W/Shantice Wright, MSW, MPA on Promoting Intersectional Feminist Human Rights through Holistic Healing

Your body keeps score long after your shift ends and sometimes it forces you to listen. I’m joined by Shantice Wright, a Trenton raised social worker, quality assurance analyst, doctoral candidate in social work and human rights leadership, and the founder of Wright Holistic Realms LLC, to talk about what it really costs to stay on autopilot in high stress helping professions. Shantice shares the moment her “big girl job” in child welfare collided with a life threatening spinal infection, months of recovery, and the shock of having to relearn how to walk. From there, we unpack the everyday patterns so many of us normalize: not sleeping, not drinking water, eating whatever is fastest, never doing anything fun, and feeling unable to say no because of power dynamics, people pleasing, or fear of looking incompetent. We connect burnout, compassion fatigue, and nervous system overload to the ethical reality that we cannot provide safe, high quality care when we are depleted.

We also zoom out to the system. Shantice explains how her capstone links intersectionality, child welfare leadership, and human rights, including why representation matters, how racial disproportionalities intensify stress for staff and families, and why she advocates for cultural humility rather than “cultural competence.” Finally, she walks through holistic wellness practices she uses and teaches, plus what you can find through her business, including mentorship and community resources designed to help helpers thrive. If this conversation helps, subscribe, share it with a colleague who’s carrying too much, and leave a review with one boundary you’re committing to this week.

Book List: (just for fun) Hidden Pictures-Jason Rekulak; None Of This Is True-Lisa Jewell; The Only One Left-Riley Sager; Razorblade Tears- S.A. Cosby; That’s Not My Name-Megan Lally.

How to reach Shantice:

Website: www.wrightholisticrealmsllc.org

Email: connecthere@wrightholisticrealmsllc.org

YouTube: @wrightholisticrealmsllc

Instagram: @wrightholisticrealmsllc

FaceBook: wrightholisticrealmsllc

Tiktok: @wrightholisticrealmsllc

X: @wrighthrllc

-----------

Special thanks:

We could not have got started without Ellen and her fabulous branding and photos. If you need a photographer or graphic designer, esnapsone@gmail.com

Johnny Peacock Music for the music. Looking for a custom sound? Reach out to Johnny.  johnnypeacockmusic@gmail.com 

My cousin Gab for sharing your expertise. The best resource and expert to help pull this together. For any podcast assistance, contact gabdac@gmail.com 

Monmouth University: School of Social Work; Department of Communication (WXCM 88.9FM); and the Department of Psychology for all your support. Go Hawks

My capstone committee, and my fabulous professors and mentors, for pushing me past my comfort zone

“Team B” for supporting this…so honored to know you all

Special thanks to my children, just because <3

humanUpNJ

Transcript

Donna 0:02

So... I am so excited because we're coming up on the last two days of social work month, which happens in March of

Social Work Month And Welcome

Donna 0:11

every year. So if you know a social worker, please thank a social worker. And to all my lovely social workers out there, thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do for everybody. Um, and for keeping humanness in practice. So we are here today, again, parked with purpose and driven to inspire. Human rights is fuel the conversation. Isn't that why we're here? We're here to make a difference in somebody's life. So I hope you had a great weekend. And it's a I hope you're enjoying this beautiful day. And I would love, love, love to introduce our guest tonight. Our guest in the driveway in this pre-recorded episode is Shantice Wright. And Shantice Wright

Meet Shantice Wright And Her Work

Donna 1:03

is born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey. She is so proud of being born and raised in Trenton and loves Trenton, New Jersey. And she has done so much good. She is currently working as a quality assurance analyst with the government. And in this role, Shantice helps to streamline all organizational performances so outcomes can be improved for our service users. She uses a combination of engagement, collaboration, and data visualization techniques. But for the last decade, Shantice has been uh working as a social worker within the child welfare and criminal justice settings, servicing individuals facing permanency, penal, domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health challenges. And she's previously facilitated group therapy sessions, including topics related to domestic violence, smoking secession, life skills, and job readiness. And she served as a wellness ambassador on a group initiative to aid in promoting positive work environments, job satisfaction, and self-care for fellow co-workers. Shantice holds a master's in social work and a master's in public administration. And on top of all that, Shantice is currently a DSW candidate pursuing a degree on Team B with me in social work, human rights leadership. And outside of all of this, Shantice is an adjunct professor. She's a business owner, a dog mom, and she really enjoys spending time with her loved ones. She is here in the driveway in this pre-recorded episode to share with us about her business and how she is integrating social work and holistic health practices so she can heal the healers. And her company's name is Right Holistic Realms LLC. And just as a final note, because Shantice has not impressed me enough with all her side gigs, Shantise loves family so much that she spends about 24-7 with one of her newest family members because she is going to be a new mom in September. Yay! Can't wait to meet the baby. I'm gonna be an auntie along with the other 11 of us that are in the cohort. Anyway, so I'm gonna get started. Let's get Shantice back in the driveway. And I hope you appreciate and love the episode, and we'll be back. And let's give Chanties a warm welcome. Welcome to the driveway, Shantise.

Shantice 4:13

Thank you for having me.

Donna 4:15

Thank you so much for being here.

Shantice 4:18

I am so excited. I'm so proud of you and what you've been doing. And I could not be more appreciative of being in the driveway with you.

Donna 4:28

I am so excited to have you here. This is like given our climate right now, this is like the perfect time for you to come on and speak to your whole business, your whole capstone, all of us, because I think we all need wellness right now. I think this is a perfect time. It's not just for healing the healers, I think it's just for everyone at this point. The world is pretty heavy.

Shantice 4:59

Absolutely, and you're right, it isn't about just the healers, it's about everybody involved because at the end of the day, we are all humans and we all deserve to thrive. So you're so right about that.

