The Veronica Edwards Show
The Veronica Edwards Show
Transforming Mental Health: Nicole Johnson’s Story
Have you ever wondered how a winding career path can lead to true passion? Join us as we sit down with Nicole Johnson, a licensed clinical social worker whose inspiring journey took her from a first-generation college student at East Carolina University to founding her online-based private practice, Beginner's Mind. Nicole's story is one of exploration and perseverance, as she navigated through fields like nursing, sociology, psychology, and public health before discovering her calling in social work. Nicole also shares the invaluable experiences she gained working as a Certified Nurse Assistant and how these roles shaped her dedication to community mental health.
Ready to transform your approach to mental health and business? Nicole Johnson opens up about her entrepreneurial venture, Beginner's Mind, which focuses on assisting young adults with emotional and mental health challenges. Not only does Nicole provide practical tools and support, but she also inspires others to improve their financial management through her impactful presentations. Learn how the Catalyst Cohort Program fortified the foundation of her business and why differentiation is crucial in small business marketing. Nicole's dual talents as both a model and a therapist add a unique twist to her story, making this episode a must-listen for anyone looking to find their passion and stand out in their field. Connect with Nicole for additional resources at beginnersmindpllc.com and stay tuned for more insightful episodes every Wednesday on BizRadioUS.
https://beginnersmindpllc.com/
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Welcome to the Veronica Edwards show where we have fun financial conversations that everyone listening can apply to their personal and professional life. I'm your host, veronica Edwards, so excited that we're almost to the end of season three here on bizradious so it's been three years that I have been here. I want to thank the V Team, that's, the listeners that have been supporting and downloading the podcast. We have exceeded 4,000 downloads. We're actually over 200 downloads over that. So I'm super excited, going into season four, that we will be well on our way to 5,000 downloads.
Veronica :So super excited to have today's guest who is a client and friend of mine for the last year. And this young lady is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, which is also my alma mater where she obtained her bachelor's and master's in social work. And for the past six years this guest has served Asheville as a licensed clinical social worker, which we so need and so appreciate. This guest focuses on in community mental health, working with children, families, adults and groups across various settings to include schools, offices, community-based crisis services, inpatient care so many things that this guest does. So I'm so excited, without further ado, to introduce today's guest, ms Nicole Johnson.
Nicole :Hey Nicole, hey Veronica, Thank you so much.
Veronica :Thank you. So, listeners, just a little insight. I've been trying to drag Nicole on the show. I feel like since the end of like, who knows when, I feel like 2022, 23,. It's been forever. So, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for coming on. So, nicole, we always start the show asking the guests to tell us about you, where you're from and your story that led you to be a therapist. And I'm especially curious because CPAs like yourself less than 5 percent of therapists and CPAs are of color, so I know that this is not typically a field where you see people looking like you when you were growing up or even had anyone encourage you to go in this field. So I would love to hear your story, just all about you, and how you got to this point of being a licensed clinical social worker.
Nicole :Yes, so just starting off from where I'm from, I'm from Charlotte, north Carolina, and I grew up there with my brother, my mom and my father and also have some extended family there as well. And, yeah, I just have been there most of my life and, yeah, I just did a lot of different activities. I really enjoyed sports when I was living in Charlotte and growing up and also, just you know, all the activities and stuff that you can that you might do with family. And when I went off to college, I was a first generation college student, so I really didn't know what I wanted to do, and so my first university was actually East Carolina University in Greenville, north Carolina.
Veronica :Oh girl, the party school. Okay now, yes, it was.
Nicole :And so while when I first went there I thought I wanted to be a physical therapist and that's why I mentioned gymnastics, because I was a gymnast for nine years and so I thought I wanted to do that and once I got into college and started taking the introductory courses like psychology and sociology, I just became fascinated by it and shifted my major quite a bit, and it really started with sociology when I first learned that life expectancy can be determined, can be identified based on area code and that was just fascinating to me and, growing up in Charlotte, there is a decent amount of segregation just being able to see where there's differences between cultures and neighborhoods, and so that led me to shift my major.
Nicole :I think it was five times.
Veronica :Hey, you could change it 30 times. You got it right.
Nicole :You know it really helped because I didn't have a template on the options that were available and then also being in public schooling, all of these courses were not presented, so I didn't know what I didn't know, and so it went from physical therapy. Then I transitioned to nursing. So I was like, oh, I really want to help people and so then I became a CNA so that I can get one, so I can get an actual point to get into nursing school and to get into the field. But then I didn't want to approach help through the medical model, so I shifted to sociology, psychology, public health and then eventually landed on social work.
