Episode 44: Urban Trauma, Schizophrenia, and Self Care with Dr. Ashley Elliott PhD aka DrVivid

Dr. Ashley Elliott PhD talks her age 4 job path, self-care necessities, schizophrenia, her specialty urban trauma and adolescents, community activism, motivational speaking, sports psychology, tele medicine and why she doesn’t tell you what to do.

Human Connection, Urban Trauma, humanistic existentialist (I see you as a human and unconditional positive regard and the bad behavior you do does not make you inherently bad or good.) She is in-tune to what the client needs to be able to open up and make break throughs; whether that’s painting, laying on the floor, taking a walk… boils down to making the client comfortable.

Her passion for psychology and helping others stemmed for her own experience at a young age with not one but two unethical counselors.

Her mom was very keen to get her the care necessary and break the cycles. Dr. Ashley Elliott was appreciative, grateful and sparked a desire to help those in need.

Dr. Ashley completed undergrad at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond VA, and masters and doctorate at American School of Professional Psychology. She is a home grown and still lives in Washington D.C..

She specializes in Schizophrenia, Chronic Depression and also what she calls Urban Trauma (Chronic cycles of violence, poverty and overlooked poverty stricken neighborhood issues). Also she has a passion for adolescent because they are hilarious and moldable.

What is the stigma and challenges with counseling schizophrenia so they don’t just end up in jail or worse. Pills are good but they don’t help the underlying problem. She outlines a few different styles of schizophrenia and how important support is for these people.

Teenagers like boundaries and structure despite what they would think. They will act out and a good counselor can help them understand consequences and how to handle the emotions they experience. Are parents the best option to be their safe space or is it someone else?

Educational advocate at a lawyer firm and professional opinion on cases. She also has her own company Vivid Innovation Consulting LLC “DrVivid” which focuses on community activism, social skill groups, motivational speaking, mental health consultant for training summer programs. Her heart and passion is so big that she is flexible with her fees so that more lives are impacted.

What’s the difference between psychologists vs psychiatrists?

Why don’t psychologists tell you what to do in the situation that you are obviously asking their advice on?

She dives into not burning out and what is needed for a positive experience with a psychologist based on her own uniqueness.

Self care and finding out who you are is incredibly important in picking a profession and stopping the burn out in work and family
life. She discusses ways to deal with stress including sleep, naps, wine and showers. You have to know yourself outside of relationship and your job. Learn how to communicate your needs. Power of daily positive affirmations and instilling that in your kids too.

Is Tele-Conferencing and Skype based sessions catching on and what are the pitfalls and pluses of cyber connections?

Dr. Elliott also talks at the end of the interview about sports psychology and who you are outside of sports.

Dr. Ashley Elliott has two programs: Innovator Academy (13-17 year olds) and Vivid Kids (3-12 years old). She covers Identity issues, emotional wellness, interpersonal communication and more.

Ruby Scoops IceCream Peach Cobbler and Bailey’s Irish Flavor … in the DC area you have to get some.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius .

www.vividinnovators.com is her site and www.instagram.com/drvivid she is on all the social media.

Show notes can be found at www.adoctorsperspective.net/44 here you can also find tweetable quotes, links to things mentioned and the Travel Tip

Travel Tip: