. I might have some insight or some perspective that the person might not have at the time, but the only person who truly knows what it is they're going through or what it is they need is the client. It’s something they're going to figure out. I get to be there, to help where I can, and accompany them in that process.
How do you practice self-care?
A lot of times people talk about activities and hobbies, but one of the things that's most helpful for me with self-care is routine. A schedule, and keeping to that schedule. I think it keeps my brain feeling organized. It makes me feel a little more put together, especially in quarantine, when things have gone slack in so many ways. Sticking with routine, waking up everyday, and taking a shower, and listening to a podcast, putting on my makeup, and putting on clothes, clothes I would wear if we were leaving the house--not just pajamas. [laughter] Going through that process makes a big difference for me.
Also, at the end of the day, I'm an introvert at heart. I love to talk, and I'm very talkative, but having solitude and alone time is important to me. So, I might watch a movie or read, whatever it might be, but making sure I always have a little bit of time where I'm not around anybody else. [laughter]
New Yorkers, we're often in such close quarters, especially sheltering in the pandemic. Would you have any advice for people having a tough time finding that alone time?
I think it would be looking at moments in your day and taking a new perspective on what they can mean for alone time. For example, with the morning routine, a shower is alone time. At least, most of the time. [laughter] So, you could look at the shower differently, not as the thing you do everyday to get clean, but what can you do to make that space a moment to yourself, where you can be with your thoughts, or listen to some music, or whatever it is you need to get that break in your day.
What would you say is important for everyone to know—at least the people you work with?
What comes to mind for me is that I really care. This is what I do for a job, but I do it because I care. I do it because I love it. It's important for people to know that that's where my motivation lies. Because I want people to do well, and I want them to overcome and to reach their goals. I want them to be the best version of themselves! [laughter] I want that for people because I think everyone deserves it.