The Mental Wellness Practice

How do Guyanese Americans perceive mental health? Guyana has one of the highest suicide rates in the world and today more individuals live in the diaspora than the nation itself. Why has a community carrying some of the heaviest mental health statistics gone largely unstudied in counseling literature? 
This special episode is the first in a series exploring Guyanese American Mental Health. Dr. Shainna chats with a few fellow members of the Guyanese American Mental Health Research Team, Dr. John Harrichand and Dr. Aliya Subhit, for a long-overdue conversation about the gap in research, the lived realities of Guyanese American mental wellness, and the findings from their research.
Learn more about the team’s work here.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
The Research Gap
Decolonizing mental health care
Examining bias
How the researchers were drawn to this project
Cultural Context & Gender Dynamics
Guyanese American Perceptions of Mental health (research findings)
Individualism and Collectivism in mental health
Intergenerational Coping Patterns

Community & Religion as mental health factors

Dr. John J. S. Harrichand is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling at Montclair State University. A Guyanese-born scholar who immigrated to Canada and then the United States, his research focuses on culturally responsive counseling, counselor education and supervision, and social justice advocacy for minoritized communities.
Dr. Aliya Subhit is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), researcher, clinician, and advocate. As a first-generation Guyanese American woman, she brings clinical expertise and lived experience to the team's research on diaspora mental health.
⁠Dr. Shainna⁠ is a licensed mental health counselor, educator, author, and advocate dedicated to destigmatizing mental health counseling and helping individuals worldwide cultivate mental wellness. She is the creator of multiple resources that make mental health support more accessible, including the best-selling⁠ The Self-Love Workbook⁠ and her highly anticipated new release,⁠ Generational Healing⁠. She is the host of The Mental Wellness Practice Podcast and has been featured in Vogue, ABC, CBS, NPR, The Washington Post, Parents, and Insider.
Dr. Shainna is the owner of The Mental Wellness Practice LLC, a strengths-based clinical mental health and consulting practice in Central Florida. She serves on the board of⁠ To Write Love on Her Arms⁠, is a former Board Director of The Mental Health Association of Central Florida, and is past president of the Florida Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development. Her honors include the Association for Specialists in Group Work's Al Dye Award, the Pete Fischer Humanitarian Award, and UCF's 30 Under 30 and Noble Knight distinctions.
Follow Dr. Shainna on Instagram and Facebook →⁠ @drshainna⁠ Find more resources, workshops, and support →⁠ www.drshainna.com⁠
A Qualitative Investigation of Guyanese American Perceptions of Mental Health (Ali, Harrichand, Shillingford-Butler, & Herbert, 2023), published in The Professional Counselor.
Guyanese American Mental Wellness: A Phenomenological Study of Rupture and Resilience (Harrichand, Ali, & Subhit, 2026), published in COUNS-EDU.
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This podcast is for educational purposes only. If you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health disorder, please consult with a licensed professional.

Guest & Host BiosAbout Dr. John HarrichandAbout Dr. Aliya SubhitAbout Dr. ShainnaFeatured Research Explored

Eldest daughter syndrome has gone viral—but this trend is no fad. With origins in birth order theory, the eldest daughter phenomenon may be a part of pop culture, but it is often misunderstood. You can fit the eldest daughter role without being the actual eldest daughter. And when you are the eldest daughter who doesn’t fit the seemingly universal description, that speaks volumes too. 
In this episode I’m joined by Geri Lopez, therapist, first-gen advocate, and yes, eldest daughter, to explore the origins of birth order theory, key influences, and what it means for us as individuals and as a community. This is not just about the women who were born first, the messages in this episode shines a light on other elements of birth order theory that fall into the shadow of the eldest daughter concept and explores how deconstructing this concept is where we find choice, agency and sovereignty no matter when we were born.
What is birth order theory?

What is the “strong one” trend?

Birth order 101: common eldest, middle, and youngest traits, and what happens when there is a big age gap between siblings

The difference between clinical parentification and the pseudo-parent role that persists into adulthood

When the eldest daughter is not the eldest daughter

Gender, patriarchy, and how culture affects the roles we hold

The immigrant family and collective culture layer of the eldest daughter experience

