Interview 056 with Leslie Gilliam

Listen to Black American Leslie Gilliam — originally from Wilmington, Delaware and now living in Los Angeles, California — share about living with her two kids (10 and 4) and working as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist during the Covid-19 pandemic. “It was incredibly stressful…Online school was hell. But we managed.” Leslie shares about her two children going to school online during the pandemic. On the summer of 2020, Leslie recalls: “I would go see my mom in the mask… Then George Floyd happened… and I remember seeing that.. and like going to my mom's house and watching that on the TV, you know, talking to her about it, and crying about it, 'cause I watched the video. She didn’t. But I couldn't hug my mom, because of all, you know, because we were just so uncertain, about how it's [Covid-19] transmitted… So, I couldn’t hug her…” “So I start my private practice during the pandemic and figured out Zoom. Figured out a portal. I used Simple Practice. It was just kind of like a little bit of trial by error… The only therapy that I knew was being in a room with somebody, reading someone's body language. All of that. I'm sitting there having to navigate a screen, having to navigate technology, you know, all of this why like… My children are in a different room…where usually…my kids will be at school… I would be in the office…” “…I built a private practice quite quickly than I think I normally would, because a lot of Black folks were ready to do therapy. I think there was something between the pandemic, racial reckoning, or whatever we want to call it. I think people being able to be at home, to perhaps being isolated, or especially couples, 'cause I work with individual couples, I think they were just like, ‘It's time,’ and so many clients — everyone all of a sudden wanted a Black therapist.” “A lot of my clients, they don’t live close to me. So, I think Zoom is here to stay.” Leslie states.