Four Cats One Road Trip Zero Roaches

A new town can make you feel invisible, even when you’re surrounded by friendly faces and beautiful views. We talk with Elaine Looney, the new executive director of Black Mountain Counseling Center, about the real nuts-and-bolts of starting over: the “where do I get coffee” questions, the comfort routines that make a place feel like home, and the surprising ways a community can help you belong faster than you thought possible.

Elaine shares what it’s like stepping into nonprofit leadership while also learning Black Mountain NC for the first time. We get into what Black Mountain Counseling Center actually provides, including outpatient mental health services, accepting insurance like Medicaid and Medicare, and the heart behind their client assistance program for people who need counseling support but can’t afford standard rates. Along the way we swap stories about walkability, small-town pride, and how simply being able to park once and walk to lunch can change your daily mental health.

We also zoom out to the bigger picture: Mental Health Awareness Month, the idea behind Good Days Fest, and why mental health is more than a therapy appointment. Elaine connects her background in Hurricane Katrina relief work and disaster mental health to what recovery looks like years later, including how trauma can resurface around anniversaries and storms, and why planning for the long term matters.

If you care about community, counseling access, and practical ways to build more good days together in Western North Carolina, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s new in town, and leave a review with your favorite “how I found my people” tip.

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Transcript

Meeting Elaine And Her New Role

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Elaine Looney, hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

How are you? I'm doing great. How are you today?

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I'm good you're one of my favorite people who has moved to Black Mountain since me, because part of it is I'm always the new girl. I've only been here two and a half years. And now you're like the new girl and it's kind of fun. Oh my god. Well, I am incredibly flattered you say that. Why thank you? Because you meet all sorts of new people. I do, but you might be my I'm not allowed to have favorites, am I? I mean you could say if I had a favorite. If there was a thing of favorites. That's right, if that was a thing. That was a thing. Anyway, you're with Black Mountain Counseling Center. I am. Yes. And you're their new executive director. I knew how long?

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Three months? I started on November the 12th.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Really? Yes. That's a long time ago. Time has gone by really, really quickly in a good way. December, January, February, March, April. Five months. Yeah. So it was only off by one.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

I mean, very close. You know, I mean.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Yeah. Anyway, so I met you as soon as you got here. You were here, what, two weeks? Yeah, two weeks. Why did we meet? Somebody told us to.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Somebody told Ellen? Was actually our former interim director, Beth Russo. Exactly right. So you knew who you need to meet. Beth was a great connector. Yeah. Here's here's a person I need to meet. And we immediately went and we got coffee at the drip. I think we were there for like three hours. Three hours just talking. And it was like, oh yeah, should we talk about business or should we keep kind of just telling each other about our lives? You know, yeah. Yeah. So you moved here from New Orleans.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Party town. Party town, USA. To rock in Black Mountain. Oh, that's right. The little town that rocks. That rocks. But not the front porch. It's not called that so much anymore. Okay. Now it's it's it's a we've moved on to being the town that rocks, like the rocking chairs on the front porch. I get it. I get that.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Well, and you know, New Orleans is a very front porch. I'll just say this. It's a very front porch town. You know, it's all kind of a big, you know, front porch, sitting on front porches. So I actually kind of enjoy that. Okay. If that I don't know, you know, own it maybe. Yeah. Because there's a lot of fun things that happen on front porches: music, conversations, community.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

We can think of it that way. How many towns used to have front porches on every house and now there are none? I know. There's a book about that. Is there really? I've talked about it on this podcast. I'm not sure if I have or not. We just look into that. It's called Bowling Alone. And it talks about how Americans, like we used to sit on our front porch, you knew everything about your neighbor, you knew everything about everybody. And now we have this really cool back deck that's got a fence around it and nobody can see us. You know what? Isn't that the problem?

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Isn't that something to think about as far as community? Okay. Well, look at us. Our wheels are turning right now. I can tell.