Donna 5:14

A hundred percent. So, can you tell us what made you interested in this topic or what your journey was like to get here?

Burnout Hits With A Life Threatening Illness

Shantice 5:25

Okay, so I'll start from the beginning. Um, it's actually a very personal story, uh, and I feel like my God has aligned me to do this work based on what happened to me. So um about seven or so years ago, I started, you know, I finished MSW school at Monmouth, and I was doing therapy um in a halfway house. I was doing a lot of different things, trying just trying to figure out what setting I wanted to work in. So I was in a prison at one point, at the women's prison, doing social work there. I did program counseling at a re-entry center, and then I stumbled upon child welfare. Uh, so I started working for a state government agency. It was my first big girl job, but it was an intense job uh doing investigations, investigating uh allegations of abuse and neglect, case management, court appearances, uh home visits, any time of the day. It was it's not a nine-to-five job. So a lot of work out in the community and a lot of documentation to support that work. So long hours, uh sleepless nights, and it all caught up to me eventually. I was on autopilot and I was a year in. No, I wasn't even a year in. I was like maybe eight months into my big girl job in child welfare.

Donna 7:00

Wow. And you were already working that hard?

Shantice 7:02

Yes, already had a full caseload, uh, plenty of families to see, plenty of notes to type, and it all caught up with me. So I ended up in the hospital for the summer. I had to go out on leave. It was the summertime, it was a wonderful, you know, the best time of year. Supposed to be outside, enjoying the sunlight, having

Donna 7:25

a new graduate, right

Donna 7:26 Shantice 7:27

Yes, yes, celebrating. I had a few vacations planned that summer. I had a wedding to attend that summer, ended up missing all of it. I had a life-threatening spinal infection, and it had all built up over time. The abscess had built up over months just from stress, low immune system, just not taking care of myself, just working on autopilot and not putting myself first. So after I started recovering, um, thankfully, I was able to walk again because I had lost mobility for a while from that because the back infection was in my lower, the lower part of my spine. So I had to teach myself how to walk again, had to go on heavy antibiotics. The recovery was up to four months total.

Donna 8:22

Oh, wow!!

Shantice 8:24

Um, so it was a very stressful, scary time in my life, and I had to do a lot of soul searching, and I had to tell myself, listen, you cannot work yourself to death. You will not be able to be the social worker you want to be and the change you want to be if you are not here and if you are not well. So that was, I had to learn that the hard way. And I told myself, I want to help other practitioners not have to learn the hard way. I want to teach them how to take care of themselves, put themselves first, and recognize that self-care is important before you can even begin to try to help somebody else.

Donna 9:04

WOW!

Shantice 9:05

So I recovered from that fully and I went on to pursue my master's in public administration because I felt like I was on a clinical track during MSW school because I wanted to be a therapist initially, but then I realized no, I might want to be interested in management one day. Or doing both, having my own business, and I wanted the knowledge across the board. So I went back, pursued a master's in public administration, graduated. This was like three years after that whole back debacle. Uh, and I decided I wasn't done yet. I just felt like I wasn't done yet. I wanted to, I had a feeling that I wanted to teach one day. Because I wanted to teach young social workers coming in. Um learn that from the beginning because I feel like I didn't learn that right away during MSW school. I had to learn by experience. So that's when I decided to pursue a doctorate in human rights leadership because I felt like that would give me the tools and the education that I needed to teach at the college level and also to connect with other professionals who who feel the same way I feel, same outlet as me. And then human rights is important because one of the uh Article 23 is something that my research is based off of, and that's the right to have a positive work environment and to be able to thrive in the work, like within the work environment as an employee, as a professional, as a human. So that is the main article that has driven my research as a doctoral candidate. Um, and human rights are important. Everybody has the right to thrive, like I said earlier. Everybody has the right to have safety, to be healthy, to experience vitality in a positive way. And we should not have to fight for that as humans. That that should be now we have to do the work a little bit. We do have to do the um do the work and being mindful and taking care of ourselves. Um, but the baseline should not be stress and high cortisol levels. So I just want to spread that information to as many people, definitely as many practitioners and social workers and firefighters, nurses, all of the helping professionals who have high stress jobs just to fill their cups before they go to pour into someone else's cup. Because I don't want anybody to experience what I experienced so early on in my career as a social worker.

Donna 11:52

Right. And you must have been so frightened at that time. Like again, here you are on the cusp of your new career. You have this job that you

The Autopilot Habits That Broke Health

Donna 12:03

love, you're helping the kiddos, you're helping families, and suddenly, like, you weren't able to walk.

Shantice 12:11

No.

Donna 12:12

How was that feeling for you?

Shantice 12:14

It was frightening. So it literally happened so fast, like my health declined within three weeks. I went from, oh, my back really hurts. Like, let me go lay down to let me maybe take a pain pill, let me go see the doctor. And they're like, Oh, you have herniated discs. And then, like, a couple more weeks went by, and I'm like, no, this is not a herniated disc because now I can't walk. Now I can't move from the floor. Now I'm having pain just by rolling over. Um, and I started losing like functioning um in the lower area, and that was like an alarm that went off, and that was like, no, you need to go to the ER. And that's when they saw the abscess and they figured it out. Thank God for for the medical professionals who were there because it took a while for them that that was like my third hospital visit within weeks, um, until they got down to the bottom of it. So it it was it was very scary. I was young, I was like 24. I don't even think I was 25 yet. It happened a few months before my 25th birthday. And I was young, you know, working, getting my big girl checks. I, you know, I was feeling good. I was feeling like this is what I went to school for. This is I'm doing the work now, I'm doing it well, I'm liking it. And then that that happens and it's it's frightening. It was very scary. I was so thankful when I got to the other side. Serious. Absolutely, and it was traumatic too. Yes, so now I'm living with that trauma. I'm still dealing with trauma from that, and that's still the main birdie in my ear when I'm doing this work. Like, remember where you were, remember why you started this, right?

