{"id":114511,"date":"2022-02-02T12:14:05","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T18:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/?p=114511"},"modified":"2024-12-19T15:47:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T21:47:48","slug":"empowering-narratives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/empowering-narratives\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering narratives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AyannaAyanna Abrams, Psy.D., possesses a combination of curiosity, compassion, and drive that has propelled her to where she stands today: a licensed clinical psychologist running her own practice, spreading her message of self-empowerment through storytelling. \u201cStorytelling is a big part of how I interact with the world,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

At Ascension Behavioral Health, the practice she founded in Atlanta, Dr. Abrams harnesses the impact of stories by using personal and societal narratives to help her clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I work primarily with Black clients and clients of African descent across the diaspora, identifying and finding empowerment in their narratives is vastly, vastly important,\u201d Dr. Abrams explains. Witnessing these results firsthand has only strengthened Dr. Abrams\u2019 belief that stories can hold immeasurable power.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, the narratives of marginalized populations have been stripped away in favor of revisionism. It\u2019s important to offer a space for people to claim their narratives; a space for them to talk about themselves in their own words, not the words of their parents, not the words of the teacher they had in third grade, not the words of the media,\u201d Dr. Abrams says. \u201cOftentimes the language our society uses for Black people is negatively skewed, deficient, harmful, and ultimately very dangerous. Offering them a space where they get to tell their story in their own words and in words that have a lot more compassion, a lot more empowerment, a lot more congruence for them is transformative for clients.\u201d<\/p>\n

This penchant for storytelling was an inevitable extension of Dr. Abrams\u2019 natural interests. \u201cI\u2019ve always been interested in how people came to be how they are,\u201d she recalls. The daughter of Caribbean immigrants, her upbringing in the suburbs of New Jersey exposed her to cultural differences at an early age, sparking the curiosity that would lead to her life\u2019s pursuit.<\/p>\n

Studying psychology allowed her to enrich and expand on her interests with the depth she truly desired. \u201cPsychology blended science, human behavior, and family dynamics in a way that was just fascinating to me,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Dr. Abrams received undergraduate degrees in psychology and African American studies but believed that she\u2019d still only learned part of the greater story of mental health needs in the United States today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the focus on diversity in The Chicago School\u2019s programs along with the diversity of the faculty and knew they could help me fill in the gaps,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The diversity of her peers at The Chicago School also encouraged her to expand her own perspective and further enrich relationships through finding commonalities. \u201cBeing able to connect with people who were from all these different places but who had similar goals and interests as me in terms of career path was really important,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Dr. Abrams, who graduated with both an M.A. and a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from The Chicago School, credits the institution with providing her a better understanding of the communities she\u2019d be serving and how she wanted to approach her work with clients. \u201cI think the relationships The Chicago School helped us foster in the community as students were profound, and they have been a huge help to me,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

Dr. Abrams also brings the power of storytelling to another project: The Not So Strong Initiative. Not So Strong aims to create spaces for Black women to find power in vulnerability and to foster and maintain better relationships with each other. They have hosted webinars, virtual retreats, and several Black women speakers, all focused on what they refer to as vulnerable storytelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m helping underscore for women the importance of their relationships with other Black women and really helping them understand the history of how we got severed over time due to racism, misogyny, and gender dynamics,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Dr. Abrams hopes to expand her efforts even further. \u201cIt\u2019s always been important for me to find ways to get out of the room, get creative, and make information about therapy more accessible,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n

Learn more about The Chicago School<\/h3>\n

To learn more about academic programs at The Chicago School, fill out the information below to request more information. You can also apply today through our application portal here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ayanna Abrams, Psy.D., possesses a combination of curiosity, compassion, and drive that has propelled her to where she stands today: a licensed clinical psychologist running her own practice, spreading her message of self-empowerment through storytelling. \u201cStorytelling is a big part of how I interact with the world,\u201d she says. At Ascension Behavioral Health, the practice she founded in Atlanta, Dr. Abrams harnesses the impact of stories by using personal and societal narratives to help her clients. \u201cBecause I work primarily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":114600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[1252],"coauthors":[1241],"class_list":["post-114511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-magazine","tag-winter-2022"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEmpowering narratives - Insight Digital Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alumna Ayanna Abrams, Psy.D., uses storytelling in her practice as a clinical psychologist to empower clients.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/empowering-narratives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Empowering narratives - 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