The Whole Five-Fifths: Recent Episodes
Leah Turner
This podcast is about transcending racism through healing. Join this journey with your host, Leah Turner, a biracial woman who identifies as Black -- descended from passengers of slave ships and the Mayflower; a former attorney turned trauma-informed acupuncturist. Leah and her guests discuss healing from the painful effects of racism and offer practical strategies for reclaiming our wholeness. The Whole Five-Fifths podcast is our generation's response to the Three-Fifths Compromise of centuries past. It is a reclamation of our collective human dignity. This podcast is for anyone who is ready to heal from racialized trauma and step into the truth of who we truly are: We are Whole. We are One. We ARE Five-Fifths. New episodes drop on Mondays. More details at https://www.wholefivefifths.com. Become a podcast patron https://www.patreon.com/wholefivefifths?fan_landing=true
The Whole Five-Fifths Podcast is pressing the pause button.
Season One is wrapping up and we are taking a moment to catch our breath... So now you can get caught up!
Expect another bonus episode before we publish EP 014 -- Episode 1 of Season Two!!
In this episode, we come full spiral to a place similar to where we began this season. Our guest and host acknowledge the enduring impact of slavery (and its aftermath) on generations of people, and continue along the journey toward reclaiming wholeness. How can we heal from the past and present wounds inflicted by structural racism? What else is possible when it comes to healing?
Meet Dr. Jameta Nicole Barlow, an esteemed writing professor with an advanced degree in public health. She's been researching and writing about the effects that racism, capitalism, and other oppressive systems have had on Black people in the United States and around the world. She created writehealing as a creative approach to resolving trauma. Dr. Barlow is also a doula, a yogi, and a healer with a mission to remind us all that we belong and, therefore, we are worthy of healing for ourselves and on behalf of the Seven Generations.
Dr. Barlow is currently serving as an assistant professor of writing at The George Washington University. She holds a PhD in psychology from North Carolina State University and a MPH in maternal and child health from GW. She completed her undergraduate education at Spelman College. Connect with Dr. Barlow via her website, JametaBarlow.com.
Our last guest offered us some insight into her experience as a transracial adoptee. This week, we continue our exploration into this realm. In a society designed to ensure that people of color feel "othered," what do prospective parents need to know when considering adopting a child of a race or culture different from their own?
Enter our next guest, Delois Pearsall, LMSW, a professional adoption counselor who specializes in transracial and transcultural adoption. Delois lets us in on what happens behind the scenes when family members of different races merge. She stresses the importance of helping adopted children cultivate a strong sense of personal identity, while supporting the adoptive parents in their capacity to hold the space the children need to thrive.
Through her work at Adoptions Together, Inc., Delois provides psycho-educational and attachment based therapy to families who are considering adopting children placed with the Baltimore City Department of Social Services. She provides transracial and transcultural adoption training to prospective parents, and she co-facilitates support groups for children and parents who are impacted by transracial and/or transcultural adoption. Delois earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Maryland.
The road ahead on our journey continues to take twists and turns, leading us to unexpected places. Meet Chrystina Gilgeous, MS, L.Ac, M.Ac, a Black woman, raised by a loving white family, mostly in small towns populated by mostly white people. How did the construct of race impact her? How did she make sense of her Blackness without mirrors? And without "armor" as she describes in this episode.
In spite of her arduous childhood as a Transracial Adoptee, or perhaps because of the way she grew up, Chrystina's compassion and empathy for others blossomed into a career path that includes many forms of healing modalities. Her perpetual curiosity about life and fellow humans has opened her up to a lifetime of learning and seeking. Listen to her stories and be reminded that everything in life is not as it appears on the surface.
Chrystina Gilgeous is currently serving as a health professional versed in Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, creative wellness programs, wellness coaching, preventative care, stress management and health education with a focus on delivering culturally competent health and wellness programs to minority and underserved populations. She holds a Master of Acupuncture and certificate in Chinese Herbal Medicine from the Maryland Institute of Integrative Health. She also earned a B.A. and M.S. from The American University.
Simone Pollard, MBA, is the Founder of The Stretch Room, an interactive, online, instructor-led experience that helps participants reap the benefits that come with regularly stretching the body.
At this stop along our healing journey, Simone is here to remind us that we all have the right to take up space and stretch into places not originally designed for BIPOC. We discuss navigating the landscape of micro-aggressions, and taking our seat at the table. Simone shares her stories of often finding herself to be the only Black woman in her field and how her very existence in some spaces is an act of resistance.
In addition to running The Stretch Room, Simone is a consultant with The Pollard Collective. She is a strategist and a problem solver who collaborates with executives, institutional leaders, program/product managers, and marketers globally to evaluate products/programs and position them for success. She is also a classically trained dancer and a wellness enthusiast. Simone earned her MBA from The University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Virginia.