The Real Work Of Moving

SPEAKER_00 2:59

We're changing the world. Yep. One front porch at a time. That's right. So I really wanted you to be on here like when you first got here, but you were overwhelmed with so many things and too many things to do and figure out. And so it just didn't work till now. But the reason I wanted you early was it's it's hard to be new in a new town. Doesn't matter what town it is, right? Doesn't matter whether you love it, hate it, whatever. It's hard to be new in a town. So I wanted to find out what it was like. See if you can go in your Wayback Machine. Okay. And figure out what, you know, what did you have to figure out when you got here?

A Board That Helps You Belong

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Okay. So I will say, you know, moving from New Orleans, driving 13 hours with my four cats, all that fun stuff, adventures, right? It's interesting when you're moving across the country because I'm just gonna kind of start from like the little things of like you think, you know, oh, insurance and just moving and house and all of the things. But getting here, it was, you know, it's it's finding out who's your doctor, who's your dentist, where's your what's where do you go get your quick groceries? Where's your big grocery trip? Where do you go get your wine? Let's be honest. That's the most important thing, it's kind of one of the most important things, which obviously I found the Merry Wine market very clearly. So, you know, old misconnection there too. So that was a lot of fun. Yeah. So we got to chat about that. But, you know, it's figuring out all your places that provide comfort and convenience. And also, where do you want to go eat after a long day? Or where do you want to go have lunch with somebody? Right. It's where's your favorite cup of coffee? You know, where's the pastry that you want on a Friday morning? All of those things is what you want to figure out so that you feel at home. You feel comfort, you feel part of a community. So that's what I wanted to start doing, right? And I kind of knew right off the bat I needed to start doing that fairly quickly. You know, because that's what makes you feel at home. Right. And so I was I was lucky to have some some shepherds to help me do that. That's one thing I've definitely noticed about this community. It wasn't, I'll just say this off the bat, you know, coming here, I came here to take the job as the executive director at Black Mountain Counseling Center. Where? Black Mountain Counseling Center. Just thought I'd let you say it. We are a 501c3 nonprofit. Okay. We provide outpatient mental health services. We do take insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, all types of insurance, but the heart of who we are is our client assistance program. Cap.

unknown 5:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Gotta give that plug. Okay, we got the plug-in. Okay, go back to go back to being here. Back to back to being here. That all being said, is I was really, really lucky because my board of directors, a group of 13 incredible human beings, they didn't say, okay, you're here, start the job. They really took the time to say, no, we want you to love this community and feel like it's home. I mean, they went above and beyond to make sure that I felt like I could be at home here, that this wasn't just taking a job and get to work. It was you're part of us now. That's cool. I'm gonna tell you, so I was driving up here. My parents got here before me. They were at the house. I know. They're amazing people. When you're you're a single gal, you know, my parents are dependent on, they're wonderful humans. And they got here and I got a text from my board chair Patch said, Hey, you know, we want to drop something off at the house, you know, for when you arrive. And I thought, that is so sweet.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

It's gonna be a pan of brownies, you know, it's gonna be some snacks, you know, that kind of just something was before you knew there were bears here and if they left it on your porch. Right. Yeah, that wouldn't work. But go ahead. Well, yeah. I'm still kind of the things you learn. Well, I know.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

When I of course you had to figure out the trash cans with the bear straps and stuff. Yeah. Anyway, then all being said, I thought, that is so sweet. So yeah, I told him, Oh, my parents are there, here's their number, you know, they'll be there. So I get there. I like I said, the trip was it was a trip, you know, it was uh it was a drive. Went straight through. So I get to my house, I'm exhausted, excited, but exhausted. My parents say, Yeah, they you, you know, your your board dropped you off some stuff. I thought, oh, okay, oh snap. Brownies. Yeah, brownies, right? You know, I get there and the table is just full of gifts and all sorts of things. I'm talking, Cheryl, it's ice, it's ice melt. You know, it's the thing for your car. Yes, it's gloves, it's hats, it's black mountain bingo, places to go to. I can start getting integrated in a town. It's cat toys and cat treats. It's little gift cards to places that I they had done a little survey of, oh, my likes and dislikes, you know. It was, and of course, some wine, because I mentioned that. Tea, because I'm a bit of a tea drinker, you know. It was this personalized, I mean, it was more gifts than I think I've ever gotten on any birthday in my entire life. It was just overflowing. And it was, like I said, it was personalized, it was homey, it was thoughtful. It was super thoughtful. And I just thought, I mean, I was, you know, when you're just so tired but overwhelmed, tears in my eyes from just being so overwhelmed with the kindness and already feeling community. That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Isn't that cool? That's really cool. What a and what a nice not just a nice thing to say about them, but what a cool thing to hear about about the about the board. It's about action.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

You know, it's not just, oh, we're gonna say we really want you to be part of this community. No, we're gonna do that actually.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Well, and it wasn't just action, it was like thought blah, like they put it in like how do we make her integrate into the community really fast?