Veronica :I love that. I love how you had to get to it. You know, and those that are listening that have that are on their way to college or had they have young people in their lives, let them figure it out. I've remembered the pressure of you gotta get done in four years and if you spend more time in there you're going to have to pay for it. You know just all these things and, like most of us, when you're 18 years old, we don't know what we want to be when we grow up. And we still don't know a lot of time. I'm 42. I still don't know at times what I want to be when I grow up. So I love that you shared that. Hey, it took a couple of times. You started off at one school, you finished at another school, but once you figured it out, you had that passion to keep going.
Nicole :Exactly, exactly, and it really helped my journey to be able to see what different disciplines study why it matters to some people in terms of nursing and medical, physical, sociology, understanding structures, public health and just all the different facets of life that go within that model. And so I landed on social work at the end, and that's when I transitioned to UNC Charlotte, but throughout that time I had actually been a CNA.
Veronica :And for those that are listening, CNA, that's Certified Nurse Assistant.
Nicole :And for those that are listening CNA, that's Certified Nurse Assistant. Correct, correct, that's Certified Nurse Assistant. And so I actually did that for seven years, throughout the remainder of my education, and I started off in community CNA work. So I was going into people's homes and it was oftentimes usually low income, people of color and so to see physically how the body progressed, aged for people of color was really fascinating to me and that also linked to what I had learned in my introduction to sociology class when I first started school.
Nicole :And so, as I continued to work as a CNA and see just the unfortunate decline, physically and also the socioeconomic status of people of color as they aged, I wanted to know what it looks like when people are economically well off and what's different there, and so I transitioned into a continuing care retirement community with individuals who were, or individuals who are and were, wealthy, and so I saw a lot of differences in aging, but their life expectancy was also a lot higher than those that were people of color.
Nicole :And so for me, I was really curious about, well, what leads to differences in behavior, about, well, what leads to differences in behavior and with social work. It really compiled all the different disciplines. I had explored before, in understanding how our environment because the foundation of social work is human behavior and the social environment in understanding the momentum of history and understanding socioeconomic statuses, education, access to education, equity, inclusion, all of these different things, and so that transition me into therapy in the social work field.
Veronica :Oh, nicole, we so need you in this field and with everything that you said at looking at you know the different socioeconomic levels and location and salary, all those things. So what led you to Asheville? Was it that on the therapy side, or did you kind of fall into it?
Nicole :So I had visited Asheville once a few years prior to moving here, um, and when I graduated, I just wanted to be in a new setting, I wanted to be around more trees. Yes, you know, I just wanted to kind of just get away. Honestly, I was like if I stay, I'm just going to be with family all the time and I want to do something different. And so I applied for here in Asheville at RHA Health Services and I ended up getting the position as a school based therapist there, and I've been here ever since.
Veronica :Wow. Well, we met during the financial tool series and the Catalyst cohort program that Mountain BizWorks sponsors, and anyone that is a VT member that listens to the show. I'm always talking about Mountain BizWorks. I've been coaching and teaching with them for the last four years and just so thankful for the opportunities that they provide for small business owners, especially small business owners of color small business owners of color. So not only, nicole, are you a first generation college graduate, but also you dabbled into okay, well, now I want to start my own business, I want to have my own practice. How did you even think to do that? And then, how did you hear about Mountain BizWorks and the services that they have, nicole Johnson?
Nicole :Mm, hmm, yes, so I knew that I wanted to have my own business. Since I was young I didn't know what it was going to be. But in working in therapy and continuing to see differences across backgrounds and the outcomes, I wanted to have a space where I get to practice more with people of color, to have an understanding of some of these root causes, because that's just how my mind is. I'm like, okay, if all of these things are outcomes, if this is what we're seeing, what is the process to get here? And starting my own business allowed me to do that by being more intentional about those that I work with, because in community mental health there's less. There's less well, there's still structure, but there's also a little bit less structure. People can kind of come and go as they please and it can shift, kind of what I'm able to see over time compared to clients might be more consistent and also in terms of mental health.
Nicole :There are fewer people of color that are receiving those services, so the population that I work with most were actually those that were white compared to people of color, including Black individuals.
Veronica :And so.
Nicole :I wanted to work more with the population that I come from, and so I started my own business to do that.
Veronica :Wow, and the Catalyst Cohort Program at Mountain BizWorks is specifically a program for Black and Brown entrepreneurs. So how did you find out about that?
Nicole :So I'm a member of Black Wall Street Asheville and Jeremiah Robinson had given a presentation to Black Wall Street members, and so that's where I was first introduced to Mountain Biz Works. And then I took a foundations course at Mountain Biz Works that was offered free to those that are Black Wall Street members, and that's how I started my engagement with Mountain Biz Works. And then Black Wall Street also encouraged us to apply for the Catalyst program and I did, and that's how it kind of started.