How blame and martyrdom inhibit healing

How generational patterns affect birth order

Neuroplasticity and the power to shift

Geri Lopez, LPC (she/they) is a Latinx therapist, burnout life coach, and first-gen advocate who helps women, queer adults, and therapists heal burnout, navigate identity and trauma, and build more grounded, sustainable lives. As a gender-fluid, bicultural, bilingual clinician, Geri provides affirming care for first-gen and LGBTQIA+ adults while helping clients strengthen boundaries, relationships, and nervous system regulation  without overworking or shrinking who they are.
Follow Geri on Instagram → @womxn.compass.collective
More about Dr. Shainna
⁠Dr. Shainna⁠ is a licensed mental health counselor, educator, author, and advocate dedicated to destigmatizing mental health counseling and helping individuals worldwide cultivate mental wellness. She is the creator of multiple resources that make mental health support more accessible, including the best-selling⁠ The Self-Love Workbook⁠ and her highly anticipated new release,⁠ Generational Healing⁠. She is the host of The Mental Wellness Practice Podcast and has been featured in Vogue, ABC, CBS, NPR, The Washington Post, Parents, and Insider.
Dr. Shainna is the owner of The Mental Wellness Practice LLC, a strengths-based clinical mental health and consulting practice in Central Florida. She serves on the board of⁠ To Write Love on Her Arms⁠, is a former Board Director of The Mental Health Association of Central Florida, and is past president of the Florida Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development. Her honors include the Association for Specialists in Group Work's Al Dye Award, the Pete Fischer Humanitarian Award, and UCF's 30 Under 30 and Noble Knight distinctions.
Follow Dr. Shainna on Instagram and Facebook →⁠ @drshainna⁠ Find more resources, workshops, and support →⁠ www.drshainna.com⁠
💌 Loved this episode? Share it, follow the podcast, and leave a review.
Resources 
Discount Code DRSHAINNA
🪷 La Agra 
💍 ⁠Anxiring ⁠ 
⁠The Self-Love Workbook⁠
⁠Generational Healing⁠ 
⁠The Self-Love Workbook for Teens⁠
⁠The Self-Love Planner⁠
⁠Luna Finds Love Everywhere⁠
⁠Designing Healthy Boundaries

This podcast is for educational purposes only. If you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health disorder, please consult with a licensed professional.
We dive into:More about Geri Lopez, LPC

What lies at the intersection of food and mental health? Most of us think about nutrition, and while that’s true, in this episode we are going a bit deeper. Dr. Shainna is joined by Alica Ramkirpal-Senhouse, a seasoned food blogger and recipe developer who focuses on preserving and sharing Guyanese and Caribbean cuisine. Together, they explore the nourishing elements of food that we commonly overlook such as comfort, connection, and cultural preservation.
Tune in to explore
Why food is far more than nutrition & the elements of it we most often overlook

How to better understand your own comfort food

How cooking is a form of cultural preservation

The therapeutic elements of cooking

How food consumption mirrors your identity and phase of life

How slow cooking affects your mental wellness

How Alica was drawn to cooking and why she is passionate about culinary reclamation

How migration, gender, and culture influence creation, consumption, and preservation.

More about Alica
Alica Ramkirpal-Senhouse is a seasoned food blogger and recipe developer with 16 years of experience at Alica’s Pepperpot. Her blog focuses on Guyanese and Caribbean-American cuisine and has cultivated a dedicated readership over the years. Before transitioning to food media, Alica worked in sales and marketing in New York, where she was born and raised. Her work has been featured in prominent outlets such as  National Geographic Traveller UK (winter 2022), Food & Wine magazine’s March 2021 print issue, Condé Nast Traveller, Eater, and Simply Recipes.  In June 2023, Alica earned first place and the audience choice award in a culinary arts competition at the Walt Disney World Center for Hospitality and Culinary Arts at Valencia College. 
Follow Alica on IG
More about Dr. Shainna
⁠Dr. Shainna⁠ is a licensed mental health counselor, educator, author, and advocate dedicated to destigmatizing mental health counseling and helping individuals worldwide cultivate mental wellness. She is the creator of multiple resources that make mental health support more accessible, including the best-selling⁠ The Self-Love Workbook⁠ and her highly anticipated new release,⁠ Generational Healing⁠. She is the host of The Mental Wellness Practice Podcast and has been featured in Vogue, ABC, CBS, NPR, The Washington Post, Parents, and Insider.
Dr. Shainna is the owner of The Mental Wellness Practice LLC, a strengths-based clinical mental health and consulting practice in Central Florida. She serves on the board of⁠ To Write Love on Her Arms⁠, is a former Board Director of The Mental Health Association of Central Florida, and is past president of the Florida Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development. Her honors include the Association for Specialists in Group Work's Al Dye Award, the Pete Fischer Humanitarian Award, and UCF's 30 Under 30 and Noble Knight distinctions.
Follow Dr. Shainna on Instagram and Facebook →⁠ @drshainna⁠ Find more resources, workshops, and support →⁠ www.drshainna.com⁠
💌 Loved this episode? Share it, follow the podcast, and leave a review.

Resources 
Discount Code DRSHAINNA
🪷 La Agra 
💍 ⁠Anxiring ⁠ 
⁠The Self-Love Workbook⁠
⁠Generational Healing⁠ 
⁠The Self-Love Workbook for Teens⁠
⁠The Self-Love Planner⁠
⁠Luna Finds Love Everywhere⁠
⁠Designing Healthy Boundaries

This podcast is for educational purposes only. If you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health disorder, please consult with a licensed professional.

