IAM1531 – Therapist Helps Organizations Resolve Mental Health and Wellness Issues

Dr. Shareefah is a licensed psychologist and the CEO of Your Neighborhood Clinic, a not-for-profit community mental health agency. She also is an Associate Professor at Thee Howard University. She enjoys uplifting her community and being a wife to her loving husband and mom of 4 sons!

• CEO Story: Dr. Shareefah really wanted to become a psychologist and so she did. And when she was in grad school, she streamlined into mental health aspects. She opened her clinic serving direct mental health services to mental health consumers and consultation.
• Business Service: Mental health services, training, and consultation on health and wellness.
• Secret Sauce: Getting to know the clients personally, spending some time developing a plan and initiative according to what the client wants. Personalized treatment.
• CEO Hack: Organise your morning. Clear mind, meditation, think of light refreshing thoughts.
• CEO Nugget: You don’t have to do it all, but you should know how to do it all.
• CEO Defined: Chief innovation officer. Immersed in the knowledge of the field. Allow yourself to be creative.

Website: www.yourneighborhoodclinic.org

LinkedIn: yourneighborhoodpsychologist

Instagram: yourneighborhoodpsychologist

Facebook: YourNeighborhoodPsychologist

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Transcription

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00:30 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:57 – 01:09
Gresham Harkless: Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Dr. Sharifa Auloukda of your neighborhood clinic. Dr. Sharifa, super excited to have

01:09 – 01:11
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: you so happy to be here.

01:11 – 01:38
Gresham Harkless: Yes, you on and hopefully I na as best as I could. And, hear about all the awesom do that is read a little bit more about Dr. Sharifa so I can hear about some of those awesome things. And Dr. Sharifa is a licensed psychologist and a CEO of Your Neighborhood Clinic, a not-for-profit community health community mental health agency. She is also an associate professor at Thee Howard University, HU, and she enjoys uplifting her for

01:38 – 01:39
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: her clinic, a not for health community, mental is also an

01:39 – 01:50
Gresham Harkless: associate prof University H. U. And she community and being a wif and mom of 4 sons. Dr excited to have you on th excited about all the aws doing. Are you ready to s community?

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01:50 – 01:54
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: I am definatel so much for having me.

01:54 – 02:02
Gresham Harkless: Ab let's get everything star bit more on how you got started. So I wanted to rewind the clock here a little more about what I call your CEO story.

02:02 – 02:54
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: Well, I didn't know that d envisioned to be a CEO act thought that I wanted to And then when I got to gra streamlined that into tha create a community mental I wanted to be able to work in sort of all of aspects of regarding mental health. So treatment as well as training of individuals that will work with mental health consumers. And so I wanted to be in sort of all of those aspects. And so from there, my organization, when I brainstormed of it, bra I was a graduate student peace. But when I wen were already

02:54 – 03:28
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: organizations So it became your neighbor your neighborhood clinic fold 1 providing mental direct mental health serv consumers as well as prov And so your neighborhood clinic really works in twofold. 1, providing mental health services, so direct mental health services to mental health consumers, as well as providing trainings and sort of training placement. So externships, post-docs for individuals who wanna get trained in working with urban mental health issues. And then we're also entering in the space and sort of training plac townships, post docs for want to get trained and w mental health issues. And entering in the

03:28 – 03:46
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: space of working with or other org schools, such as other promoting their own in hou So really working with or other organizations such as schools, such as other youth agencies and promoting their own in-house wellness and wellness initiatives as well.

03:46 – 04:16
Gresham Harkless: Nice. I absolutely love that and kind of the phrase that was coming to my mind is a lot of times you hear, do you teach people the fish or do you fish f it sounds like you have a the direct services, you' organizations like you ma all these organizations t people that need to have you're doing because you' direct services, you're like you mentioned schools to have or be it, the to kind of help support t

04:22 – 05:00
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: the wellness sphere as we be you have that opportun support them there. Agree and it's you know, when w sphere as well as just bu sometimes you have to as you can, right? Because health and wellness, you things are interconnected if I am an individual and work with the youth and and we're getting them pr but then they go to a school and the teachers may have their own stressors or that's not a healthy environment. Someone needs to work with those schools too. And so, it sort of is like having our hands in all of the

05:00 – 05:09
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: different things, but all of those things really are necessary for improving mental health outcomes, especially in minor and minoritized communities.