Donna 14:06

So there's a thing, um, even uh Jung talks about it, like the healed healer, right? Like we take our own wounds and our own life experiences, and then we could go out and help others utilizing that as a foundation.

Shantice 14:23

Absolutely.

Donna 14:23

So I love that you're doing that, and I also love that you're here because you're just an amazing person, and you know, like meeting you on Team B has been one of the highlights of our time together. Like you're just an amazing person. Thank you.

Donna 14:41

Oh my gosh, I I love I love listening to you, and I can do that all day. Um, before we go into like like your research, I just have to ask you, because as a as a teacher myself, I realized that sometimes our students don't have that practical information, like those skills, life taking care of yourself, unless you're in an airplane, right? And you hear you have to put your oxygen mask on. And I think for a short time there it became a cliche, but it really is very important. You have detailed out everything that I try to teach my students. Like you study all these years, you finally get out, you're really excited, you're working in the field that you want, you have really intense caseloads, you're kind of running all over because you're excited that you're finally out there. And then like this crash happens. So I have two questions about that. One, can you give us an idea of where your caseload was when you first started? And then two, what weren't you doing? We know you were working a lot, but what were the things that you weren't doing yet?

Shantice 15:49

Okay, so when I first started, I didn't have a caseload. I was uh doing heavy training, in-person training, online trainings. So I would say for about the first four months or so, I didn't have a caseload. And then I slowly started receiving cases over time. Um, by the time I got to that eighth month, I was at seven. I was at seven cases. But seven cases trainees, trainees are not supposed to have that many cases. So a full case load is 11 cases, or used to be it, it's changed over the last year, like few years. Um, but at the time, I had some cases that were high risk, higher risk that wouldn't normally be given to trainees. But due to the job turnover rates and you know, the understaffed, which is a huge problem in social work and child welfare in general, uh we had to get the cases we had to get, and we had to do the work. And I was in like a probationary period, so it's like I'm not gonna turn down the cases or or say like this is too much for me, which is something I learned that I can do now, that that people should know they are allowed to say in a work environment, in a working environment, this is too much for me, or hey, I need help, hey, I need assistance. That's something that that can be done, but a lot of people are apprehensive about asking for help, especially when you're new, when you're in a new position.

Donna 17:31

Right. It's that power dynamic.

Shantice 17:33

I was brand new.

Donna 17:34

It's that power dynamic, right?

Shantice 17:36

Yes, yes

Donna 17:37

....it's the power dynamic, and we forget that even in our ethical code, if we're practicing outside of our scope of competency, we're supposed to say something, but a lot of us are disempowered somewhere along the line because we don't want to let people down, whether that be people pleasing or um, again, the power dynamic. You don't want to say no to your boss, yes, right? Absolutely, it's our ethical responsibility to say "I need a hand", like "I can't handle this". And I think we overlook that sometimes to keep moving forward in our profession. Do you disagree?

Shantice 18:12

I agree wholeheartedly. Um, I think that also we also take into consideration our coworkers sometimes, and we kind of take on their stress too to try to support them. So at the time, my coworkers were were packed too. So that means doing joint visits, that means staying out late to buddy. Um, so that it wasn't just my caseload that I was worried about, I was also worried about my unit's caseload. Like we worked as a unit together. So sometimes we would need to cover for each other or just support each other out in the community. So this leads to what I wasn't doing. I was not saying no. Okay. Which is something that I practice now. Um, I preach to everyone now. It's okay to say no and not feel guilty. So no was nowhere in my vocabulary.

Donna 19:07

Except for nowhere. Except for (both laughing) NO...where. And and you know what? Honestly, no is a full sentence.

Shantice 19:14

Yes, it is.

Donna 19:15

It doesn't need to be a whole explanation. No is a full sentence, right?

Shantice 19:20

I wanted to be there for everybody. Whenever someone needed a favor, it was yes, I have you. If I don't already have a competing priority, I'll be there with you. So I was not saying no, I was not eating well. I was out in the field, so I was eating whatever drive-through

Trauma After Recovery And The Healed Healer

Shantice 19:38

I could pull up to and and get me something to eat on the fly. I was eating it. So nutrition-wise in the dumps.

Donna 19:47

Were you eating regularly?

Shantice 19:49

Yes, I was. I was just eating whatever I wanted, but it was more, it was more so like not making uh mindful decisions about what I was eating because I was always on go. So it was like, oh, let me pull up to this McDonald's or let me let's pull up here and and eat really fast in between visits. So it was more of a convenient situation as to what I was eating. I was not packing my lunch, I was not meal planning, I was not drinking enough water. That's another thing. Not drinking enough water. Um, sleep schedule was also in the dumps because I could not shut my mind off at night. Because I was thinking about what I had to do the next day, all the tasks that I needed to do, all the documentation that I still had, the court appearances and reports that I had prepared for. So it was just a lot of autopilot and not being mindful in the moment, not being present, just constantly thinking about what I had to do next. And let me just get this done so I can move on to the next task. Also, I was not doing anything fun in my personal life. Everything was -work, work-related.

Donna 21:05

Okay, so tell me more about that.

Shantice 21:07

So, not spending as much time with my family, which is something I love to do.

Donna 21:12

Right, it's right in your bio.

Shantice 21:15

Very close to my family. Uh not reading. I like to read for fun. At the time, I was not reading for fun. Everything that I was reading was work-related and training related. Uh, so not doing the things that I like to do, like my hobbies that I enjoy on my downtime, not meditating, just not listening to music, not doing anything that I love to do normally because I was so clouded by all of the responsibilities I had at work. So I made work my focal point and just disregarded every other aspect in my life relationships with friends, not going out with them. Not spending time with them on the weekends, or I was too tired after work to like even go to dinner during the week. Just so worn out, so exhausted mentally, physically. Um, and don't get me started on the lack of exercise.