In this episode, Dr. Shainna sits down with celebrated artist, author, and researcher Morgan Harper Nichols for a grounding conversation on narrative therapy, creative expression, and healing through art. Moving beyond rigid expectations of what makes an experience deep, Morgan shares how simple practices can unlock centered clarity. Together, they explore how permission to play serves as an overlooked form of generational wealth, how we hold different pieces of who we are, and how embracing creative failure can lead to transformative storytelling.
Meaning making

Play as Generational Wealth

Parts work exploration

The inner council

How failure can be a catalyst

How micromoments make all the difference

The power within storytelling 

More About Morgan Harper Nichols
Morgan Harper Nichols is an artist, author, researcher, and PhD student in Communication Studies at the University of Georgia. Her work enagages interactive storytelling, creative worldbuilding, and meaning-making. After being diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and sensory processing disorder in her early thirties, Morgan embraced a collage-based approach to art, music, and poetry that reflects patterns of assemblage, adaptation, and shared connection. Across digital media, her books, including the bestseller All Along You Were Blooming, she creates gentle visual and written spaces for healing and quiet reflection. She also serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors for TWLOHA.
Follow along:
Instagram Substack

More about Dr. Shainna
⁠Dr. Shainna⁠ is a licensed mental health counselor, educator, author, and advocate dedicated to destigmatizing mental health counseling and helping individuals worldwide cultivate mental wellness. She is the creator of multiple resources that make mental health support more accessible, including the best-selling⁠ The Self-Love Workbook⁠ and her highly anticipated new release,⁠ Generational Healing⁠. She is the host of The Mental Wellness Practice Podcast and has been featured in Vogue, ABC, CBS, NPR, The Washington Post, Parents, and Insider.
Dr. Shainna is the owner of The Mental Wellness Practice LLC, a strengths-based clinical mental health and consulting practice in Central Florida. She serves on the board of⁠ To Write Love on Her Arms⁠, is a former Board Director of The Mental Health Association of Central Florida, and is past president of the Florida Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development. Her honors include the Association for Specialists in Group Work's Al Dye Award, the Pete Fischer Humanitarian Award, and UCF's 30 Under 30 and Noble Knight distinctions.
Follow Dr. Shainna on Instagram and Facebook →⁠ @drshainna⁠ Find more resources, workshops, and support →⁠ www.drshainna.com⁠
💌 Loved this episode? Share it, follow the podcast, and leave a review.

Resources 
Discount Code DRSHAINNA
🪷 La Agra 
💍 ⁠Anxiring ⁠ 

⁠The Self-Love Workbook⁠
⁠Generational Healing⁠ 
⁠The Self-Love Workbook for Teens⁠
⁠The Self-Love Planner⁠
⁠Luna Finds Love Everywhere⁠
⁠Designing Healthy Boundaries

This podcast is for educational purposes only. If you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health disorder, please consult with a licensed professional.

For most of our lives, we were taught to track our cycle for one reason: pregnancy. But what if it was quietly holding clues about your energy, your mood, your creativity, your boundaries — and your mental wellness — all along?
In this episode of The Mental Wellness Practice Podcast, Dr. Shainna gets honest about why women deserve so much more than what we have been taught about our menstrual cycles. Drawing on her experience as a licensed mental health counselor and educator, she walks us through the four phases of the menstrual cycle and offers practical, grounded guidance for how to sync with each rather than push against it.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
What cycle syncing actually is 

How to track your cycle

The phases of a standard menstrual cycle, including what to anticipate and how to harness the energy of each phase for well-being

How cycle-synching can support self-care

More about Dr. Shainna
⁠Dr. Shainna⁠ is a licensed mental health counselor, educator, author, and advocate dedicated to destigmatizing mental health counseling and helping individuals worldwide cultivate mental wellness. She is the creator of multiple resources that make mental health support more accessible, including the best-selling⁠ The Self-Love Workbook⁠ and her highly anticipated new release,⁠ Generational Healing⁠. She is the host of The Mental Wellness Practice Podcast and has been featured in Vogue, ABC, CBS, NPR, The Washington Post, Parents, and Insider.
Dr. Shainna is the owner of The Mental Wellness Practice LLC, a strengths-based clinical mental health and consulting practice in Central Florida. She serves on the board of⁠ To Write Love on Her Arms⁠, is a former Board Director of The Mental Health Association of Central Florida, and is past president of the Florida Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development. Her honors include the Association for Specialists in Group Work's Al Dye Award, the Pete Fischer Humanitarian Award, and UCF's 30 Under 30 and Noble Knight distinctions.
Follow Dr. Shainna on Instagram and Facebook →⁠ @drshainna⁠ Find more resources, workshops, and support →⁠ www.drshainna.com⁠
💌 Loved this episode? Share it, follow the podcast, and leave a review.
Resources 
Discount Code DRSHAINNA
🪷 La Agra 
💍 ⁠Anxiring ⁠ 

⁠The Self-Love Workbook⁠
⁠Generational Healing⁠ 
⁠The Self-Love Workbook for Teens⁠
⁠The Self-Love Planner⁠
⁠Luna Finds Love Everywhere⁠
⁠Designing Healthy Boundaries

This podcast is for educational purposes only. If you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health disorder, please consult with a licensed professional.