Melissa M. Shepherd-Williams, Marriage Family Therapist

A year ago this week, we engaged in such a heartening reflection about healing in and after this pandemicThanks, Kimiko Warner-Turner, Claudia Bautista, and Kimani Norrington-Sands, for sharing your wisdom.

Please reflect on this.

Freedom awaits.

The voice of fear can be convincing and agitating. Still, the most and better informed voice to listen deeply to is our intuition...If it’s a calming voice, let’s pay attention.

In Austin Rivers’ words, craftivism, serves many in the LGBTQI community! Yes! Please watch this and be inspired!

Please go deeply into this.

¿Recuerdan las veces en que hemos conversado sobre la conexión entre el cuerpo y nuestro estado emocional y mental? El dolor y la sanación viven en el cuerpo

Healing is in progress. Still, the energy involved in the process is intense and informed by generations of pain---for the client and therapist.

What a rich conversation about healing in "Transforming the World through Reflections: Burnout in Pandemic Times"! Thank you, Dr. Bree Cook, Psychotherapist Ebony Williams, Registered Nurse Ashley Asberry, and Administrator and District Director within the Department of Public Social Services Jake Ross for your words of wisdom. This reflection process highlighted the value of re-connecting with our bodies to improve self-care; building community of mutual support; and creating a recovery plan from this pandemic experience. #BurnoutInPandemicTimes #Healing #FromBurnouttoBliss

Tuve el honor de ser entrevistada por Noticias Telemundo Mediodía para hablar sobre el desgaste en la pandemia y su efecto en mujeres Latinas. Nuestro desgaste viene afectándonos por generaciones antes de la pandemia y detenernos para sanar es un acto revolucionario.

Hello, everyone! I hope all is as well with you as possible, given our circumstances. This note is to share that I'm re-introducing my book, published in 2018, due to the challenges we have weathered. This pandemic year has truly been a "perfect storm" for burnout and we all need and deserve to be well for ourselves, the people we're responsible for, and the communities we belong to. I invite you to go deeply into this in my book "From Burnout to Bliss". Visit this link: htt...ps://www.amazon.com/Ms.-Melissa-M-Shepherd/e/B07GC8H9QT Who knew that this book that was born from my own experience of burnout, and that of many of my colleagues, would be a topic affecting so many around the world now? As a helping professional, I can tell you it's been rough on many levels. There are so many articles and reports about how burnout is at an all time high! It's so painful to see how many people are suffering over losses and stretching themselves so much to survive and help others. People are wearing more hats than ever! Depression and burnout are overlapping, while we witness so much social injustice. I pray that our creativity will support us, and let this horrible year also be a turning point to continue the healing process of generations of oppressed people. Burnout is, without a doubt, influenced by long-standing stories of pain moving from one generation to the next...In this book are reflections on that angle of burnout, too. This is what we refer to as historical trauma, and this pandemic experience is filled with re-living its pain. My hope is to reach more communities and invite reflection and healing through the work of this book, and more resources that we can find together. Please join me in this process and visit the link below, where the book and workshops are discussed. If you have an opportunity, I'd appreciate if you share this information with anyone you feel could benefit and/or could help me reach more people. Now, more than ever, we must all amplify our gifts! https://www.melissamshepherd.com/epk.html #FromBurnouttoBliss #BurnoutInPandemicTimes #CommunityHealing #Ittakesavillagetoheal #TransformingtheHealingNarrative

LISTEN IN NOW! What a rich conversation about healing in "Transforming the World through Reflections: Burnout in Pandemic Times"! Thank you, Dr. Bree Cook, Psychotherapist Ebony Williams, Registered Nurse Ashley Asberry, and Administrator and District Director within the Department of Public Social Services Jake Ross for your words of wisdom. This reflection process highlighted the value of re-connecting with our bodies to improve self-care; building community of mutual support; and creating a recovery plan from this pandemic experience. #BurnoutInPandemicTimes #Healing #FromBurnouttoBliss

Strong words from an Strong Nurse! Thanks, Ms. Asberry, for your powerful words on Transforming the World through Reflections! See the full conversation here tonight, May 25th, at 7 p.m. DON'T MISS IT!

Reflexionemos sobre el desgaste en la pandemia. Nuestra comunidad lo ha estado viviendo por generaciones. Sin embargo, la pandemia ha causado que se empeore y que haga abrir los ojos de muchos sobre nuestra historia de sobrevivencia. Es hora de prosperar con salud. El enlace tiene detalles adicionales...