We resume the journey with Tiffany Green, Executive Coach and Psychotherapist, who has made it her mission to help women prevent themselves from experiencing burnout. In this highly informative episode, Tiffany outlines the warning signs of burnout in ourselves and how we can identify the conditions that can lead to burnout in the workplace. We discuss how and why women of color are more likely to experience burnout than their white counterparts.
Tiffany works with high achieving, goal-oriented women and notices common patterns in her clients that, if left unchecked, can result in unnecessary suffering on all levels -- mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. Tiffany, along with her business partner, has developed the She Thrives Master Program, a leadership coaching program that utilizes proven strategies and techniques to help women thrive personally and professionally. The program provides tools, insights, and resources that allow women to have fulfilling careers without sacrificing their personal lives. You can take the online assessment to determine if your job and lifestyle are putting your wellbeing at risk.
Tiffany Green, LPC, MAPC, MDiv, MBA, is the Founder and Co-CEO of She Leads Academy. She earned master's degrees in both pastoral counseling and divinity from Loyola University Chicago, as well as an MBA and a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri- Columbia.
Another pit stop before we set sail again on our journey toward reclaiming our wholeness. In this special bonus episode, your host, Leah, shares her reflections on episodes 007 and 008 "Meet the Parents."
As one of Leah's teachers used to say, "our lives are personal, not private." Yes, we all have stories that are personal and shape us into who we are. AND, our lives are inextricably intertwined. What affects the parts affects the whole. Listen to this episode and get a sense of how this healing journey is impacting your host. Join her as she comes to a new understanding of how she's relating to same questions she's asking of her guests.
Ultimately, it comes down to this: How can we, individually and collectively, transcend racism through healing?
This time, we make the second of two pitstops along our journey and visit with Leah's dad. In contrast with the way her mom was raised, Leah's dad grew up in urban areas and went to all-Black schools. Find out what it was like for him to experience segregation and how he faired when times began to change.
This episode will help you learn a little more about the host through the eyes of her father. Hear his perspective on the differences between living in Washington, D.C. versus the South. Find out his version of the story about how he met Leah's mom. And listen as Leah challenges her dad's views on "Black Supremacy."
We make the first of two pitstops along our journey to visit with Leah's parents. This time, we meet Leah's mom, who shares her personal story of growing up in an affluent, all-white suburb of Washington, D.C. with limited contact with people of color. Learn how she ventured away from the influences of a racist father and eventually married outside of her race.
This episode will help you learn a little more about the host through the eyes of the woman who raised her. It also provides one octogenarian's account of her experience of the changing landscape of race relations throughout her lifetime.
In this episode we meet another practitioner of holistic healing, Dr. Rachelle Dixon. Through this guest, we make our way to Latvia, via Tennessee. (Right about now is when you say, ' hold up... say what?')
Yes, that's right, Dr. Rachelle was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. We learn that she is a professionally trained dancer and the daughter of talented musicians -- an African-American father and a mother who immigrated to the United States after escaping from Latvia after World War II. Through the fiercely tenacious spirit of her ancestors, she learned how living a good life is a form of resisting oppression. This is a world view and a life practice that she passes along to her patients and others with whom she shares her deep wisdom.
Rachelle’s specialties include working with sexual, gender, and racial minority populations in addition to providing trauma-informed care. Rachelle holds a Master of Acupuncture and Doctorate of Oriental Medicine, as well as a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Western herbs from the Maryland University of Integrative Health. Rachelle has also been trained by Yvonne Henderson in Usui-Tibetan style Reiki, and is a graduate of her rigorous Goddess School Priestess training program. You can learn more about her on Rachelle on her Amazon Grove website.
Listen to this episode to the end to hear more from your host, Leah, as she opens up about her own ancestral connections. Find out where Leah and Rachelle's treatment philosophies intersect as they vibe on what healing and holistic health means to them.
Next stop... Barcelona, Spain! Sometimes we can show folks better than we can tell them. Today's guest shows us how she makes her dreams and ideas come to life with her time-tested manifestation plan. Sure, life is full of challenges and set-backs, especially for BIPOC... AND, no matter our circumstances, we have some degree of choice in how we show up in this life.
Meet Monica McCollin, a Creative Wellness Professional whose passion is helping people live into the most authentic expression of themselves -- and she leads by example, teaching others to thrive using what she calls The Momo Method. Monica is a registered yoga teacher, a licensed dietician-nutritionist, and a certified nutrition specialist. She holds a Master of Science degree in Herbal Medicine from the Maryland University of Integrative Health and a B.A. in psychology from The George Washington University in Washington, DC.
In addition to running her holistic wellness practice, Monica is helping to assemble a symposium for EDRDPro, a web-based eating disorder training platform for professionals around the world. Proceeds for the event will go to The World Without Exploitation.
This is our story. This is our song... Cruising along on our healing journey, we meet The Reverend Cheryl Ann Jones (but we can call her Cheryl), who greets us with a warm smile and a soothing melody. Cheryl reminds us that we can be optimistic about the journey back to the truth of our wholeness. She teaches us that music and song can be a powerful elixir along the way.
Reverend Jones serves as the Program Manager for (and founder of) the Spirituality and the Arts Program in Chaplain Service at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, DC. She holds a bachelor's in Music Therapy from the University of Kansas, and a Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. Cheryl skillfully combines her training as a musician with her work as a chaplain. She is also an incredibly talented jazz vocalist.
We are not a monolith. Black culture is multifaceted. While the dominant culture seeks to contain us inside of one box, how we move inside these bodies cannot be over-simplified. Even within our own families, there are infinite ways in which we experience life.
In this episode, we come to an intersection. Meet Nancy SantaCruz Monroe and hear her story. A native of Washington, D.C, Nancy is a black woman, born to Cuban parents. Listen as she shares some of the challenges she's experienced being Afro-Latina in the United States, and learn how she celebrates her identity and the cultures to which she's connected. Standing firmly in her cuban roots, with its rich music and cultural depth, Nancy gracefully navigates being Black while loving herself, in a culture where that love is not always reflected back.
In this leg of our journey, Dr. Pamela Birchett-Street, Yoruba priestess and mind-body medicine practitioner, challenges us to tell stories that will nourish our spirit and move us beyond our current circumstances. Historically, Black and Brown people in the U.S. have been given many reasons to mistrust our health care system, including medical racism, cruel experimentation on our bodies, and higher mortality rates than our white counterparts. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, as we find ourselves on the precipice of a resolution in the form of a vaccine, Dr. Pam wants us to remember our individual and collective power to change the course of history. Could this global health crisis actually be offering us a way forward? What new story can we write as we move along this path to remembering our wholeness?
Pamela Birchett-Street, PhD, MSW, LICSW, has a doctorate in mind-body medicine from Saybrook University Center for Integrative Medicine and Health Sciences, and a master of social work in healthcare systems from Rutgers University, where she also earned a bachelor of arts in psychology and research.
Resource: In this episode, we discuss and recommend this article -- https://www.propublica.org/article/how-covid-19-hollowed-out-a-generation-of-young-black-men
A special episode to help you get to know me, your host, Leah Turner. I sit down with my producer, Kurtis Cross, to answer questions that many of you have been wondering about: "Who is this person I'm listening to?" -- "What's her "why" for hosting this podcast?" -- And "why should I listen to her or her guests?"
Take 20 minutes to get up to speed on how this podcast got started and learn a little about who's navigating the journey. Fasten your seatbelts... Here we go!
In this inaugural episode, we meet Dr. Gabrielle Julien-Molineaux, a healer and higher education professional, and a dear friend of mine. Join us as we embark on our journey toward reclaiming our wholeness with Gabrielle as our guide. We visit Trinidad, explore the campus of Howard University (You Know!), and learn that navigating the terrain of race and identity is a bumpy ride, no matter where in the world we find ourselves traveling. Gabrielle teaches us about setting boundaries as a form of self-care and offers other wellness tips for our voyage ahead. We also learn about the benefits of Reiki and the importance of incorporating healing practices into our daily lives.
Dr. Julien-Molineaux earned her Doctorate in Education from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She holds a master's degree in communications from Howard University, where she also completed her undergraduate studies. Gabrielle is a Master Reiki practitioner and teacher.
With 2020 drawing to a close, it's time to get to the work of healing. This year, with its global pandemic and uprisings for justice all over the world, many were shaken awake to a new awareness of what must be done to right the deep-seated wrongs of our history. Structural racism still infects our systems and must be dismantled -- let us not go back to sleep. In the aftermath of our collective pain and losses, 2020 has proven to us all that we can endure hardships and persevere, just as our ancestors did before us. And now, it is time to mend and recover. Now is the time to reclaim our wholeness. Now is the time to heal.
Join your host, Leah Turner, as she embarks on a mission to facilitate a cultural shift through healing. In this new podcast, which will debut in January 2021, Leah will seek to uplift BIPOC voices, so that we can all listen deeply and draw on our collective wisdom to get to the truth: We are Whole. We are One. We are Five-Fifths.
Welcome to the Whole Five-Fifths Podcast.
Resource: In this trailer episode, we mention and recommend the following article: https://arrow-journal.org/why-people-of-color-need-spaces-without-white-people/