Elton Brown 0:05

Welcome to SpeakUp! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown!

Rita Burke 0:11

This is a wonderful time for us to welcome Dr. Joan Samuels. Dennis, as we've shared with you before, Dr. Jones, SpeakUP! International seeks to inspire, inform, and educate, and I know that today we'll have an opportunity to do those things, but let me first ask you or make a comment and get you to respond to me please.

Dr. Joan 0:43

Yes.

Rita Burke 0:44

In your bio you tell us that you are a transformational keynote speaker.

Dr. Joan 0:52

Yes.

Rita Burke 0:52

Help me understand, please, how many speeches would a person need to listen to before they are transformed, and what are some of your topics?

Dr. Joan 1:04

Yeah so I think it's more in the question that might be asked in one of my talks. I'll have different talks and one of my favorite topics to talk about is forgiveness. And truth, forgiveness and reconciliation. But I weave that in different ways into different topics as organizations or churches or, different institutions invite me in. I think the thing that transforms is asking the right question at the right time. When you see an individual. Listen to you and then look off in the distance, like the eye always goes up to the right or to the left, usually up to the right. And when you see that particular look, there is something that has just connected with that individual on a deep level it, I would perhaps call it an aha moment, and it is in those aha moments that a person is able to, I think, make a leap into a new space that they hadn't been before. And that is trans transformation is these series of transition points. But what I hope in every talk is that I'm able to at least hit that for everybody in the audience. It may not be the same point or the same question for everybody in the audience, but I'm gonna have four or five of those key questions that are woven throughout my talk that gets that same kind of response. And that's what will get you to a, the next transition point. And for some people it will be like a major leap over many transition points because they have that one question.

Elton Brown 2:51

Wow. That is absolutely amazing. It just dawned on me that you are the founder of the Village of Peace, and you also, wrote this book called Forgiveness and Live Fearlessly.

Dr. Joan 3:09

Yes.

Elton Brown 3:09

So how does this book help individuals to be able to forgive or find that aha moment.

Dr. Joan 3:17

Yeah. My book four ninety what I do is I walk through an introduction where, In it, I'm listening to a Pastor and in, as I'm listening to the pastor is talking about forgiveness. That's how I bring the book to the reader, and so the reader is, pretty well in the middle of an auditorium or a church, you could call it listening to this pastor talk about forgiveness and the things we need to forgive, and he talks about the betrayal and that the betrayal is like the beginning of all wars. The book then takes the reader through a process of understanding the internal wars that we all experience and that forgiveness done a particular way actually will help us to become aware of our greatest fears and then help us to actually overcome them. So as Christians, we're called to be fearless. We're called to stand still. We're called to be courageous and do not let them make you afraid, we're called to do all of those things, but. Most of us don't actually settle into a space where we consciously process what our fear is all about. And then we don't move through a process of consciously saying, I will not be afraid again. So when we are able to do a forgiveness of somebody, what they're really showing us is the thing that we are afraid. and also what they're showing us is how we love. And so when we do a forgiveness and in the book, I walk you through my own story and at the same time as I walk you through the story, I am teaching you the art of forgiveness. But we always look at the other person first when we do a forgiveness and then we look back at ourselves and we forgive ourselves of exactly the same thing that we just forgave that person for. and it is in that kind of exchange. That we learn about our fears and we learn about the ways that we love. So the book wraps that all into a nice package. Different parts of the story, again, will appeal to different people. And so some people will be transformed by the first chapter. Some people will be transformed by the last. Some people will just have the other parts and the other sections that kind of hit them in between the eye. And that's where the transition points come.

Rita Burke 5:40

That sounds truly amazing and exciting.

Dr. Joan 5:45

Yes.

Rita Burke 5:45

Three words that fly out at me in your presentation so far are love, forgiveness, being fearless.

Dr. Joan 5:58

Yes.

Rita Burke 5:59

And you and I probably need to speak about that fearlessness at some point. know Dr. Joan that. I intentionally did not tell people who you were except for your name.

Dr. Joan 6:14

Yes.

Rita Burke 6:15

And so I'm going to use this opportunity to say that Dr. Joan Samuels. Dennis is a teenager psychotherapist. She has a PhD and is a multi-award winning speaker and authority on trauma recovery. reconciliation and forgiveness. That word pops up again. Joan has specialized in promoting the mental health and wellbeing of individuals, families, and communities for over a decade through her groundbreaking trauma recovery strategy. The forgiveness method.

