Articles and Books

WHAT IF? A Seven Threads™ Reflection on Recognition, Visibility, and the Stories We Carry By Lisa Maxine There is something interesting about the word "if". Two letters can hold an extraordinary amount of a person's life. “If I had made a different choice. If I had taken that opportunity. If they had appreciated me. If someone had recognized what I contributed. If things had happened differently.” We tend to point “if” backward, toward decisions already made, relationships al

There is a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from constantly being asked to make other people more comfortable with truths that have never been comfortable for you to live through. Not because you are unclear. Not because the harm is imagined. Not because there is no evidence. But because your honesty unsettles people who have spent most of their lives protected from needing to confront what you are describing directly. As a mental health counselor and a Black woman, I