05:10 – 05:34
Gresham Harkless: Yeah, absolutely. And I almost feel like you probably can speak more to this than anybody, you know, just like, especially during the pandemic, that became more, you know, prevalent and more, you know, became more aware of those mental health things that, you know, people want to work through and how, I love that you use that word interconnected, because I think so many times we go through life, we kind of look at it as silos. And we have looked at it as silos and you say, okay, this is my work. So once I get off work, then

05:34 – 06:02
Gresham Harkless: I don't have to deal with this. But a lot of times you bring those things home to your family. Like you mentioned, the kids, sometimes if they're going through, you know, all the training and everything and you know, the teachers and the whole leadership is set up for success. Sometimes when they come home and they're in a different environment, that can still affect that. So it's so important to kind of sound like look at that holistically and have that interconnectedness that you've been able to execute on. Yes. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I know you talked through

06:02 – 06:14
Gresham Harkless: a little bit more on how you serve your clients. So I want to just double check and see if there's any other ways that you kind of, you know, work with clients, how that process goes and serve them. And what you feel maybe is your secret sauce, the thing you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique.

06:14 – 07:00
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: Oh, Well, 1 thing, well, 1 new thing, we did receive a two-year grant from ISEE to particularly promote educator wellness within local public and charter schools within DC. And so that is a new stick, right? Really getting into schools, helping them understand what their needs are in terms of their teachers, SEL, social emotional learning, what their needs are in terms of programmatic and policy initiatives that really promote for educators to feel well so they can then be the best educators that they can be and get some of the best results from their students. So That is

07:00 – 07:50
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: a new frontier for YNC. We're very excited about it. We are hoping to unveil a YouTube channel specifically for educator wellness and educator professional development around mental health and how mental health shows up in schools. So that is something new that we will hopefully be dropping November 1st. That's the rollout day. And we're very excited about it. In terms of our secret sauce, if we actually feel like we are clear about what that might be, you know, I think we, myself and the people that work with me, we are very personable so we really do like

07:50 – 08:20
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: to get to know our clients, get to know who we are working with, really spend some time developing a plan, an initiative that really aligns with what it is that they want, either in terms of the therapy room or in terms of us consulting with the organization. So if I would say what our secret sauce might be, it's personalization. Like we really do like to give personalized treatment and outreach to the organizations that we work with.

08:20 – 08:46
Gresham Harkless: Nice. I absolutely love that. Especially, you know, you congratulations first and foremost on getting that grant and that opportunity because just as you spoke, you know, about it, it creates, I think, definitely that domino effect when you are able to kind of empower the children and children. It just goes so further, not just, you know, for today and present time, as we're talking about this, but future generation after future generation because of that work. So definitely, you know, commit you on being able to do that. And so I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and

08:46 – 08:54
Gresham Harkless: I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

08:54 – 09:35
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: 1 of the things that I think makes me more effective and efficient is I organize my morning. I realize that I am a morning person. The sun is my friend. So I definitely need to organize my morning. And so that really looks like I enjoy being the first 1 up. So if my husband sets his alarm at 06:00, I'm setting my app for 5.30 because I need to be the first 1 up so I can just clear my mind, my meditation, think whatever is the light refreshing thought that I want to think that I want to

09:35 – 10:15
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: affirm if I want to journal like organizing my morning really organized my day and then that's even the case once I get into the door I like to be the first 1 in my office if I'm coming in or even working from home. So I can sit down, write my to-do list that I sort of want to accomplish that day and get myself organized in how I shape, you know, the rest of my day. I find that if I am helte I oversleep or that morni hard for me to get back o the day. So that

10:16 – 10:30
Gresham Harkless: is 1 0 awesome. Awesome. Awesome to be what I like to call a CEO nugget? So this could be a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. I like to say it might be something you would tell your favorite client or if you happened to a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