Donna 22:18

Right, because you're running around, you're eating, and you're just kind of going, going, going.

Shantice 22:24

I was in survival mode, essentially. When I did not have to be. I did not have to be.

Donna 22:30

Right. Wow. But no, also nobody told you. There was no superior that said, hey, you're doing too much.

Shantice 22:36

Not at all. Because they were doing the same thing I was doing. And that's notorious in our field, in our social work field. Everybody just feels like they have to be on autopilot all the time in order to help out and and you know, uh be uh do right by people and keep our promises. But sometimes that's a detriment to our own health. And then what happens when when our health declines? We we're not able to help them anyway, be there for them anyway, because we either at the hospital or we home sleep, exhausted, have to call out, or some people even have mental, like nervous breakdowns or mental breaks because they haven't given themselves time to process everything that they're doing and not being present in the moment or not being in tune with their feelings, how they're feeling physically and mentally. If you are in constant survival mode, your cortisol levels are through the roof, your central nervous system is out of whack, and that affects your appetite, it affects your sleeping patterns, it affects your physical, how you feel physically. Sometimes it can even um affect like your muscles and make you feel tired and worn down, drained. So if you are not in tune with how you're feeling mentally and physically, it could actually be detrimental to your health. And also it can impact the type of habits you had. Like for me, when I was in survival mode, I was eating whatever I wanted. I wasn't being mindful about what I was putting in my body. I also was not sleeping. So you pile that on with the stress from a high, uh very complex and high stressful job, and all the expectations that come with that, with that comes pressure, added pressure, and with added pressure comes added stress. So it's like a vicious cycle. So if you're not aware of how you're feeling or or when you feel like your cup is overflowed or not full enough, you have to do some soul searching, you have to sit back a little bit, whether it's journaling, whether it's doing some type of medicate uh meditation, whatever you feel brings you back to your center and centers yourself, uh, is what you shall be doing in order to just stay mindful, stay present, stay in the moment, um, and just be cognizant, cognizant of how you're feeling. If you're feeling whole, if you're all the way there, if you're present for the day, if you need to go back to sleep and try again tomorrow, like you will know all of this once you really get in tune with how you're feeling.

Donna 25:27

Right. And and getting to know that about yourself, like increasing our self-awareness to know, like if I'm resting, it's because I'm resetting, it's not because I'm lazy, right? Because we have this whole thing, this whole world that says you got to move all the time, you gotta move all the time. Same thing at work, like 15 minutes you gotta bill, 15 minutes, you got you gotta get to this, you gotta get to that. We're overpacked, overscheduled, and always available on our phone. Okay, get our emails on our phones, we get our text messages, people expecting an answer right away. So there's a lot of other pressures that go on. So thank you so much for bringing this up and for looking into this. But I have to ask, I mean, because some of the people listening are gonna be like, yeah, I know that cortisol levels are bad, like this is why social media addictions happen, and trying to get my hits of dopamine from that because I'm not really doing anything else, not really seeing my friends, but I can DM them and I can send them memes and all that good stuff. So, how did you go from this very personal individualized journey?

Human Rights And The Right To Thrive

Donna 26:36

Which thank you for trusting us all with that journey. How did you go from that to I'm gonna do a doctorate in this work? And just so everybody knows, Shantice's um capstone is titled "Promoting Intersectional Feminist Human Rights for Child Welfare Leadership Through Holistic Wellness". Like that is um, that is something. How did you bring that all together?

Shantice 27:06

So that title is my story in a title. It's my journey as a social worker from where

Intersectionality And Child Welfare Leadership Gaps

Shantice 27:16

I started to where I am now. And it's it's hitting on something very important, which is child welfare leadership. Because a lot of the time, like I said earlier, not only are the frontline staff dealing with a lot of stress and being on autopilot, leadership is as well. And a lot of times they don't communicate with each other about about that high, those high stress levels and have that those safe spaces in the office where they can connect with each other and understand that yes, this is a high, stressful job, this is a fast-paced environment, but just having that space to decompress and to connect about how are you feeling? How are you really feeling? And and having that mutual support uh for each other, not just boss supporting staff member, but also the other way around. Um, and I added intersectionality into the mix because as you know, there are a lot of um racial injustices in the child welfare system right now, um, with the disproportionalities of black and brown children in foster care. So that is an issue that I cannot, I cannot address the child welfare system at a leadership level without including that issue, that systemic challenge. And it also reinforces a lot of the trauma and stress that staff deal with. Because if you're, let's just say you're a part of the black and brown community and you're a frontline staff member or you're a frontline supervisor and you're witnessing those high rates of black and brown children coming into the system, that's further traumatizing you because you connect with that community. Um, and I'm I'm using black and brown children as an example, but this goes for all ethnic groups. So when you talk about, when you think about intersectionality, it's considering a person, all aspects of that person, their gender, their sexual preference, their race, uh, their social class, all of those different layers of that person's individuality and how that could be perceived from the public view, and how they can be mistreated or experience racial injustices or social injustices based on those different layers. So not only are our service users in the child welfare system experiencing those injustices, but staff are too. So we have higher rates of black and brown staff members and other ethnic groups not in leadership positions. So there are a lot of white individuals who are sitting in higher-level leadership positions, and it's not a lot of representation at the leadership level for different diverse cultures. And if we as an organization, a child welfare organization, are promoting cultural competence, and as we go into these homes and we're assessing these families and trying to, you know, improve their outcomes for safety and permanency and all of that good stuff, how can we do that when we're not representing that at the organizational level or at the leadership level?