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Yeah, perfect. It was really neat. And like I said, Betsy, hey, on my board, she did this Black Mountain Bingo, and it's places that I go do and explore so I can get to know the town. I want to see that. Oh, it's on my fridge. Okay, I want to see it. Take a picture. Come on over. Okay.

Weather Roads And First Surprises

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Okay, or I'll just come over. Yeah, just come over. I'll bring wine. Okay, I have a front porch, by the way. Okay. Oh, perfect. There we go. Okay, great. All right. So, what have you found that you absolutely were shocked by and haven't didn't know was here, didn't know. And don't say the people, because that's what everybody would say, because we're all great.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

I mean, yeah, yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

All fabulous. All fabulous. Um I mean, can I state something just incredibly silly and obvious, which is, you know, A, the lack of roaches was really cool for me. Okay. Because in New Orleans, they're my mortal enemy. Okay. So I'm enjoying, I'll say the spring, you know. That's why you have four cats. That's why I have yeah. I'll tell you, it's a reason to have a cat. But no bees, you know, I get all these like beautiful creatures here. But you know what? Of course I had to adjust to the weather. And you know what? The roads. I'm not used to driving on windy roads. I know you think, eh, here. But I was actually had coffee with a friend of mine. We went to graduate school together and she lives in Old Fort. Oh, how funny. I know, isn't that wild? Awesome. I know. Yeah. Just like of all the small places in the world and the whole thing, right? So really neat. But we were talking the other day about how it's still windy to us, you know, all of the things. I'm kind of used to flat and all these things. I mean New Orleans, it's actually because we're on a cr literally a crescent city, but it's all these kind of one-way streets and that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

But just know that. I've never been there.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

So now you got okay. Well, we'll go. I will tell you. Road drive. No cats. No cats, I promise. Yeah. But I don't want to do that again, trust me. Please know. But, you know, and I think just adjusting to the weather, right? So when I got here it was November, and then we had an ice storm and then a snowstorm. I've literally never driven in the snow before. So it was beautiful and magical and fun to be inside my house, you know, and experience that. But I was very nervous about driving, you know, and I probably will be for a little while. And I'm just gonna be a I'm just gonna be a chicken about it. I'm just you know, I'll get you.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Well, here's the thing. I I moved here from Georgia. Right. And we don't have snow, we have ice. That's scarier. That is super scary. The snow here is not ice generally. Yeah. We had one ice storm this year. It was pretty, pretty impressive. But that was not normal. Normally you can drive because it's crunchy. It's yeah, it's soft.

Why Walking Changes Everything

SPEAKER_01 10:36

It's soft, not flickery. So anyway. So those were some adjustments. Nothing really, I mean, the other thing too, which I think I'm always sort of amazed at, which might sound really small and maybe a little silly, but so I park it at my job, right? And then during the day, I walk to lunch. I walk to get a coffee, I walk and meet somebody. I mean, I didn't get to do that, right? And it sounds uh maybe a little simple, but I find so much joy in being able to just walk out my office in this amazing, beautiful town. I just look up. There are these mountains. You know, everyone is incredibly friendly, and I get to walk to these places, these awesome establishments who are always super friendly, super nice, very personalized. It's not touristy or hokey. It's just, hey, come on in. The water's fine. That's right, you know, and I get to go do that, you know, and it's even, ooh, I'm, you know, walking back from lunch. I'm gonna stop in here real quick and get my tea from Spice It Up or whatever it is, you know, fun. It's so neat. It's just such a, yeah, it's a real gift. It's a real gift. And I I don't take that for granted.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

I've been called a street walker more often here than ever in my entire life. Oh, not taken out of context. Always taken out of context. But not, I mean, that's not what I'm doing. Right. But wink, wink. Yes. Uh, whatever. So I have a friend and we go get coffee almost every morning, like at 6 30, 7 o'clock. And when we walk down there, most of the time it's still dark. Oh. And then we walk back, it's light. And when you come, we go to drip later because they're the only ones open at 6 30 in the morning. And so we get out, we get outside of the coffee shop and we stop in that parking lot and we do a twirl. We go, we get to live here. Oh my gosh. Isn't this cool? Isn't this the neatest? And it's beautiful. And now that the time change, and so it's brighter earlier. Yeah. It's even more beautiful. Yeah. I mean, it's like pops. And sometimes usually the 6 30, you can see the sun coming up.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

It's amazing. But anyway, but yes, walking here is huge. It's just so why would you drive? Yeah. Just like find somewhere. I just work. Somebody one of my board members. I am gonna call him out. I'm not gonna tell you who it is. But he would come to the chamber and ask me a question and blah, blah, blah. And then he'd go to see Kana, who's across the street at the Black Mountain Savings Bank. He'd get in his car and drive across the street. Oh no. I'm like, are you kidding me? It's literally, I could throw something and hit the right, right? He's like, Well, I don't want to cross the street and all that. I'm like, what is wrong with you? I mean, this town is a perfect walking place.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

It is great. It is great. And then you can just walk and you just because look to your left, look to your right. There's something neat. Somebody's doing something really great. You know, you see the beautification committee out there working so hard and just making- Well, they're not out at 6 30.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Well, good. Jimmy the trash guy is out at 6 30. Well, blessed Jimmy. And he's amazing. Yeah, we love Jimmy.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

We love Jimmy the Trash Man. Yes. Yeah. Making it all full circle.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

My other favorite thing is the Krista Ann's changes their window. I swear they do it every day. That's incredible. Every day there's new clothes in the windows.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

That's amazing. It's such pride. I know. Such pride. Yeah, everybody has such pride in in their establishment, what they're doing, how they're serving the community, and they all show up for the community. I know. Which I think is just incredible.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

I love it. Yeah. I'm a big fan. So generally on Exploring the Valley, we don't talk about events that are coming up because it the show is supposed to be evergreen. We want people to listen to it a year from now and not be like, oh, I missed out on something. But I still want you to tell us what's coming up in May.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

I would love thank you so much for allowing that. Of course. Because I'm excited. It's uh Black Mount Counseling Center. We are going to be hosting our inaugural Good Days Fest on May 23rd, 10 to 3 at Black Mountain Town Square. Good Days Fest. This year we are honoring the helpers among us. We're talking about first responders. We're talking about all the nonprofit professionals, the mental health professionals, all of the folks that have just been keeping us going and working really, really hard to do that. We're so appreciative of everybody that has. I've been so impressed. I just want to say that. And it's called Good Days Fest because we're talking the theme May is mental health month. Okay. Didn't know that. Yep. So May is mental health month. The color is green. If you want to support a color, Cheryl's making a face. Green's a good color. That's great. It's great for that. Yeah. So May is natural. May is mental health awareness month. That's why we're doing it in May. And uh the point of Good Days Fest is to have more good days together. That's the theme nationally this year's More Good Days Together. But we've just we've coined it Good Days Fest because we just want good vibes, good people, and good days together when we go. So when you go, we're going to have a food truck. Hopefully the hop is going to be coming. And we're going to have snowballs. And we're also going to have music and we're going to have demonstrations. So wellness demonstrations, some mind-body demonstrations, some yoga, some really neat things. We're also going to have vendors there. So all sorts of nonprofits or practitioners that are serving our community. So various nonprofits, hopefully all the way from honestly from Old Fort through Samuana Noah, because we're serving the valley. Right. And so it's just going to be a really fun, low-key kind of fun day for you to come out and access what mental health means for our community. Right. Because mental health matters to people in all different ways. And we also want to say, yes, Black Mountain Counseling Center, we are an outpatient mental health. However, you can access mental health in so many different ways. Or do you come and you think, okay, I just did 10 minutes of yoga and I actually feel a lot better. Good for you. That's your way to access it. If it's just sitting on the lawn and listening to awesome music play and then just soaking up the sunshine while your kid goes and plays in a kid's corner, do that. That's accessing mental health. Right. And we just want it to be a really nice day for folks and just say, hey, we're here and we really care about our community and we want to take care of you guys. All right.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