Veronica :Wonderful. Well, shout out to Black Wall Street for bigging up Mountain Biz Works and giving those recommendations, because, just like you, Nicole, I'm like I really want to help folks in my field that look like me and that a lot of times, like you mentioned, black and brown people aren't going to therapy. A lot of black and brown people aren't financially literate. So I definitely see a lot of parallels in the path that we've gone. So of course, I have to ask anyone that I coach and Nicole is a client of mine's friend what was your first impression of me when I'm teaching this financial tools class and talking crazy to the Catalyst cohort members?
Nicole :Oh my gosh. So I thought you were vibrant, I loved your personality. It was wonderful to see an educated woman of color coming to assist and I just you just seem like you really cared and I really appreciated how you articulated finances, finances, and it made me interested and excited to learn more about business finances and not just be kind of, okay, I'm kind of doing the bare minimum, I'll keep it to myself and you know if I need help. I'm aware that there are support services and like then I'll do next steps. You know, just leave it to the side, but your presentation really helped me to just kind of jump with both feet in and to reach out to you for assistance.
Veronica :Well, I appreciate it. And one thing about my girl, nicole she's going to use all these resources, honey. You know she'll be getting grant money, you'll be getting different classes. Nicole's always like, okay, veronica, record this session, which reminds me I need to send you the last Zoom that we did, and I love that. So I love working with people like Nicole that is forever wanting to learn and understands that, okay, I have this skillset when it comes to social work, but I do need assistance when it comes to accounting and finances. And now Nicole's running her payroll. Go ahead, girl. Proud of you, very proud. So before we go, nicole, because we're almost to the end of the show, I would love for you to talk about your business. What services you provide? Are you taking new clients? We definitely want to support you, so tell us about your business.
Nicole :Yes, my business is Beginner's Mind. It's a mental health private practice. It's online based. I work with young adults, typically ages 18 to 39, but the ages can shift. But I really enjoy working with those that are just graduating high school or currently in college or just graduated from college and those that might notice differences or difficulties with their emotions or understanding some of the experiences and symptoms that they're having and wanting to have some practical tools and space to explore and have self-discovery, and so those are my ideal clients and I am currently accepting clients.
Veronica :Wonderful. So, without going into too much detail, I'm sure, nicole, there's a reason why you like that age group and I'm sure it's because you have a lot of your own personal experiences. And that's what people are looking for when they're looking for a therapist, or sometimes where there's hesitation, because for me personally, nicole recommended a therapist, a marriage therapist, relationship therapist for me and my husband. Well, one of my criteria is okay, I want a Christian person, I want an African-American person, ideally because I already and someone that's possibly been married, because they'll understand. So, with you having experiences and being in that age group that you're supporting, that's huge.
Veronica :And I feel like that particular age group gets ignored a lot of times, especially if you don't have children. It's kind of like a church, not a slam church, but sometimes we focus on the little babies and we focus on the older people, but then there's this huge age group in between that sometimes gets ignored. So I so appreciate that you have beginner's mind. That can help people, especially during that time of their life. So, nicole, I already we're to the end of the show. It wasn't that bad, was it?
Nicole :It wasn't, I was nervous, but you're a great host, so thank you.
Veronica :No, you did great, so I would love for you to plug your website. How can people get in contact with you? You mentioned that you are taking clients currently, and even if you might not fit a hundred percent of that criteria, still I always encourage people to reach out, because Nicole may be able to provide a reference for you if she's not the best fit for you.
Nicole :Yes, yes, and they can send me a message on my website and just either phone number and times that they're available and I'll get back to them.
Veronica :All right.
Nicole :And what is your website, friend? Beginnersmindpllccom.
Veronica :Wonderful, and I was checking that out before the show, nicole. I don't know why I didn't realize that you already had a site. Was this some of your services that you were able to get through the Catalyst Cohort Program?
Nicole :So I was able to maintain my business and just be encouraged to continue and get the resources to have a good foundation to grow from.
Veronica :But with your website specifically, I was just curious because it looks really good. I was like, has Nicole always had this website or I just missed it when you had? Because a lot of times therapists don't have sites. There'll be like a reference on another site and that really stood out to me. So I said go ahead, nicole, I'm very proud of you because little things like that I don't think people realize really solidifies your business, gives it credibility, kind of sets you apart. It's nice to be on social media, don't get me wrong, but we talk about that on our small biz chats where we talk about just how important it is to differentiate yourself, and you're definitely doing that. You have to check out Nicole's site First of all. She's a model yourself and you're definitely doing that. You guys have to check out Nicole's side First of all. She's a model. I'm always telling her that if this whole therapy thing does not work out, you need to be on the runway. Honey, you're gorgeous.
Veronica :Thank you, veronica, I'm always making Nicole blush, but I love you, fred. Thank you so much for coming on the show and doing the amazing work that you do, and I just want to thank the listeners for tuning in to bizradious for the Veronica Edwards show, which comes on Wednesdays across all platforms, and if you miss the live airing, you can listen to all prior shows at veronicaedwardsbuzzsproutcom.