Speaking and Communicating Podcast

00:00

Speaker 1
... uncovering the root causes of burnout, fragmentation, and inequities within your agency. When your staff feels well, guess what? That makes our work a lot lighter. You have to deal with less conflicts. Folks can trust who they are and who their team members are.
00:13

Speaker 2
(music plays) Welcome back to the Speaking and Communicating Podcast. I am your host, Roberta Ndlela. If you are looking to improve your communication skills, both professionally and personally, this is the podcast you should be tuning in to. Communication and soft skills are crucial for your career growth and leadership development. By the end of this episode, please log on to Apple and Spotify and leave us a rating and a review. Now let's get communicating. Now let's get communicating with our guest today. Joining us from New Jersey, Tashia Martin is an author, a licensed social worker who's been in executive leadership for over 20 years. She's here to help us to reclaim our wellness and show us how leaders can enhance wellness in the workplace. And before I go any further, please welcome her to the show. Hi, Tashia.
01:13

Speaker 1
Roberta, how are you?
01:15

Speaker 2
I'm doing fantastic. Welcome to the show.
01:19

Speaker 1
Good.
01:19

Speaker 2
Thanks for joining us.
01:21

Speaker 1
Thanks for having me.
01:22

Speaker 2
My absolute pleasure. So when you were growing up, did you really think, "I wanna be a social worker"?
01:30

Speaker 1
No, not until my teenage years. I knew I wanted to get into child psychology, and then I knew I wanted to be a social worker after working with young people for a number of years. So I got into social work because I saw how my life trajectory was going and the lives of the young people around me and how we weren't any better than one another, but depending on the support system that we had really influenced and impacted where we went in our lives. So that's really what informed my path.
01:56

Speaker 2
A support system. Is that just family? Is it community? Is it organizations? Usually which support systems existed at the time that influenced you to take this direction?
02:10

Speaker 1
I would say all, but definitely starting with my mom. My mom really made sure that she plugged me into the other support systems, like putting me into the right schools, getting me into the right activities that I learned, like, who I wanted to be, um, and that I was around adults who supported me going in that right direction. So I would definitely say it started with my mom at home, but it also extended to the other folks around me in my community, um, in my school system, in my first job, and things of that nature. So even the adults who mentored me in my first job helped me to become the professional that I am today.
02:43

Speaker 2
I hope anyone listening realizes how important that is, 'cause you know how sometimes you think unless I have an actual title as a leader or as a youth coach or something like that, maybe there's not much im- impact I can make, but you've just showed us that there's a lot that we can do to change young people's lives.
03:03

Speaker 1
The- My first job, I was handing out lunches at the playground in the summer, so (laughs) you know, it was a big responsibility, but...
03:11

Speaker 2
Right.
03:11

Speaker 1
It was big for me, but it was also important because I played a role in the functionality of the program in the summertime. So, you know, even when you have the smallest role or title, everyone plays a huge part in how things really flow. (laughs)
03:26

Speaker 2
Mm-hmm. And when did you start on a leadership path? 'Cause you say that you've been in leadership for over 20 years.
03:35

Speaker 1
So I went to school. My master's in social work is actually in nonprofit and public management. So a lot of folks think about social work as a one-to-one counseling or therapy, people think child services and protection, but I really wanted to learn how to develop programs and how to manage folks who were working within these organizations. My track, my practicum, my studies were actually on the management track. So I was fortunate enough to be mentored by the executive director of a nonprofit organization, um, in Edison, New Jersey, who really taught me about, like, the finances and how to run some of those different components of an agency and how to really stay politically in tuned, um, to understand how political decisions impact funding for your agency. So I was mentored at a very early age, in my 20s, just through my professional programming, and then I would take on small leadership tasks, such as overseeing, like, different projects and programs within the organization.
04:32

Speaker 1
And from there, I started to grow. So I did have executive leaders over me, but they always gave me a level of responsibility that put me in charge of developing others, creating programs, and making sure that I'm looking at data when making certain decisions and looking at programming and how these things are impacting young people in the work that I did.
04:52