Donna 30:38

100%.

Shantice 30:40

So my project is in is a combination of all of those issues, and I want to address all of those issues at once because they are interconnected with each other.

Donna 30:51

Wow. So I do have to go back because so leadership is not representing the clients that you serve, nor is it representing anybody that's out in doing the cases.

Shantice 31:06

Yes.

Donna 31:07

Are there any assessments for cultural competency for the families? Do you do you look at that as a child welfare worker, or is it more like "this is the law, this is what you need to do", or are they looking at like some of the systemic barriers that are out there?

Shantice 31:21

So we have policies in place for the way

Cultural Humility And Holistic Wellness Proposal

Shantice 31:25

that our case practice um services shall be delivered when we go into the home. So we have assessment tools that we utilize when we're going into the home to assess for um the individual and family level needs of the children and families we serve. Also their household composition, what their cultures are, we take that into consideration when we're doing the assessments and when when we're engaging with them and coming up with their treatment plans or their case goals. So we are encouraged by policy to be culturally responsive when we go into the homes of these families and take that into consideration. But a lot of times, people are so swarmed with the amount of paperwork they have to do and documentation. It does not always get done. Like those conversations don't always happen where you're getting down to the bottom of, okay, what does your daily uh schedule look like? Something as simple as that could be overlooked during a home visit if a staff member is overwhelmed thinking about you know other cases, or so it's not happening consistently enough to say that we're hitting all of the markers that we need to hit in order to uh make sure that these families are getting the best outcomes that they can get from the system.

Donna 32:51

Right.

Shantice 32:51

Because staff are staff are worn out, so they have the tools, but it's a matter of utilizing those tools every time you go out into the community. And those conversations are naturally going to be different because everyone's case circumstances are different and family households and competition uh compositions are different. Uh, so it's just it's a balance between maintaining policy, but also being cognizant of people's different cultures and backgrounds where they come from and how that's impacting their daily living and their parenting and all of that stuff that goes into being a family, essentially.

Donna 33:35

Right. I mean, we definitely have to look at context, right? Like context is so important, and everybody's gonna need something different based on their that whole dynamic, that that whole picture of the person. I mean, that's what person-centered treatment and planning is about. But if it turns out to be somebody's going out for time management just to do a checkoff list, then that's not very helpful either. So I can see that that might be again increasing the stress to people that are out there in the field. Absolutely. Wow, okay. And is there a lot more um females out um in the field doing case work?

Shantice 34:19

100%. And that's why um that's another reason why I chose intersectional feminism as my theory, because it is a it is a uh he it's a heavy women's influenced social work is in general, right? It's it's dominated, female dominated, it just naturally is, but in in child welfare specifically, there are a lot more women than men, um, just in general, and that's almost every county. It's not like one county is more women in one county than men. That's like throughout the entire state.

Shantice 34:59

Wow. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I I notice that all the time. Working, uh walking into my classes, I sometimes walk past other buildings, and I could see the difference, like the gender difference in in the classrooms. Like you could see business has like a room full of uh male-gendered people, and maybe a person that identifies as female or two, and then you get to the social sciences or the soft sciences, as they call psychology, and boom, it's like the reverse. It's uh to take it even further, the emphasis on women is uh high because we're we're trying to get more fathers engaged with services. Like we've been doing that work for the last few years, um, trying to get fathers more involved because a lot of the times we're looking at the moms, we're assessing the moms, we're assessing their informal and formal supports, but we're not reaching out to dad. Whether dad is involved or not, we're not doing enough work to engage fathers. So that's something that we've been working on the last few years. Um, but that just goes back into that intersectionality and the gender role expectations and what society has painted for us as the proper way to interact with each other.

Donna 36:27

Right. I hadn't considered that that um probably a lot of the caseload is working with moms and not necessarily engaging dads.

Shantice 36:37

Yes, but I would say over the last few years we've we've done a better job at improving uh how we engage fathers and even the father's side of the family, like their supports.

Donna 36:50

Right, right. Yeah, because they could be alienated, right? For whatever reason that we don't know, or there could be a much bigger picture there.

Shantice 36:58

Right

Donna 36:59

so wow. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. So

Shantice 37:04

thank you for asking.

Donna 37:05

Oh, of course. Oh my gosh, this is like I I don't even know. I have so many questions for you, and we only have a little bit of time. Can you tell us a little bit about your capstone project? What holistic wellness, what are you proposing? Like, what is your project gonna look like?

Shantice 37:22

So I am proposing for an update to the policies within my organization right now, uh, specific to cultural competency, that language being changed to cultural humility, because cultural humility is a lifelong commitment to understanding others' own culture and personal biases and understanding everyone else's culture, because you cannot become fully competent in someone else's culture. It's not possible. Uh, we don't know everything. So just changing that language from being culturally competent to just extending it a little bit. Let's be culturally humble, let's always be committed to uh channeling um our abilities to not be biased, recognize our own biases, and also to want to learn from other people's cultural experiences and how their cultures impact their lives, their daily living. So that's one aspect. The second aspect is holistic wellness. So integrating holistic health and social work is a great passion of mine because both disciplines care about the well-being of individuals within their environments. Uh, social work is considering a person in their environment, how how that person is thriving along with all those environmental factors, social factors, etc. Holistic health, on the other hand, is censoring a person from within first. So their mind, their body, their spirit, uh, and how that impacts their overall health,