So you want me to get Chamber of Commerce weather for that day, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Yeah. Actually, I put in my order a little while ago. I think I got I think I saw it. Okay. Okay. I hope you did, you know. And I hope you got that that elaborate basket that I sent you.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

With things in it like like Black Mountain Bingo.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Yeah, Black Mountain Bingo and all the things from all the cool places. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

I did that.

Building Partnerships Across The Valley

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Very cool. So you're making the circuit now. You're you're you're speaking at different places. You were at Kiwanis when we Yeah. I think you're coming to Rotary in a couple weeks. I am. And where else have you gotten to speak? Anywhere else yet? But we need to work on that.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Yeah. I feel like we do. I and I love it. Put me in front of people to talk about what I do, why it matters, anything around mental health. Put me in front of somebody. Well, and you're so shy. I know.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

I yeah, I have a heart with it for you, but yeah, proud of you for stepping out.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Yeah. And I try, I really do. And I don't mean this casually. I have probably four or five meetings a week, whether it's just at least. Yeah, at least. You know, I mean, if I had four or five, that'd be great. Yeah, exactly. Men. That's a men. And it's great. You know, I mean, it's to me, and I I'm kind of using that whole thing where I get to say, hi, you know, my name's Elaine Looney. Yes, my last name is Looney. I run a mental health organization. Who's gonna bring it up? I know. I mean, we can't avoid it, you know. And I'm a social worker, so you know, I think mental health, it was meant to be. Right, you know, I mean, just leaning into it, right? Anyway, so you know, I get to use the thing where, yeah, I'm not only new to the organization, but hey, I'm new to town. Tell me all about it because I I know what it's like to step into a new community and just you want to listen, learn, and observe. And so I'm trying to do that. You know, tell me all about it. How can I fit in? All those kind of good things. So I'm meeting with, you know, amazing nonprofits, you know, various businesses, cool people like you. Oh, yeah. I mean, oh yeah. I mean, yeah, one of the coolest.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

We have so much fun. I mean, we are so focused on work when we get together.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

And we we we hate to laugh. We're very, very serious people. Very serious all the time. Very serious all the time. Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

What has surprised you the most about being here?

SPEAKER_01 18:49

So I will say this. People kind of ask me, what was the difference when I moved to New Orleans in 2012? I was to get my master's and, you know, had a life there for a long time. And, you know, moving there, it was kind of the thing where you kind of to prove yourself a little bit, which I which I respect, right? Like New Orleans is a very unique and incredible culture. So I get it, you know, you kind of to prove yourself, but I mean, and it took me, it was over five years before people would say, All right, all right, you you can be in New Orleanian now. Here it's a little more, oh, we're just glad you're here. Come on in. Come and come and hang out. Do you want me to tell you everything? You know, do you want to, how can we collaborate? It's super collaborative. And just saying, like being in the nonprofit world, I haven't met anybody who's not going, oh, how can we work together? Or what do you need support with? Or it's just incredibly inclusive and very community-minded. Um, so I've been really impressed and excited about that. And that's not not New Orleans, you know. Sure. But here I haven't had to, I mean, I'm still listening, learning, and proving myself. I will I will do that. I will work, I will work to prove myself for sure. I think this community deserves that. However, it has been incredibly kind of come on end. Yep. We're happy you're here. Yeah. Kid. Really neat. Kid.

Rest Time Cats And Horses

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Yeah. Cool community. All right. What do you do when you're not working or eating or walking the streets or whatever?