Speaker 2
And you certainly passed it on. Shout out to mentors, 'cause I also... On my first job, where I was for five years, I had an amazing mentor who showed me all the ropes, who took me to meetings where I felt, "I'm too junior to enter this room." And he gave me the confidence (laughs) that I belonged in those circles as much as the rest of them, 'cause that really-
05:17

Speaker 1
And then-
05:17

Speaker 2
... changes your perspective.
05:18

Speaker 1
Yeah.
05:18

Speaker 2
Sorry, go ahead.
05:19

Speaker 1
It does. And when you're in the circles, once you're in the circles for a while, you realize that no one really knows more or less than you. We just all bring a unique lens to the room, and that's what's important in leadership, is that everyone has a very diverse perspective, and what they offer, we take into consideration. So it's very interesting how we show up thinking that we don't belong, and then once we're there, we realize that this space is not that unique. (laughs) You just have another level of responsibility when you're at the leadership table.
05:49

Speaker 2
Mm-hmm. So now, you don't just focus on leadership, but wellness is the- your main area. Why is that?
05:59

Speaker 1
So if we look at the data, um, especially in the field of education, um, if we look in corporate, if we look in, uh, nonprofit, if we look at social work, the mental health field, there's a lot of folks just exiting these agencies. There are people who are just completely burned out. Those numbers really spiked right after COVID. And so, there's just data that shows there's a revolving door, and folks wanna work from home. Folks don't wanna come back into the office. And so, what, what we're doing is we're trying to meet these goals, we're trying to meet these metrics, but the people are burning out along the way. The people are what make the work actually move, and so it's super important that if we want to be able to meet our goals, we have to honor and value the people who are actually moving the work along.
06:45

Speaker 1
Um, and so that's why I really try to get leaders to prioritize wellness, their wellness, but also modeling for others and setting the environment for their staff members and their entire organization to be healthy so that they, we can continue to do this work in a way that sustains not only us, but our goals, and allows us to build a legacy that continues.
07:05

Speaker 2
Why is it that they are so adamant about everybody returning to the office? Because I think research showed that people were actually more productive when they were working from home. Well, in some of the industries at least. But, you know, tech-related jobs, you found that they were more productive when working from home than driving an hour to the office in traffic and driving (laughs) an hour coming back home. Why is it that leaders are so adamant that everybody needs to come back to the office?
07:39

Speaker 1
You know, I'm not really sure. When I hear the reasons that leaders want team members to come into the office, I hear about productivity. I hear about the interactions and the collaboration that they want to see. But I don't necessarily see that once I observe people being face-to-face. I think it's healthy to be face-to-face, um, especially when you're talking about a human-centered role, so there is a lot of responsibility and importance and value in being face-to-face. But I think our justification is not always related to what we're saying it ... I'm seeing some misalignment in what's actually being produced versus what we're saying we want it to be. So I'm still observing those things. I'm not sure.
08:18

Speaker 1
(laughs)
08:19

Speaker 2
Mm-hmm. They've taken care of the productivity debate. However, could it also be they think if we are more face-to-face, then we build relationships? 'Cause here we talk a lot about the soft skills, building relationships, and building a team where you have all of these things at play so that you create a great culture. Do they think they, if everybody's home, then you're gonna lose that relationship, you know, you're not gonna take time to build the relationship, you're not gonna have the water cooler conversations?
08:52

Speaker 1
I would say yes and no, right? I know in one of your episodes, you all were talking about emotional intelligence. Being face-to-face is important, but if leaders lack the emotional intelligence or the work environment is hostile or, or toxic, then it's really counterproductive to the point of being at work. You're actually creating a situation where folks feel less well. And when you're less well, your brain does not function at its highest. And so, when you're under stress in a toxic work environment, you are less likely to produce at your highest ability. So I think that it's not just about the relationship, but it's also about the environment that you're setting in those workplace settings.
09:31