TONIGHT AT 7 P.M.! Stay tuned to experience the posted recording of "Transforming the World through Reflections: Burnout in Pandemic Times" with four professionals in social services and the healing arts. Tonight, May 25th, at 7 p.m. (PST), Dr. Bree Cook, Psychotherapist Ebony Williams, Registered Nurse Ashley Asberry, and Administrator and District Director within the Department of Public Social Services Jake Ross will guide us in noticing opportunities to create space and... resources for individual and community healing. DON'T MISS THIS! #BurnoutInPandemicTimes #Healing #FromBurnouttoBliss

NOS MERECEMOS EL DESCANSO. Las personas de color han vivido el desgaste por generaciones y la pandemia lo ha aumentado. Descansar es un acto revolucionario. Tuve el honor de conversar sobre esto con Noticias Telemundo Mediodía. #JornadadelDesgastealaFelicidad #DesgasteenTiemposdePandemia #NoticiasTelemundo #TrabajoEnPandemia... #trabajoparamujeres Gracias a Noticias Telemundo por haberme invitado a compartir el mensaje e invitar a nuestra gente a reflexionar sobre la salud.

Fue una bella experiencia el conversar con mi adorada Ligia M. Grenald R. sobre el desgaste en la pandemia y sus antecedentes de dolor a través e generaciones. Las comunidades marginalizadas se han venido desgastando por necesidad de sobrevivir. Descansar es un acto revolucionario para sanar a generaciones. Mi libro Jornada del Desgaste a la Felicidad profundiza en el tema. Su plataforma SPEAK promueve capacitación para profesionales que quieren elevar su habilidad de servir al cliente bilingüemente. Sus entrenamientos a corporaciones enfatizan en crear ambientes saludables para su personal. ¡Adelante, Ligia!

Yes, Ebony Williams!

Here’s the magazine commemorating this year’s CARICON 2021! https://issuu.com/bapress/docs/master_2021_oke I’m so honored to have participated in CARICON, a Celebration of Caribbean Literature, as a moderator of a rich panel of authors on Saturday, June 5th. Thankfully, my books were available through this conference, as well. To join within virtual platforms allows us to reach our Caribbean community worldwide. Given all the healing we're immersed in, it's fitting to bring a...s many of us together as possible NOW. The theme of the Conference, "Rebirth", provided rich opportunities to explore ways to move forward with the inherited strength from our ancestors. Let's go deeply into this. I'm so looking forward to this three-day literary conference! I'm eternally thankful for the legacy of my ancestors in Jamaica, St. Lucia, Grenada, Martinique and Barbados...We're here because of you. #CaribbeanLife See more

¡Tremenda plataforma! La educadora y artista Evelyn Serrano nos invita a reflexionar sobre las posibilidades de sanar generaciones de dolor notando las posibilidades y aceptando los retos presentados por las artes. Mil gracias por ayudarnos a ahondar en el tema. Las artes siempre vienen a nuestro rescate y elevación.

¡ESTA NOCHE A LAS 7:30 P.M.! Estén atentos para experimentar la grabación publicada de "Transformar Al Mundo Con reflexiones: El Arte Como Plataforma Para Sanar" con una educadora y artista inspiradora. Hoy 5 de febrero a las 7:30 p.m. (hora del Pacífico), Evelyn Serrano nos guiará en la detección de oportunidades para crear espacios y recursos para la curación individual y comunitaria. ¡NO SE PIERDA ESTO! ***Al hacer clic en su foto podrá leer sobre su experiencias.

El momento para transformarnos es ahora...Cerremos los ojos y abramos nuestros corazones. Haga clic en el enlace y reflexionemos juntos: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/El-momento-para-transfo

We love her! Victoria Santa Cruz! ¡Arriba, Afro-Perú!

The time for transformation is now...Close your eyes and open your heart. Let's reflect more about this...Click here:https://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-time-for-transforma

This is the kind of messaging in a parent-child relationship that promotes compassion for others and self; appreciation for others’ exquisite uniqueness and that of oneself...In short, it sets the tone for creating and sustaining balance between self-validation and validation from others. This approach promotes kindness and prevents the emergence of the narcissistic behavior that stops at nothing to fill a bottomless void.

This is the kind of brilliance that strengthens communities. Healing is in progress.

Another perspective in response to historical trauma in the medical context.

Racism & Public Health: Tuskegee to COVID-19...Let's reflect on why historical trauma influences resistance to the vaccine...

Wow. At around this time 9 years ago, I first learned about and shared this African Proverb on this page, and it’s so appropriate, given the pandemic year’s invitation into flexibility (and Los Angeles, California’s current wind storm)...To create the conditions for our goals to be realized requires flexibility. The "winds" of change in the process may pose challenges that are painful. Flexibility allows us to grow through challenges and not be broken by the winds of change.

My colleague, Dr. Kimani Norrington-Sands is presenting a timely event to promote our wellness. Please visit the link!