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Those are kind of my top three. Like I'll be perfectly honest. Those are kind of the top two three things I'm doing. I'm still, I think, kind of getting into the what do I do for fun thing? Because I haven't, I mean, you know, I love what I do. It gives me energy and it doesn't really, I mean, and I I never thought I'd be this person. I kind of want to punch my own face when I say, oh, I'm that person who doesn't always feel like work. But it doesn't, you know. So I really love it and takes up, takes up the amount of time that I want. I'm really lucky because as I do, I will say this about myself. As much as an extrovert as I am, I love my recharging time. I love it. So I know that's okay. Everybody, you know what? It's just something I've kind of figured out about myself. So I'm a good sort of over on the weekend, you know, just kind of get with the cats, watching TV, but also where I live now, I get to look outside and look at this incredible place where I live and just soak it in and kind of take some moments. I am excited. I think I'm gonna start getting back into horses. Okay. I recently went out to Heart of Horse Sense. I don't know if I can anyway, Heart of Horse Sense are an amazing nonprofit out in Marshall and they do equine assisted psychotherapy. Got to go experience one of their programs. And I was a horse girl. Yep, I'm one of those girls. Uh last name, Looney, Horse Girl. Yeah, yeah, you know, love it. Big part of my life. And I kind of think uh being here, I'm gonna get back into it. So I think that's gonna be a part of my life coming up in the next couple of years. Good. But no, I do enjoy just exploring our town a little bit. Somebody asked me recently and they said, Elaine, when are you gonna take a vacation? I said, well, not on vacation. Literally, I mean, I said, I'm not gonna go anywhere. I'm gonna just take time off and just it be in my town. Explore. Explore and just be and just look around and say, Oh, I I live here. Most people vacation here, and I'm just gonna vacation in my in my own my own town.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

It's funny how many people say that right across the table from me. Really? It's the exact same thing. You're not alone, you're not crazy. Okay, good. Just you know, I mean, it's that's not the proof.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Okay, there's other things that can prove prove the crazy.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Yeah. But it's but I do hear that from other people.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

That's really neat. And I think, doesn't that speak to it? Exactly. I mean, this isn't like I'm not a newbie in that. You know, that's a feeling felt among us all. And it's Great because I do think I'll have some visitors coming up because you never, oh, you moved to Blackout, North Carolina. Okay, yeah, I'll be coming to visit you this year. That's right. So I I'm glad I can kind of I can sit back and let people come to me and we can go play. Here's a pro tip.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Tell me all the tips. So I don't I I I truly think of Black Mountain as being an a neighbor to Asheville, but I don't think of them as the same thing. Some people do. I don't. I don't at all. I don't. Yeah. But be sure your people know that Asheville is 12 miles away. Right. People come to Asheville all the time. They're like, oh, we did this and this and this in Asheville. And they put it on Facebook and I'm like, hello. Hi. I would have met you in a gas station and given you a hug. Exactly. Why did you not call? Oh, I thought you were in Black Mountain. It's like, we're we're thrust what? Yeah. So yeah. Be sure that you know that you're really close to Asheville, but we're not Asheville. We're different. Oh yeah. But be sure they know that because a lot of people come and they don't have a clue. Plus, it might help our tourism a little if they knew a little bit more about Black Mountain, just saying that might be my job. So feel free to share.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Oh, I will do that. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I mean, as we say in the South, you know, we're just a stone's throw away. That's right. You know, and I mean, we're different. Be a little stone because I I can't throw that far. No, well, me either. I have no upper body strength. So, you know, there's that. Maybe that's something I should work on in my free time. I don't know. We'll see. Anyway, but yeah, I mean, I I mean, the good thing is we are close enough. So it's just, yeah, just fly into Asheville that I'm gonna take you over to I'm gonna take you over to Black Mountain.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

I very rarely go to Asheville. I'm going, I love to go to uh tourist games. Those are my favorite. Okay. And uh my brother lives there, so I love to go see him. Well, that's nice. And then like, you know, I very rarely go to Asheville, except for yeah, unless I have to I've got the reading sports.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Yeah, I've got the meeting things. And it's it's a lovely city. Absolutely wonderful. Uh I did go and uh, you know, I I did find the house of black cat magic. So what was that? It is a really neat black cat rescue. Also Okay, yeah. Okay. Also a little bitchy, pretty cool. But yeah, because I have three black cats, so yeah, I didn't want to black. What's the other one? It's a tuxedo cat. He's always well dressed. He's always very well dressed. Yeah, he's uh he's ready for company most of the time. Well, and we hope they come. Yeah, we I mean I really do. That's right. You know, come on in, the water's fine. You know that's what I've heard.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Yeah. That's what I've heard. What have I not asked you that I should have asked you?