Speaker 2
Mm. You say that leaders-
09:33

Speaker 1
Mm-hmm.
09:33

Speaker 2
... should enhance wellness. What does that look like in practical terms?
09:38

Speaker 1
So when we're talking about enhancing wellness, there's a number of leader behaviors that I like to explore, right? How is the leader modeling boundary-setting and restoration? So, how do you model if you're saying, "My phone goes off at 5:00 PM because I need a break to be with my family," then I need to model that I expect that 5:00, we're all shutting down. At least for an hour, you have to have some time with your family. If I'm saying, "Emails don't go out before 7:00 AM," then I have to model that. It's also about openly sharing your wellness practices and values, so being very clear, "I value your wellness," and even being attuned to your staff and your employees, um, in how they show up in a workplace. If you pay attention to your team members, you can know when someone's having an off day.
10:23

Speaker 1
And it's important to not just keep the work going, but to pause and acknowledge that this person is in a different state than they typically are, and to really tap into where they are in the moment and how high is their ability to show up in that, in today? Another thing to do is to really actively make space for wellness without folks feeling guilty or that there's a sense of urgency. So if you're sick, I want you to get better, right? I don't want you to show up to the workspace coughing and sneezing and making everyone else sick because you feel like this job is more important than your livelihood. And also, practicing self-regulation. So, if there's a conflict where we have a disagreement, I, as a leader, need to make sure that I'm managing my emotions in that moment and that I'm not being explosive, because that creates an environment where folks don't feel well enough to communicate.
11:11

Speaker 1
So these are just some of the things that I think about, um, when I'm working with leaders in their approach and ability to reclaim wellness and to be the model for others, uh, reclaiming and setting wellness expectations for themselves.
11:24

Speaker 2
When they come to you and they say, "Tashia, I need help with my team-"
11:29

Speaker 1
Mm-hmm.
11:29

Speaker 2
... what have they said...... are the challenges that their teams face when it comes to wellness? Other than what you've mentioned, which is boundaries and being able to know that my leader cares. But what else, when it comes to wellness, do they say that this is a big challenge and we can see that it affects productivity, it affects team morale?
11:52

Speaker 1
Mm-hmm. I think stress management is something that comes up a lot. Also, I do a lot of work with folks who are in the human services field and that might be folks who are case managers, folks who do child services. So those, like, face-to-face types of organizations, I do a lot of work there. And so the folks that I tend to work with will experience vicarious trauma, which is you may not have had the trauma yourself, but your clients are experiencing a lot of trauma and th- you're hearing those stories over and over and over again and you don't realize that they're actually traumatizing you as well. And so that affects your burnout, that affects how you show up in the workplace, how you get along or not get along with your colleagues. It affects your life when you go home after work.
12:37

Speaker 1
And so training staff around how to develop their own self-care plans, how to be aware of the symptoms when they are burning out, um, and how to really develop a partnership with their colleagues to keep them on track, to hold them accountable to taking care of themselves, um, that's something that comes up a lot, is oftentimes the self-care practices of members because of the populations they serve.
12:59

Speaker 2
Right. 'Cause we usually talk about this. If I have a therapist on the show, we usually ask and say, "How do you cope listening to people's traumas all day?" But when you think about-
13:12

Speaker 1
Mm-hmm.
13:12

Speaker 2
... the social worker as well, that's a lot of traumatic stories that they come face to face with on a daily basis. Like you said, a caseworker, which means usually you are expected to be the solution to the problem, to be the hero who saves the day.
13:28

Speaker 1
Absolutely. And even and when we think about the education field, teachers are often saying, "I just came to teach. Teaching is not the same. I have to be everything for my students now. And that's not what the field looked like, you know, a couple decades ago." And so the burnout is real too, because the children that come into schools, the folks who come into work, we have food insecurity in this country, the rent is extremely high, mortgages, taxes, everything is so high that folks are really trying to survive, but still trying to show up to work and give their 100%. And it is very challenging to do that when you have your own emotional struggles too.
14:05

Speaker 2
And speaking of that, just as an example, the movie Coach Carter, obviously based on a true story, I've actually seen the real (laughs) Coach Ken Carter being interviewed. Like you said, it's not just the job he does when he's on the school grounds with the kids, but you could see that he extended himself beyond just being the basketball coach and helping them with their grades and taking those what they consider were extreme measures. And it also reminds me of, I think, early '90s, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dangerous Minds?
14:38

Speaker 1
Mm-hmm.
14:39

Speaker 2
She also was portraying, it was based on a true story. She would go to these kids' homes and talk to the parents. It's, yeah, you don't just go to school and say goodbye when the bell rings.
14:53

Speaker 1
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And when poverty is at its highest, when you see poverty increase, you see community violence also increase. So policies that affect services for the community impact what comes into these different organizations. There's recently been a reduction in financial support for violence prevention programs. That means that you don't necessarily have the folks who would get involved in the community to say, "Hey, we can get ahead of this before violence occurs." And there's so much trauma, there's so much stress in the world that folks, they're just responding, reacting without thinking through like, "How is this gonna affect myself? How will it affect my community?" Folks are just being very reactionary. Those experiences come into the workspace, they come into our school systems, they come into every different community within the ecosystem. Any, every single part of the ecosystem is touched by it.
15:46

Speaker 2
So those affected, the caseworkers, the teachers of the kids who go to the schools, you just have this cycle of trauma and violence. And then the question becomes, I don't know how it is over there, but here in South Africa, (laughs) we realize that, you know what? The government is not gonna help us do anything. We need to save ourselves. We need to come up-
16:11

Speaker 1
Mm-hmm.
16:11

Speaker 2
... with our own solutions. Waiting on them, we're gonna wait forever until Armageddon. What in those fields, especially with the people that you work with, like you said, they cut down on programs. It's almost like they are trying to exacerbate the problem.
16:27

Speaker 1
Mm-hmm.
16:28

Speaker 2
So what is the discussion around that?
16:31

Speaker 1
Yeah, so you have lots of community-based organizations and collaborations between these different agencies. And that's honestly, like, what you're naming, the community has to show f- for themselves. And so that's what's happening, but those things can't happen without funding and time and resources. So you often have the people who are experiencing pain often also showing up as the helpers to help others with their pain. And so there's this cycle of, like, when do you actually pause? And so when you're a leader, you often h- you have to recognize who your staff members are, what communities they come from. They may be extremely talented, but they're burning on both sides of the candle. So they come to work, you know, they're burning their energy here, they go home, they burn their energy there, they're in community meetings because they often see the importance and the value of them showing up to be a part of that, that circle, to solve those problems as well.
17:22

Speaker 1
And so you never get this experience of rest. You're constantly running and burning. If I am someone who's managing all these folks, uh, and my team is ex- experiencing a lot of vicarious trauma-All of my team bring their vicarious trauma to me. Now I have another level of trauma that I'm experiencing because I'm hearing their stories times all of the people that they're serving and working with. Right? And then also as the leader, you also have to think about the financial wellness of the organization, the political influences around. You have to think about all these other components in addition to the people. And so, this is why it's extremely important for leaders to prioritize their wellness, because they're taking on so much because so much is being given to their staff as well.
18:06

Speaker 2
So then please help us. What is it that we can do when it comes to self-care? After absorbing-
18:12

Speaker 1
Yeah.
18:12

Speaker 2
... all these traumas, witnessing all the pain that those we serve are going through, what are some practical steps we can take in order to still take care of ourselves so that we can reduce or even eliminate the burnout?
18:27

Speaker 1
Mm-hmm. Some of the easiest things that we can do, and ............................ I'm gonna name our very privileged, right? Some of us don't have time to sleep and to outsource some of the things that we need to get done. So I'm gonna name some things that I wanna acknowledge are privilege-based, depending on what resources you have, but then there are some other things that we all have access to, such as turning off the television or turning off certain sounds. What do we allow into our eyes? What do we allow ourselves to see? What do we allow ourselves to hear? So being able to turn off the news at certain hours or setting your music to something that is calming, that's something that if you have access to a radio or some type of audio device, you can be more intentional about what you allow into your ears and your eye gates. The other thing that I like to offer is that when we take showers, water is a conduit.
19:14

Speaker 1
And what I mean by that is when we speak the, our words into water, the water is alive. The water can feel it, the water will give it back to us. So when I like to take a shower, I, I like to practice and I also tell my clients that when they take a shower, make sure that they are stating words and verbalizing and affirming the things that they're grateful for, right?
19:34

Speaker 2
Mm.
19:34

Speaker 1
I am grateful for this. I receive the love and grat... I receive the love and support of my ancestors. I receive the love and support of those in my community members. And as I'm washing my face, I wash my face and I ask that my eyes are open to all of the love and support that surrounds me, because sometimes we are too blind to even see that people want to help us.
19:51

Speaker 2
Right. Yeah.
19:52

Speaker 1
People want to help us-
19:54

Speaker 2
That's true.
19:54

Speaker 1
... but sometimes we think that we have to do it all ourselves, and so we are blind to these things. I like to wash my arms and say, "I am so grateful for my ability to continue to love and be open to loving others and to receiving the love and support of others." I wash my feet and I say, "Thank you, feet, for walking me in the right direction and for pivoting when I am off track." And so the words that we affirm out loud, this is how I like to set my day, and it is something that we all have access to because hopefully we're all showering every day.
20:22

Speaker 1
But I also-
20:23

Speaker 2
We better. (laughs)
20:23

Speaker 1
... recognize that, uh, but I also recognize that when... if we're in a state of depression, sometimes you don't want to do those basic things. So if you're noticing that you're not showering, that you're not sleeping, that you're not eating, that you're not working out, that your libido has lowered, or that you've lost interest in the things that you typically like to do, those are some red flags to say, "Look, I might need to go and get a therapist. I might need to go get some support because I am not in the healthiest mental state right now." But when you are in those states, you should be able to do these things. So I just wanna acknowledge that when you're depressed, you may not want to shower. And if you feel that way, you might want to seek some help. Another thing I like to support folks to do is establish affirmations, because sometimes when we look in the mirror, we don't see our best selves. We can be very dissociated from who we are in our highest self.
21:10

Speaker 1
And so it's important that we allow ourselves to verbalize who we are, what we want for ourselves. I am capable of doing this. I know this is hard, but I have, I have gotten over harder things and I will get through this too. But you have to really be very intentional to state those things to yourself by looking in the mirror. You have to see yourself and having that level of self-awareness and really affirming who you are. So those are some very quick and basic things that I like to tell folks because we're constantly in the mirror to get ready.
21:38

Speaker 1
We're constantly in the shower-
21:39

Speaker 2
Mm-hmm.
21:39

Speaker 1
... when we're moving about. And so how we use our words and how we use water, um, and our food source, those things are super important.
21:46

Speaker 2
Right. So those are the things that literally anybody can do-
21:50

Speaker 1
Anybody. Mm-hmm.
21:50

Speaker 2
... on a daily basis. And when it comes to-
21:53

Speaker 1
Yep.
21:53

Speaker 2
... affirmations, we always say, "You don't have to believe it. If you don't believe it now, it doesn't mean... Stop. Even if you don't believe it now, affirm what you hope to feel like or to see yourself as. It doesn't have to be what is going on right now."
22:11

Speaker 1
Absolutely. 100%. When I was experiencing depression for about two and a half years, I would look in the mirror and I would say things that I knew when I was healthy, these things were 100% true. And just because I'm not feeling healthy right now, it doesn't mean that they're true. It means that I'm not connected to it, but I would just continuously say it, "I am great. I am amazing. I can do this." I see myself. I see the beauty. I see the intelligence within myself. Even though I can't connect with her right now, she is here. I am her. And you have to continuously say it even if you don't believe it in that moment, but you have to state it loudly as if you are encouraging, uh, the younger version of yourself or your best friend who's going through some struggles.
22:50