Manifestation And Practical Reframes For Anxiety

Shantice 39:08

and then how that transfers into who they present out to the world. So I think integrating both disciplines is the perfect combination because it's teaching social workers and other helping practitioners how to be mindful, how to be cognizant of how they're feeling internally, and how to practice those practices that you're preaching to others on yourself first. And then sharing that information with those who you provide services to. So I'm passionate about holistic health. I was a holistic health minor and undergrad. So a lot of the techniques and practices that I did when I was a minor, taking those electives, have stuck with me, uh, such as meditation, uh, mindfulness, uh sleep. I've been doing some sleep hypnosis. Um, I know everyone is might not be into meditation and hypnosis, but it works for me. Uh, a lot of manifestation work. If you think it, if you believe it, if you say it out loud, it may come to fruition. You never know. Uh, journaling is another big, big one for me. Uh, writing down my feelings, uh, reading, doing what I like to do best, which is learn. Uh, but I wouldn't have known that about myself if I didn't do that exploring um when it came to, hey, what makes me happy? Doing doing that soul searching again after I recovered. What makes me happy? And just making sure that I do that, doing a self-assessment of the things that bring me peace and joy uh in the midst of my crazy life. I have a pretty busy life. I'm just saying. It's a lot going on. I'm on a lot of side missions, I'm on a lot of main missions, and it's a lot to it's a lot to compartmentalize. So I need to make sure that I'm keeping myself grounded. And holistic health has done that for me.

Donna 41:12

Absolutely. It's like, how do you balance it all? I balance it all by grounding and getting balance. Right. Like you claim you're balanced. I have to go back to manifestation because I know that this is like a time where manifestation, manifestation, everybody's talking about it. But um, I I know sometimes the sciences have a really hard time with because it's not really evidence-based yet.

Shantice 41:36

Right, right.

Donna 41:37

As much as it as it should be. But I always say like to my students, think of it as a visual to-do list. Like if I write it down, it's gonna happen because I'm gonna make sure it happens. So even if I write down like, I am, I am an amazing, I don't know, LCSW. Right, I'm gonna write that down. Every day I look at that piece of paper and I remind myself and I keep it in the forefront of my mind that this is what I'm working for today. It's a really great reminder. So even if anybody out there is like, oh, manifestation and they're rolling their eyes, just want to point to that little thing. Like if we write things down, we tend to check it off our list because as humans, that's what we like to do. We like to check it off our list.

Shantice 42:21

It's definitely more spiritual for me, the manifestation piece, but

Donna 42:26

...same for me.

Shantice 42:27

If you think about when we ask miracle questions when we're doing therapy, isn't that kind of similar?

Donna 42:33

100%

Shantice 42:33

It's like asking somebody what what do you see or or uh describe to me what success for you will look like in five years, or just a miracle question, like that's manifesting without

Donna 42:46

100%,

Shantice 42:47

and that's the therapy technique. So I think I I'm I'm all the way here for manifestation. Uh it's been working for me the last few years.

Donna 42:58

I'm I'm with you. I'm with you. I just have to like kind of reframe it for people who might not feel like they're gonna be leaning into that side, you know, because everybody's different. I love the making yourself a priority, and I think that that's really good modeling because a lot of times I work with people that always um they're martyring themselves, right? They're people pleasing to an a point of exhaustion and they're uh worrying about what the future would look like. So a couple of things that I always how I like to redirect people is what would you tell your best friend?

Shantice 43:37

Yes

Donna 43:39

If your best friend was exhausted and like said, Oh, I I just can't, I'm so exhausted, but I have so much work to do, would you tell your best friend to go take a nap? Well, if that's what you would tell your best friend, then that's what you should be telling yourself.

Shantice 43:52

Yes.

Donna 43:53

You shouldn't be treating anybody better than you treat yourself.

Shantice 43:56

Absolutely.

Donna 43:57

And then the other thing that I was gonna mention was. Um people that worry about the future. I say if we're worrying about the future and thinking about it so frequently, why aren't we thinking about the best outcomes for that future? Why are we always living in the worst possible case scenario? Let's think of the best case scenario. And that kind of falls in the lines of um exactly what you're talking about. So yeah, this is amazing.

Shantice 44:28

So celebrating yourself in the present. Thinking about the present. What am I doing now that's working for me? I think that's important too. Because a lot of people just don't put into perspective like how much they're thriving currently, even if life seems like it's a mountain, you climbing a mountain, and you you really have to just celebrate small wins and celebrate where you are. That's why I say being present being in the moment, present in the moment is so important because it really gives you not only humility, but it gives you gratitude.

Donna 45:07

100%.

Shantice 45:08

And gratitude gives me peace. When I think about the things I'm grateful for, it kind of reframes, rewires my brain to not think about things that I don't have. Because I'm I'm thinking about, but you have this. There are so many, there are so many people that would die to have this, and you have so you should be grateful. So just staying humble and being uh being in the in a place of gratitude um is also something that's very important to me. It's like one of my biggest foundations in life.

Donna 45:41

Absolutely. It's like that um there's an analogy, like the rear view mirror. There's a reason why the rear view mirror is real small, right? Because you always want to remember where you came from, and the front mirror is like where you're going, and that's a really big thing, but you're still in control of the car, and that's your point.

Shantice 46:01

Love that. I've never heard that analogy. I love that.

Donna 46:04

Yeah, so you still have to drive where you're going, you're still in charge of where the road is going. So paying attention to being in the moment is also really important. And you know me, I'm Miss Optimism. I celebrate everything because it needs to be celebrated,

Shantice 46:20

As you should.

Donna 46:21

Yeah, we we really do as human beings, um, we really do overlook the the daily things that are around us every day. We rarely stop. We're so focused on where we need to go that we don't stop in the moment and smell the roses. That's what they used to say. Stop and smell the roses. We we rarely do that. So I love these reminders. So I have to ask you again, we're running short on time a little bit. We only have a few minutes left. What are some things? Um, and I know you have your business, so I want you to be able to pub that a little bit too, but what are some things that um we would be able to find on your website and in your business? Like, are there any tips or tricks or blogs or anything like that that you want to share with us?

