By Anthony Payton, Common Ground Initiative

Nicole Sublette is a licensed clinical mental health counselor, with a private practice in Manchester. Sublette primarily specializes in anxiety, depression, PTSD, and trauma. Columnist and podcast host Anthony Payton recently sat down with Sublette to discuss mental health issues and care.

The transcript has been edited lightly for length and clarity

Anthony Payton: Being in the field, how have you seen the mental health field change for the better? And what is it that may still be missing?

Nicole Sublette: What has been improved is the advent of telehealth, and telehealth has been really wonderful because it makes therapy accessible to people who might not otherwise have therapy accessible, especially being one of the few BIPOC clinicians in the state. It allows people to see me and allows me to access people all around the state without them necessarily having to travel. People with disabilities might not be able to make into the office. It just makes therapy far, far more accessible, which is really wonderful. 

I think that mental health needs to grow in the way that when we're talking about cultural responsiveness for serving clients in that I know it's up and coming and it's on the forefront of the minds of clinicians. However, in the past, the people who had access to mental health services, which happened to be a lot of white populations, they were able to access it, whereas more diverse populations did not have a lot of access. Then a lot of the studies for mental health efficacy were primarily done on middle-aged white males. A lot of the principles and a lot of the concepts and a lot of the evidence-based treatment modalities are really only for a certain sample size and specific population.

Anthony Payton: When you speak about BIPOC communities and black communities, have we begun to chip away at the stigma in black or BIPOC communities regarding mental health?

Nicole Sublette: Stigma is something that like we think about as an internalization, like I have a stigma toward something because I don't want to do it, or stigma as a reticence to do something, as an internalization. But we have to actually broaden the scope and think more systemically. We have to ask, why is there a stigma? There's a stigma because there is a reluctance to seek healthcare due to often the historic misdiagnosis specifically of black Americans, and they tended to be misdiagnosed at higher rates and have been exploited by the government and the medical community in the name of medical advancement. Another reason is too, if we think about incarceration and we think about the prison populations, that black Americans make up 33% of those sentenced to prison and only make about 13% of the adult population. People are fearful of disclosing a mental health struggle; what might happen to them? What might their repercussion be? I think it's really important to think about where the stigma came from, and it really came from historical exploitation.

Anthony Payton: So how do we go about offering an ear or a kind word to someone who may be struggling with something?

Nicole Sublette: I think it's about active listening. Oftentimes when we listen to people, we already have a response in our minds or we're already thinking about what we want to say or we're thinking about whatever, maybe we're thinking about the weather, but active listening is being open, receptive, and present. How we can lend an ear is by suspending thought and really focusing on what someone's saying. If we're finding that someone is struggling with mental health or struggling with their emotions, maybe they're struggling with their thoughts, we can be present to what somebody's saying. Then at that point we can be aligned with them and maybe say, what can I do to help you? What can I do to be of service to you? What can I do to support you?

If it feels like something beyond the scope of what you can handle, say, maybe it might be beneficial to get some additional care for yourself, depending on what somebody's saying. But I think it's really important to be present, open, and listening. Remember that when we are open, present, and listening, that if you're not a therapist, if you're not a professional, please don't try to take it on. That can be very, very dangerous. It's always important to support someone in recommending getting help and seeking treatment. If they feel nervous being along and being supportive and being present for their processing, if you want to make that call, I'll be there. I'll be here to help you. I'll be here to support you.

Anthony Payton: What resources should our audience use if they or a loved one may be having thoughts of suicide?

Nicole Sublette: There's been this new beautiful line called 9-8-8. In the past we used to call 9-1-1, which was an intervention where the police would come. Now we have 9-8-8, which is a suicide crisis and lifeline for folks who feel like they need additional support and care.

Nicole Sublette: People can just Google Nicole Sublette counseling. People can certainly contact me through that site and send me an email if they would like to connect further.

Anthony Payton: There's one more question that we ask all of our guests. I'm a foodie, I cook at the Cypress Center. Right now, if you're hungry, you get ready to go into your refrigerator, what are you doing? Why are you doing it? And if you're going out, what are you grabbing?

Nicole Sublette: I love food, too. For myself, if I'm going to cook, I love to use like a lot of fresh foods and eat them seasonally. I think if you're going to go out, any menu that boasts eating seasonally is always a recommendation. There's so many great restaurants in Manchester, New Hampshire that it's really hard for me to pick one.

Anthony Payton: When you talk about healing and mental health, food can go a very long way to an empty stomach helping people get back on track. Thank you, Nicole. I know you have things to do, but we really appreciate your presence and hopefully people reach out and take advantage of opportunities that are laying there for them to help them get better.

Anthony Payton is an award-winning columnist based in Manchester. He can be reached at Anthony.Payton@collaborativenh.org These stories are part of The Common Ground Initiative which aims to highlight the diversity of our communities with stories of people the average Granite Stater might not get to see or meet, clarify misconceptions and find the threads that bind us all together as one New Hampshire community.  They are being shared with partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.