May 2025 Mental and Emotional Support Grant Awarded to Hope & Wellness, PLLC

Video Transcript

Marcia: Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Latasha Burnett of Hope & Wellness, PLLC in Dallas, Texas, who is our business-specific grant winner. This month, our grant went to a company that operates in the mental and emotional support category. 

I’m Marcia Layton Turner and I’m one of several WomensNet Advisory Board members. 

Marcia: Latasha, could you tell us a little bit about your company and where the idea to start it originated?

Latasha: Well, I have been working in mental health for almost 25 years. I’ve been a fully licensed clinician for 16 of those years. I’m a licensed marriage and family therapist and a board-approved supervisor. I’m a trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapist, certified. I’m an EMDR-certified therapist, and I specialize in trauma therapy for children, teens, and families.

I’ve been working for agencies for a really long time, but I’m limited in what I can do there. I want to do more research in the area of EMDR and its use with families, specifically, families of color. And I want to study and do more research on EMDR and its use with the autistic population. I also do consultations for clinicians and supervision.

So, I decided to branch out on my own so that I can do all of those things that I want to do to contribute to the field. 

There’s a great need for African-American clinicians in the field of trauma. The Black population is seeking therapy more and more, but we have limited resources and a shortage of clinicians. There’s a high demand but not enough clinicians. So, I am pursuing becoming an EMDR consultant, and through my private practice, working with clinicians so that they can get trained and certified to provide these services to clients in need.

So, that’s pretty much the gist of why I decided to start my private practice back up again, because it gives me the freedom to do all of the things I want to do to better help the clients I serve.

Marcia: Excellent. And I know I’ve heard of EMDR, but what does that stand for?

Latasha: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. It is used a lot with trauma, but it can be used with all types of things, such as pain, anxiety, depression, and performance enhancement. It can be utilized with all kinds of issues. It’s evidence-based. One of the two top evidence-based therapies for people dealing with PTSD specifically for kids and teens, TF-CBT, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the other one.

Marcia: Excellent. Thank you. For people in our community who are thinking about starting a business or who are currently in the process of starting one, what is a resource that you found particularly helpful and that you would recommend to another female business owner?

Latasha: Well, the greatest resource I found was through the Small Business Administration in Dallas County. I was assigned a business mentor, and he walked me through every step of starting my business. On the days when fear and doubt crept in, he encouraged me and helped me believe in myself, and he helped me to remember the vital need for my business in the community. I can’t say enough about how important he was to helping me reach my goal.

Marcia: And Latasha, was that through the SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) program within the SBA?

Latasha: Yes, it is.

Marcia: Okay. Yeah. I know SCORE advisors can be very helpful because they often have experience in your particular business or industry.

Latasha: Exactly. Yes, he did. So, he was able to help me a lot. He helped with things that I wasn’t aware of. 

I’m a great therapist, but the business component of it, I suck at. So, he educated me and really helped me to understand a lot more. And they have a lot of wonderful workshops as well. It’s just a really great resource.

Marcia: Fantastic. So, we’ve talked about resources, but now let’s go specifically to marketing, because marketing is, I think, the biggest challenge that companies at all phases of growth grapple with. 

If you had to recommend one marketing tactic that has worked well for you so far, what would that be, Latasha? 

Latasha: Well, as a mental health agency and starting up, funds are very low. So, I would say mine would be utilizing free therapy directory sites because that can be quite expensive, like getting on the tfcbt.org website, adria.org, inclusivetherapist.com. Those are all free. 

They’re cost effective and efficient approaches to marketing, right, because when people are looking for a therapist or a supervisor or a consultant, they can go directly to those sites. They know that it’s going to be someone that’s qualified, certified. And so I get a lot of referrals from those sites. 

Once again, just starting up and really getting out there. They’re free. It can get quite expensive on some of those other sites. So, that would be the number one thing for me: utilizing those free therapy directory sites and outreach. Getting out to mental health events, spreading my business cards, talking to people, and networking.

Marcia: Very smart. I love that. Finding directories that are free is good advice. 

Now, what’s one thing that members of our WomensNet community might do to show support for your business? 

Latasha: WomensNet can help me by continuing to spread the word through the website and social media accounts that I’m out here trying to make a difference in the field of trauma and mental health, especially in communities of color, because representation does matter. 

And that’s one of the big reasons I’m doing this, because representation matters. People of color need to receive services from people that look like them, talk like them, and can understand what they’ve gone through. So, I’ll just spread the word that I’m out here so that people can reach out to me.

Marcia: We’re so happy that you applied for the grant. And I hope you’ll continue to update us on all your successes, because I know there are going to be things to report. 

Thanks again for coming and sharing your story with our community today. And congratulations on being our May business-specific grant winner.