10:30 – 11:14
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: I would say you don't have to do it all, but you should know how to do it all. I think that there, you know, now you see a lot on social media, like, oh, you can pay somebody to do that. Oh, you pay, pay, you know, and it's like, you can, but as a CEO, you do want to have some knowledge of what are all of the facets of your business, because that is to me, the only way that the checks and balances can happen, right? Like, when I give my taxes to my accountant, I still

11:14 – 11:47
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: wanna be able to know how to look at it and make sure that it's adding up correctly. You know, like when I talk to a social media consultant around unveiling things, they're going to lay it out and they're going to understand it. I still want to have some kernel of knowledge that they can still communicate to me in an effective way and I can communicate to them in an effective way. So you don't need to do it all, but you need to know about all of the facets that are required for your organization.

11:47 – 12:13
Gresham Harkless: Nice, I absolutely love that. And I love that, checks and balances. A lot of times, sometimes when you look at it, you realize whether it's social media, whether it's an accountant or whoever it might be, it checks and balances aren't balancing, but you don't know that unless you know that. And it's so important that there's this kind of quote, like even though I can do it doesn't mean I should do it, but you want to know how to do it because that allows you that opportunity to create accountability. And even to I think on an even

12:13 – 12:26
Gresham Harkless: deeper level when even before you have that person that's on board, I feel like it gives you a lot of awareness of sometimes the questions that asked just to make sure that you are getting somebody who actually can execute on the things they're saying to the drill.

12:26 – 12:29
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: Correct. And it will save you money in the locker room.

12:29 – 12:37
Gresham Harkless: Money, headaches, heartache, all the things will be alleviated by just knowing a little bit more. So it's huge to be able to kind of take that extra time to

12:37 – 12:38
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: do that.

12:39 – 12:49
Gresham Harkless: Awesome, awesome, awesome. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So Dr. Sharifah, what does being a CEO mean to you?

12:49 – 13:43
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: For me, it means actually like the chief innovation officer, right? Like it means that being a CEO is, I should always be immersed in the knowledge of the field, like what is going on in terms of wellness? And then I need to allow myself the creativity, right? The space to be creative and say, well, how does YNC want to be on the edge of transform if we need to m new, you know, spark that Or do I think that this I is not gonna last and and adapt. But I need to be innovative, especially, I think,

13:43 – 14:21
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: for someone or anyone that is attempting to work with diverse communities. You know, because we are, you know, our communities are some of the communities that they always want to get to, right? But some of the problems that organizations are attempting to solve have been long-standing problems. Like these are not new problems, right? So we have to think about, well, if it's not a new problem, then maybe we need to be coming up with new solutions, right? Maybe we need to be looking at the solutions that worked in a novel way and just shifting it a

14:21 – 14:34
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: little bit in order for us to really make a dent in some of the problems that have been long standing. So I see being a CEO as being a chief innovation officer.

14:35 – 14:51
Gresham Harkless: Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Dr. Sharifa, truly appreciate that definition. And of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I want to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people can get on with you. Thought about all the awesome things you're working on.

14:51 – 15:10
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: If you are looking for a consult wellness initiatives you can find me at dr Shar as your neighborhood clin clinic dot org or dr Shar

15:12 – 15:24
Gresham Harkless: you so much. Awesome. Defe doctor Sharifah. We're go and information. The show too, so that everybody can you and you can serve. Is it just a local area? Is there any specific areas that you cannot serve?

15:24 – 16:05
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: I am licensed in DCI also have psychologists who are licensed in Virginia as well as Maryland on staff. So in terms of the DMV area, we are covered in terms of being able to provide mental health care within those areas specifically. And then again, there are some telehealth areas that we can also engage in in telehealth. In terms of consultation, in terms of working with organizations, we work internationally. We have worked with universities in South Africa. So we are good in terms of consulting with organizations regarding developing wellness initiatives.

16:05 – 16:20
Gresham Harkless: Awesome, awesome, awesome. Thank you so much for clarifying that. And then again, if you probably have any questions about the telehealth and whether you can kind of serve there, definitely the best thing to do is probably to go to the site and to reach out. So I thank you so much for making that readily accessible. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:20 – 16:21
Dr. Shareefah Aluqdah: All right. Thank you so much.

16:22 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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