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Oh gosh, Cheryl.

Katrina Relief And Disaster Mental Health

SPEAKER_00 24:54

You can ask me literally anything. Where were you before New Orleans? You said you moved to New Orleans for your master's. Where were you born? I don't know. I didn't know that. Oh, I couldn't. I just thought you were like hatched in New Orleans.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

I mean, I love that hatched in New Orleans. I mean, I feel like part of my soul was hatched in New Orleans. I mean, it'll always be a very important place to me. Um originally from Dallas, Texas. Okay. Uh went to college in San Antonio, and then in 2005, something very significant happened. I A, this is not the significant thing, but I graduated from college. That is significant in my book. I mean, made it happen, right? That happened. And then um, August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast. Cool. My mom is, yeah. My mom's originally from Mississippi, and I ended up moving to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to do relief work. Gotcha. And stayed there for seven years. Um, I actually, here's a fun fact, I I did relief work, but I also worked for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce. Oh, how funny. I know. And I actually worked there during the BP oil spills to talk about a little bit in crisis, you know, management. No, thank you. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Let's, you know. Yeah. But it was a really, I will say working at the chamber gave me kind of my business acumen and kind of it really taught me a lot. And I actually hold that time working at a chamber really dear to me. And also just the relief work that doing the Mississippi Wolf Coast. But after walking with the community for about seven years after the storm, that's when I kind of, I was about to turn 30 and I went, oh, what do I want to be when I grow up? And my grandmother was a social worker, my mom's in mental health. And Tulane also, with their social work program, has a certificate in disaster mental health. And I would kind of went, okay, well, this kind of cross-sections, professional and personal, kind of what I've been walking through, you know, and again, I was, you know, walking with the community, you know, it wasn't, you know, being humble to that experience. So that's why I ended up going to Tulane in New Orleans. And I had been to New Orleans a lot growing up. I mean, it was kind of every summer we're going to New Orleans and that kind of a thing. So it was familiar to me, but also living there is different than tourism, right? As we all know, you know, that kind of thing. So yeah, New Orleans, I will say, you know, yes, it did hatch a part of my soul, a big part of my soul. Okay. But Mississippi Gulf Coast also was kind of, I would say, you know, kind of was the start of kind of where I am now in a in a funny way. 2005 is sort of where I think it all kind of started.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

So somehow you got your job because of our disaster?

SPEAKER_01 27:16

No.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

It has nothing to do with that. Not at all. They did they know?

SPEAKER_01 27:20

I feel, I think it probably was on my resume, at least, you know, significant disaster mental health. Yeah. But that wasn't the focus. Right. You know, yeah, I know it's a good question, right? It really wasn't the focus. It was more kind of what I had done leading up to to being here. I was an executive director in New Orleans for about seven and a half years and, you know, doing very social worky things and being in mental health, all that kind of good stuff. So um, I think it was a bonus, you know. But and you know, it's it's I won't always be in disaster. No, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Exactly. Hopefully, this will end someday.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, one foot in front of the other, the time time will keep time will keep going. And people are excited to keep moving forward. Yeah, I believe. And well, you know, can't forget and always honoring what happened. I think everyone's really excited to to be a part of yeah. We're ready to move on. Yeah, is that is that what people are feeling? You know, I'm new, so I'm still learning and observing, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:18

At the visitor center, people come in all the time and they're either like, Oh, I'm from Florida, I know all about hurricanes, you don't have to tell me anything about it. I'm like, you have no idea what it was like here. Yeah, I you have no clue. Yeah. Or they come in and they go, Oh, how is the hurricane? Which, which, which And I don't want that either. I'm like, don't give me your little pity story because I I don't want to hear it. And then the other one is, tell me all about I'm like, I'm over it. I don't want to talk about it anymore. So, but I mean, but that's my job. And so that's what we do. Yeah. And it's fine. And I usually end up enjoying talking about it, even though I think I don't want to.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