Speaker 1
You have to be very firm and committed to making these statements so that you can eventually reconnect with that part of who you are or that part of who you want to become-
22:58

Speaker 2
Mm-hmm.
22:58

Speaker 1
... like you were saying.
22:59

Speaker 2
Yes. Those are the affirmations. And then the ones that you recommended for when you take a shower, the things you say, you mentioned gratitude. What about gratitude is so impactful?
23:11

Speaker 1
So gratitude is super impactful because we often forget the beautiful things that exist. And if we allow ourselves to only see the negative, we start to believe that that's our reality. So whatever we expose ourselves to most often is what we will begin to accept as our reality. And so when it comes to gratitude, I encourage folks, you can get a, a paper bag, you can get a jar, a glass jar, a basket. You can even set it in a little corner, but at the end of every day, or even twice a day, write something that went well.You know, I got to work on time because traffic is crazy, right?
23:46

Speaker 2
Yeah.
23:46

Speaker 1
I got to work on time. That's a plus. (laughs)
23:49

Speaker 2
Right. (laughs)
23:50

Speaker 1
I had my favorite meal today, and it was so good. My mother called me today, and she told me that she loved me, right? Anything that comes to mind. I have made a connection with Roberta today, right?
24:01

Speaker 2
Yes.
24:02

Speaker 1
And Roberta is an amazing person.
24:02

Speaker 2
That is so good. (laughs)
24:04

Speaker 1
Right?
24:04

Speaker 2
Right.
24:04

Speaker 1
So you just write down all of the things that are going well, because at the end of the week or at the end of the month, you look, and you see all the amazing things that are your reality. And you begin to believe the amazing things, and that's how you express the... That's how gratitude can really show up for you, is that it sets your reality.
24:23

Speaker 2
Mm-hmm. Now talk to any leader who's listening, especially in the social work industry, who takes in a lot of people's traumas. You've mentioned some of the things, practical, daily things that they can do in order to take care of themselves. Is there anything else that you would like to leave them with?
24:45

Speaker 1
Absolutely. So with the ROOT IT framework, we begin with reclaiming your wellness. But then we go into observing your systems, and we go into owning your gifts. So with observing your systems, it's really inviting a diverse perspective on systems, on any gaps that exist in your systems. Sometimes leaders think that they have to know it all. No, we do not. We have to extend our trust in the staff members that we've hired, the folks that we collaborate with. And we have to extend trust and be vulnerable about the things that we do not know and be vulnerable to receive feedback. So receiving feedback will also support with establishing a wellness system within your organization and for yourself. It's also seeking out hidden dynamics and power imbalances within your organization and also gathering input from others and also uncovering the root causes of burnout, fragmentation, and inequities within your agency.
25:43

Speaker 1
You know, when you ask the right questions, you can start to uncover these things. And when your agency feels well, when your staff feels well, guess what? That makes our work a lot lighter. You have to deal with less conflicts. Folks can trust who they are and who their team members are. And then also going into owning your gifts. There are folks who are very talented but in the wrong seat within your organization. That is as stressful as having someone who is not skilled in your agency just because you like them as a person. So having talent but the talent is not in the right spot can also be stressful on the wellness of yourself and the organization. That's going to require you to do more talent development. Um, it's going to require you to have to check. It's going to create less motivation from that individual sometimes, because they're not in the right seat. And when you're not in the right seat, you, you lose interest in what you're doing.
26:35

Speaker 1
And so you can end up losing folks in your company who are great people, great talented people, but because they're not in the right seat, they lose interest, and they leave. You want to ask yourself the right questions around that too. Do we have the right folks in the right seats?
26:48

Speaker 2
That's why things like performance reviews, not even waiting for performance reviews, just talking to your team members every now and then and creating an environment where they can share those things without fear, without feeling like-
27:02

Speaker 1
Yes.
27:02

Speaker 2
... there'll be repercussions, they can then open up and say, "You know what? I think I'm really good here. Would you consider me for this role?" And things like that.
27:12

