When Anita Phillips, LCSW-C, was a child, she watched her older sister battle with her mental health. During that time, it was unclear what to do during such a crisis, as open discussions regarding mental illness didn’t take place. “When she first started struggling, there was no mental health conversation,” she says. “My parents, who were pastors, weren’t refusing to believe in mental illness and praying instead. It just wasn’t on the list of options to explain her problem.”
That experience propelled Phillips into a career as a therapist, specifically, a trauma therapist, and a significant part of her work is helping people care for their mental health while also embracing the other many parts of who they are and what their mind, body, and spirit require. That includes being spiritual beings. Phillips, in addition to being a therapist and life coach, is a minister too.
“I had big questions at the intersection of mental health and spiritual health and relational health, and that sent me into this field,” she says. “I became a trauma therapist, and so I wanted to share what I’ve spent a lifetime learning about searching for and living. I wanted to share that with people who may have big questions at a complicated intersection like I did.”
And one of the most complicated intersections for some people is balancing mental health with spiritual practices. As the story goes, Black people were at one time resistant to therapy and mental health conversations because of religion. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 97 percent of Black adults believe in a higher power, and 59 percent say religion is very important to them. However, Phillips says that while there has always been encouragement to lean on one’s faith in hard times, Black people weren’t truly resistant to psychology when needed.
“Black people have known that healthcare has not always been a trustworthy, safe place for us, and that would include mental healthcare as well,” she says. “For a long time, the field of psychology stigmatized people of color and their culture and worldview, and psychology, in general, for a long time stigmatized religion. And so that put Black people in double jeopardy because not only are we people of color with a different cultural perspective, but we’re also more devoted to faith. And so it wasn’t really our fault.”
Phillips adds, “We were wisely protecting ourselves against a field that wasn’t for us. And so now that the field of psychology has expanded in cultural competence and embracing faith, and there are more Black people who are mental health professionals, we are taking a responsibility to translate the language of the mental health field into the language of our people, into the language of our faith. And we see it changing. So I reject the idea that Black people have stigmatized it, or we just wanted to pray about it. I hear that, but I really feel like it was more than that. I feel like a field that necessarily wasn’t out to make us safe is now working harder to do so.”
As more people seek out therapists alongside their favorite virtual sermons, Phillips encourages us to dive into everything we need to feel our best. She released a work called The Garden Within: Where the War With Your Emotions Ends and Your Most Powerful Life Begins to help people acknowledge their emotions and do the work necessary—whether that’s a physical practice like engaging with a running group, reading their bible, or unloading in a therapy session—to have optimal wellness.
“My encouragement is to do all the things. All the things,” she says. “A lot of times, we try to decide where the problem is and then only respond there. So we think the problem is spiritual. Then we amp up our spiritual practices. If we think it’s physical, then we want to either look at medication or get some exercise. When it comes to our well-being, I want us to have a holistic approach.”
“So go to church on Sunday, go for a run on Sunday night, eat well during the week, and go see a mental health therapist,” she continues. “When’s the last time you had a physical? Do all the things. It’s not just one. We are gardens. I love my gardens. And in a garden, you have to have good seeds, good soil, light, and water. Everything’s happening in a system. And I want people to not think of themselves in parts. My spirit is over here, my mind is over there. We are a system. And so take care of every part by doing all the things. Your well-being as a whole is what matters the most.”
Phillips adds, “The garden is a broad place, and I want people embracing their whole life, their whole set of experiences, their whole present, their whole past, their whole future, and making sure they have a healthy relationship with pain so that they can get the most joy out of life.”