It's kind of funny like that. Yeah, and everybody can have their own process, right? Right, with how they're walking through it. And everybody has a very personalized experience with it too. Yep. And I think I think they're all valid. Yes. And they're all they're all incredibly valid responses to a really big deal that happened here. And I'm very much, I don't ever want to come across, oh, you know, Mississippi Gulf Coast or Hurricane Katrina, because it's a different, it's a I guess I don't, because I wasn't here for that.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

You know what was cool was the Katrina people came and helped us. Yes. And that was cool to think. Yeah, you know, this is the same concept, it's the same skill set figuring out what to do next, how to do it. And to see them and know that someday we'll be able to go do the same thing for somebody else is really cool. It's like, okay, at some point we're gonna be able to swim out of our hole. Yeah. And be able to kind of a little light of hope. Yes. Right. Kind of the kind of the little light at the end of the tunnel. Yeah. And they weren't like let me tell you how it's gonna be. They weren't good obnoxious, they were super helpful.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

There was like they probably really felt like, let me just get to work. Yeah, let's just do this. Yeah, let's just do something. What do you need? Here's the practical thing.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Well, they were actually they actually came for the practical 10 years from now. Well, the people I talked to were the 10 years from now, this is what you need to be thinking, thinking about. They weren't helping us dig out. We had those people too. Yeah. And they were great. Yeah. But these people came and they were helping us with the 10-year, 20-year plan. And that was really cool. Isn't that that was that was interesting.

Trauma Over Time And Hope

SPEAKER_01 30:18

Yeah. I mean, yeah, it was the just the 20-year anniversary recently of Katrina. And uh, you know, that hit that hit me pretty hard, I would say. I mean, I've had I've, you know, many anniversaries, but there are certain anniversaries that just hit. Yep. And then you can't explain it. You know, it's just you just feel it and you say, okay, I'm gonna kind of let that happen and think about it. And why did that hit me? And all right then. Okay, there that is. But, you know, it's interesting too, as far as, you know, listen, I'm a mental health professional around a counseling center. I'm gonna speak to this a little bit, you know. But as far as we we think about trauma and how that affects us, many, many studies show I've, you know, that actually we start to experience it years out. You know, you're you're kind of doing the immediate right for a little while. And then all of a sudden you kind of think, whoo, wow, okay. Why do I hate it when there's a thunderstorm again? So it's interesting how we kind of see things show up. So it's interesting you mentioned the 10 to 20 years out because yeah, it's about a planning, you know, and but it's also about hope, you know. Yeah. And moving. Yeah.

Gratitude And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 31:17

Thank you so much for coming. I am really glad that you're here. I'm glad that you're here here, not just at PC Productions. Yeah, you know, not just doing this podcast. Not just sitting in non-productive. Really glad you're here. It is it is incredibly hard when you go to a new town and you're an executive director of a nonprofit, and you're supposed to do your job, but you also are like trying to have a wife and make friends. And I haven't done a whole lot of the friend part. And I felt like that happened at the drip-ledator the first time we met. And it was fun. That was really I'm really glad you're here for more reasons than we need a really good counseling center, but also it's really fun to have you here. So thank you. Thank you for coming in and thank you for coming in today.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Well, thank you for also being one of the people that really welcomed me. And for doing what you do. Basket, though. You didn't give you a cool basket. Well, you know, you can give me baskets and do that. I mean, there's there's there's basket time anytime.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Scott, counsel make me one for you.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Oh, okay then. Yeah. No, but thank you so much. And thank you for doing this. Thank you for doing what you do with the chamber. I know how critical chambers are. They're they are. They're important, you know. I'm not past experience, but I also know that you do a lot of incredible work. We're really grateful for that. But yeah, thank you for for being one of the friends that welcomed me here. You know, for thank you for being part of that community that is making me feel like I'm actually part of the community now.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

So thank you. You're staying never staying forever. Staying. All right, thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks for joining us on Exploring the Valley. Until next time, keep celebrating the pride of our community and discovering the magic of the mountains. In the meantime, you're free to move about the valley.