Shantice 47:13

Um, so Wright Holistic Realms LLC came to me in the middle of the night. I had a vision, and my God

Right Holistic Realms Offers Mentorship

Shantice 47:22

spoke to me and he said, You need to do this. This this journey that you've been on so far, you need to create this business so that you can let other people know how important it is to take care of themselves before they go to help others. So after I had that 3 a.m. vision, uh, within a week, I created an Instagram page. Uh, then a couple months later, created a TikTok page. I had my website up. So you can find on my website um mentorship for younger helping professionals or for current helping professionals who've been doing it a while. Uh, I offer mentorship, mentorship sessions for them just to remind them take care of yourself, give them tools on how to take care of themselves or how to figure out what they like, how to do different activities, um, formulate self-care plans. So it's a lot of integrations between social work and holistic health offered in that mentorship. I also offer um group study sessions, so joint study sessions for students, for workers, whoever wants to work on whatever they needed to work on in a shared environment. I think that's so important uh because that's something I started doing in doctoral school. And you, you know, you even had uh a space for us to study as DSW scholars, and it was very therapeutic. So that's something that I wanted to integrate into my business. Uh, I'm also a notary. So if anyone needs notarization services in New Jersey, you can reach out to me through my website.

Donna 49:07

Okay.

Shantice 49:07

Uh, I also offer webinars where I interview other helping professionals just like this. Just to connect with people. It's just fun to do. And you learn so much when you when you speak to other individuals and you learn about their journeys. It could be something that touches another individual who maybe has had a similar experience, or it could be something that just teaches somebody something that they never heard before, information that they never learned. Uh, so I do webinars, I have a YouTube page for that. That's where all of my interviews are. I've done a few so far, and I plan on doing more in the next few months. Um, I have an Instagram page, and that's where my plethora of memes and positive quotes and funny videos. Uh, it's just all good vibes only on my Instagram page. Uh, I have a color that I change my page. Like my page is, I think, aesthetically pleasing because I change the color every month and I give meaning behind why I chose that color for that month. Uh, so I just think it's it's just a nice place to visit. Um, if you want to feel good and you want to see some positive quotes and you want to laugh a little bit, my TikTok is the same way. Uh, I offer journaling prompts, uh affirmations every Monday, Monday affirmations, uh Friday journaling prompt. So every Friday you'll see a new prompt if you if you you're feeling uh motivated to write anything down, or just think about it. Uh, so that's a lot of uh different services that I offer through my business, and there will be more to come as I have more visions and as I experience more uh God willing, once I graduate, we manifest in that.

Donna 51:04

65 days, not that I'm counting.

Shantice 51:06

Yes, uh, I'll be able to extend my research. So I did a focus group for my capstone project because I wanted to I wanted to uh gather the lived experiences because that's also therapeutic for people to be able to share their experiences and for me to be able to get their points of view.

Donna 51:27

So, what was that like? Getting the focus group.

Shantice 51:29

The focus group was great. It was great. Uh a lot of qualitative data came from that focus group. I am right now in the middle of my data analysis and it needs to be completed by the end of this week.

Donna 51:44

Oh, so thank you so much for being here when you have

Focus Group Findings And Future Trainings

Donna 51:47

a lot to do.

Shantice 51:48

Oh no, this has been great. This has been a very nice break for me. Um, I'm already seeing some emerging themes uh when it comes to leadership and the lack of support that is in child welfare leadership right now, um, and the need for mentorship.

Donna 52:08

Yeah, you're ahead of that trend already with the company with Wright holistic realms.

Shantice 52:12

Yes. So eventually I want to extend out into being able to go into different organizations, whether it's private, state government, and doing doing some trainings or workshops on the importance of self-care and also integrating social work and holistic health for helping professionals. I've done a few conferences already on the topic and they've been successful. I'm going to ResilienceCon coming up next month. I am excited about that.

Donna 52:42

When is that?

Shantice 52:44

ResilienceCon is mid-April in Nashville, Tennessee.

Donna 52:48

Woohoo.

Shantice 52:49

So I'll be on a panel discussing these very topics. Um, and I'm excited about that. So that's what I have coming up. And I'm just I feel like I feel like I'm really walking in my purpose at the moment, and I hope it stays that way. And if it if I pivot for whatever reason, that's okay too. I just feel like I'm doing what what I was meant to do.

Donna 53:16

100%. I mean, you're you're literally birthing all these new things, including a new baby to be. Yes, but like creating all of these lives, literally.

Shantice 53:28

Yes!!! That is a huge, huge change that has happened. Um, and by the end of the year, I'll have a healthy baby manifesting that

Donna 53:40

...with lots of aunties, including me.

Shantice 53:42

Yes, multiple aunties, multiple educated aunties, too. (laughing) Like all I'm I'm never gonna see so many aunties with doctorate degrees in my life. Like this kid is is gonna be just filled with so much knowledge. So I'm like, you know, I'm I'm approaching a new a new chapter in my life and a new journey. And it's time for me to preach everything into my child and and hope that they grow up to be the change that they want to be in the world, but also remember to take care of themselves first because that's something I had to learn at 25. I want my child to know that at one year old or at three months old. (laughing) I need you to know to take care of yourself now and say no and not feel guilty about it, so I cannot wait to instill all of the things that I've learned over the years into my child, and it couldn't have happened at a better time. I'm about to finish school, and

Donna 54:52

It is right on time, just like everything else.

Shantice 54:54

It's like here it is, here's your next uh journey.

Donna 54:58

Yeah, now you're gonna be Dr. Mom.

Shantice 55:01

Yes, yes,

Donna 55:04

(laughing) Dr. Mom. I love it, and I'm so happy that you realize you're valuable enough to take care of yourself because the world needs you,

Shantice 55:13

Donna That was so sweet.

