Today, we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Terri Griffith.
Hi Dr. Griffith, we are so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve always known that I wanted to be a change agent for individuals with mental health difficulties, as well as help decrease the overall stigma around mental illness. Both my parents are nurses and provided my initial examples of what it looked like to provide quality care within the healthcare system. My father is a psychiatric nurse, and he was my first example of what competent, empathic, and ethical care within mental health looked like.
He and I worked in the same psychiatric unit in a hospital in New York, and I witnessed the gaps in the therapeutic interventions offered to patients. At the time, I was just starting college and knew that I wanted to become a psychologist to further my efforts within the field. Fast forward to the next ten years, and I went on to complete my Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) degrees. After completing school, I looked into post-doctoral fellowships so that I could hone in on a specialty. I happened to find one for eating disorders, applied, and then started my journey as an eating disorder specialist.
I’ve now specialized in treating individuals with eating disorders at all levels of care (inpatient, residential, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient) for the past six years. My journey inspired me to create a platform to further the efforts towards decreasing the stigma around mental health & wellness, which is what led me to create the Chat with Dr. Terri podcast, available on all podcast platforms.
As a first-generation Guyanese American woman, my goal has always been to provide representation of quality and competent care so that people who look like me gain the courage to seek treatment for their mental health needs.
We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
This journey has not been a smooth road at all. It’s been pretty difficult, to say the least. Deciding that this was my life’s mission was the easiest part. However, I could have never anticipated the complexities and difficulties that my doctoral journey would bring. 2% of individuals hold a doctoral level degree, and there’s a smaller subset that is women, then an even smaller percentage being Black women.
As such, I experienced tons of imposter syndrome while in my academic program. There are also so many hurdles that you have to navigate from the dissertation process to post-graduation, to licensure, to finding your “fit” in the field, marketing and branding yourself, trying out various career paths and business ideas to maximize your income, etc. It’s been a journey, but a well-worth one.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar with what you do, what can you tell them about what you do?
Professional/Creative: My professional life and creative life somewhat go hand in hand.
Professionally, I work at one of the largest psychiatric hospitals in the country, providing individual and group therapy to individuals in inpatient and residential levels of care, in addition to providing leadership, program development, and facilitating outreach/marketing initiatives.
Creatively, my goal is always to provide digestible education and mental health support that furthers the efforts towards decreasing stigma. I primarily do that through my podcast platform, as well as interviews with media outlets via television, radio, magazines, and newspapers.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
Via my #ChatWithDrTerri brand found on all podcast platforms and on Instagram: @chatwithdrterri. I’d love to collaborate with others to further discussions on mental health and wellness in an effort to continue decreasing stigma via all forms of media.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @chatwithdrterri
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/drterrigriffith
- Other: https://podcaster.spotify.com/pod/show/chatwithdrterri
Image Credits
Darryl Walker