Speaker 1
Absolutely. Because you want to keep the most talented folks at your agency. You want to keep talented folks in your organization.
27:19

Speaker 2
Mm-hmm.
27:19

Speaker 1
You can't do that if you're keeping them in a position for the service of your organization and it not being also honoring their growth and where they're trying to go professionally. So you got to find the alignment between who they are as an individual and what the outcomes and the goals are of your organization and try to make that alignment as best as possible.
27:38

Speaker 2
That is the ideal for sure. So Author Tashia Martin, please tell us about your latest book.
27:46

Speaker 1
So my latest book is called New Leaf: Reflecting On Life's Transitions, and it's a 52-week guided journal that works through the elements of earth, water, air, fire, and ether. The book was created... I received a divine message last November to write a book following over 15 deaths of people who were very close to me. Um, and last November, my uncle passed, and all of this was taking place while I was, uh, leading a team of folks. So I'm having my own traumatic experiences, my own depression, my own social anxiety, and then my uncle dies last November. And I got a divine message that I needed to write a book to support individuals with change and transformation. And I was very surprised to get that divine message because I never intended to be an author. I always liked to support individuals to develop, you know, their own paths, but I never saw myself as an author. And so I created this book.
28:38

Speaker 1
Um, it has over 50 strategies that are trauma-informed strategies from my background as a clinician working with... in trauma-informed care, but also it has holistic practices and ancestral practices, considering that we all experience a level of grief. And so some of those ancestral practices are found in the ether chapter to let us know that we're still connected to our ancestors, that life is continuous. So it's... There's a spiritual aspect to it, as well as a scientific base aspects of the books. You know, it's really meant to support folks who are going through changes and transitions, as I did, and I really put into there the love and support that was downloaded to me as I was coming out of my own depression and social anxiety.
29:18

Speaker 2
Changes and transformation. Would you also say that, you know, if you're a case worker, those that you help, they are just constantly going through something? So they're go- going through these changes. Everything is uncertain. Every day just brings something different to their lives.
29:40

Speaker 1
Absolutely. This can be a big change. It can be a little change. It can be, I am, you know, wanting to change jobs. It's for that person. It can be, I'm going through a divorce. It's for that person. It can be, I'm the caregiver of someone who is in hospice. It is for that person. We all go through different changes, and it's also a great workbook for clinicians or for human service specialists who are working with their clients. So you can use it for yourself. You can use it for others. I still go through the book, and I use it myself, uh, which is really exciting because I have a different lens when I'm sitting down, going through this very organized structure. And so it utilizes affirmations. It utilizes symbolism, and it also utilizes techniques which are really written out step by step so that folks can, can follow along.
30:27

Speaker 2
New Life Journal, authored by Tashia Martin, a licensed social worker and executive leader. Thank you so much for this conversation. You've taught us so much-
30:39

Speaker 1
Mm-hmm.
30:39

Speaker 2
... especially we have a better understanding of what case workers, of what they have to deal with in trying to help others. So we really appreciate you.
30:49

Speaker 1
Thank you for having me, Roberta.
30:51

Speaker 2
My absolute pleasure, Tashia. Before you go, please tell our listeners and viewers where they can find you online.
30:57

Speaker 1
Absolutely. So my email address is connect@restoringlegacy.org. I can also be found on Instagram forward slash res- with my handle being restoringlegacy, also on Linktree, restoringlegacy as well, and on LinkedIn, I can be found Tashia Martin. So Tashia is T-A-S-H-I-A, um, and I look forward to connecting to everyone. And the book can all be found on Amazon.
31:21

Speaker 2

Tashia Martin on LinkedIn and restoringlegacy on Instagram. Thank you very much. This has been such a wonderful-
31:28

Speaker 1
Thank you.
31:29

Speaker 2
... wonderful conversation. My pleasure. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a rating and a review on Apple and Spotify, and stay tuned for more episodes to come. (gentle music)