Donna 55:15

Oh, it's true. We need you.

Shantice 55:18

We need you too, Donna. We need the driveway. We need the driveway open.

Donna 55:24

Today the driver had a basketball net. Last week it was the snow. Now it's the basketball net, but that's okay. As I said, go hawks. I'm a hawks girl all the way. Fly, hawks, fly.

Shantice 55:35

Right. (laughter)

Donna 55:38

If you wanted to share one last thing with everybody listening, whether it be one person or one million

Remember Your Why And Favorite Reads

Donna 55:47

people, what would that one thing be?

Shantice 55:51

Uh remember your why.

Donna 55:55

Tell me more.

Shantice 55:56

Remember your why in everything you do. Remember why, what your purpose is, and what you're doing. Is what you're doing benefiting you because you want it to benefit you, or is it benefiting someone else at your expense? So remember your why. Remember why you said yes to doing that favor. Remember why you said no to something. Um, because this helps you stay present, it helps you stay grounded. If you know the reasoning behind why you're making the decisions you're making, because that'll lead to maybe you making healthier decisions for yourself, or um, it increases that discernment that we all need to keep ourselves safe and to keep ourselves from overpouring into other people's cups and not not pouring into our own cups. So remember your why and in every decision you make, remember why you're making that decision and think think about it first. How is this going to benefit me and my health and what I plan to do, what my goals are. Um, I want to say put yourself first, but it's it's kind of the same thing in my book. Remember what your purpose is and why, and everything that you decide to do. That's what I want to leave for people.

Donna 57:18

Oh, I love that. I love that. That's beautiful. Remember your why, even for the no's. We seem to do it for the yeses sometimes, and some people don't know what their why is just yet. Or sometimes your why changes right throughout the course of your life, and that's okay too. Sometimes it changes and just goes on hold and then it comes back again.

Shantice 57:40

Yes, and remember your why for the no is important because a lot of us often feel guilty when we say no. But if you just stay firm in your reasoning, that guilt won't be, it may not be as high as it would be if you if you didn't realize, like, oh, I said no to that for a reason, and I'm glad I said no, and I don't feel bad about it. I'm not sorry about it because you probably said no to self-preserve.

Donna 58:11

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh, I love that. Remember your why. Thank you for sharing that. Okay, and lastly, you said a couple of times that you like to read, yes, and that you were reading technical stuff for a while. So outside of work and technical stuff, what is one or two things that you would share with us about? Like what are your favorite book titles?

Shantice 58:36

Okay, so I love me a thriller. Oh, really? I love me a thriller. Um, I also love dark romances. Dark romances just dark romances, they just get me. Uh, so not the fairy tail-ish romances, more so like turmoil happening somewhere in the storyline, uh, scandalousness. Anything that's scandalous is like piquing my interest. So uh some of my favorite books that I recently read, uh Hidden Pictures. It was like a horror. Oh, I also love horror too. It was like a horror book. Okay. Um, we read for book club a really good one. Uh, none of this is true. That's the that's the book title. That was pretty good. It was like a thriller. I also read recently that's not my name. That's another thriller. I love thriller, I love horror and um dark romance. Those are my top three favorite book genres. I also love to listen to audiobooks, but just recently I started getting into like hand like handheld books. Uh, but I'll still listen to an audiobook when I can.

Donna 59:55

Do you prefer that or is it just a time management thing?

Shantice 59:58

I prefer audiobooks, but for some reason I've just been feeling like really feeling the handheld thing, especially at night, like before bed. I it's just something relaxing about holding a book in my hand. It like relaxes me.

Donna 1:00:14

I I'm the same. I like a nice book, and you could just smell it and feel it. I'm a very tactile learner, so I like turning the pages and it's

Shantice 1:00:22

but while I'm driving, I love an audio book while I'm driving.

Donna 1:00:26

Right. Well, you can't curl up with a blanket while you're driving. I hope not, because you have to be in the moment. You have to be driving your bus. I cannot thank you enough for the joy and just for being here and gracing us with your presence in the driveway tonight. Thank you

Where To Find Resources And Closing

Donna 1:00:44

so much for being here, Shantice.

Shantice 1:00:46

Thank you for having me.

Donna 1:00:47

You have shed such a light on some of these things. I'm hoping that this helps someone, everyone, anyone that's listening. Um, and I'm so grateful for you. And I know that we're gonna be putting up all your handles and your website, but it's wright holistic realms. It's W-R-I-G-H-T holistic realms L L C. Um, you can also reach out to me if there's any questions or comments at as you all know, dsimon@ monmouth.edu. And again, we'll put all this stuff in the show notes. And I will make sure that we also include your books, yeah, your book recommendations, your book title.

Shantice 1:01:30

Listen, my to be read list is long. It's just getting longer and longer.

Donna 1:01:35

Thank you so much for being in the driveway with us. Thank you. It was such a pleasure having you here.

Shantice 1:01:40

Anytime. Let me know if you want me to come back.

Donna 1:01:43

Oh, absolutely. We'll be doing this again next year. So, yes, I would love an update. That would be fabulous. Maybe we should have like an update episode. Okay, that's all the time we have for tonight. So, what is your win? What are you gonna focus on? And what are you most grateful for? Thank you so much, Shantice. We're going to link you with Shantice so you can hear the results of her survey. Reach out to her at www.healingjusticeleadership.org for the findings, or you can always find her at Wright Holistic Realms LLC. I'll make sure her um email is in the show notes. You can always reach out to me at dsimon@ monmouth.edu. And thank you, as always, for hanging out in the driveway with us tonight. I'll see you next week for another conversation. We're gonna have Jamie Nappi here at five o'clock, and she's gonna be talking about her new class. Remember to take a breath, humanUp. And you know, the best conversations always happen in the driveway. Love and light.