Dr. Joan 6:58

Yes.

Rita Burke 6:58

So to honor listeners, that's Dr. Joan I have another question here for you, and I'm glad I have the opportunity to ask this question. Hey, I'm Listening. It's a podcast that invites individuals of African descent to tell their stories. How inspirational and motivation are these stories to you, Dr. Joan?

Dr. Joan 7:25

Oh my goodness. I think Hey, I'm Listening has been such a blessing to me. The folks that I invite to come are what I call the community builders, the healers, the leaders. Those who are spiritual teachers those who know that they are here to do something and they are now on a mission to get it done. These are also individuals who have been through a healing journey and at the end of the healing journey, they found that purpose and that vigor for life, and now they're telling their stories. So every week. I am absolutely inspired by their journey. I'm inspired by the fact that they have not only moved through the journey, but they have created a record of that journey and now they're gonna use that record to speak to a tribe of people so that those folks can come up in the same way that they have come up. So they, the stories have been just absolutely phenomenal to hear and, and then to just hear of some of the most traumatic experiences that folks may have had. Let's see. Leah was one of the ladies I think her interview's coming out this week, and Leah was born addicted to alcohol and cocaine and probably a series of other drugs. She was told that she would probably never her parents were told and her grandmother was told that she was never gonna walk. She was never gonna talk. She would probably be blind, like every kind of disability and her grandmother just came in and started praying and Leah capable able, physically mentally well just has gone through this cycle of transformation and the beautiful butterfly arrived, and so when I listen to the beginnings of the individual and then I see them in front of me now, willing to share their stories with such vulnerability it has not only amazed me, it has inspired me and motivated me to keep going so yes

Elton Brown 9:43

How do you incorporate God in your healing techniques?

Dr. Joan 9:47

It's like when you are, you've ever heard that statement? You can say everything about Christ and yet never say Christ

Elton Brown 10:01

Yes,

Dr. Joan 10:03

Because it's in the way of being. It's in the belief that you carry and what you hold for the individual as you move through the journey. So as a psychotherapist, sometimes I have people come and I can never speak the word Christ to them because they don't believe it would be offensive to them. I have others that come and are totally you know Jesus is everything to them. For those individuals, it's easy to speak out loud and come to that conversation about Christ and how Christ empowers the healing process. And then there are times, When I simply speak, and I know the words I'm speaking are words that come right out of the Bible, I know they come out of a place of love, a place of compassion and that's how Christ is woven into it. Forgiveness of course is, Christ is, all forgiveness is all, compassion is all kindness, is all love. And so that's how I consider that. I have woven it into the therapeutic process.

Rita Burke 11:06

So Dr. Joan, forgiveness, working God into your therapeutic process, does that mean then the people who seek your service are usually believers?

Dr. Joan 11:22

I would say about 80, 80% are, I have a lot. The Muslims would also say they're believers because they actually do honor Christ. And so they recognize themselves as that. But I have quite a bit of Muslims that come my way. I have quite of a lot of Asians that come my way mostly black Christians, though that are my clients or have been my clients in the past. I've recently transitioned out of just doing the individual therapy to now focusing on the teaching of the process and then empowering people to actually then help themselves and help other family members. But yeah, I would say predominantly that 80% is black Christians.

Rita Burke 12:03

Thank you so very much. Elton. Didn't know I was going to be fielding this question, It's one of my favorite questions that I can't let you go without asking it. So let's suppose you had the opportunity to use a huge billboard somewhere, where you could reach people anywhere and everywhere.

Dr. Joan 12:27

Yeah.

Rita Burke 12:28

What would you want to put on that billboard? Tell us what you'd want on that billboard?

Dr. Joan 12:33

I would put it is time for humanity to heal. And the reason why I would put humanity versus anyone race is because I'm now in the phase of my own journey where truly the desire is to not only recognize the traumas that have been endured by the various nations of the world and in this, I want to recognize colonialism and the ways in which it has decimated and controlled and gone into territories where it should have left. And want to recognize all the nations of the world that have been dominated and oppressed in these kinds of ways. but it is now time for us and I think we're capable of thinking about this now, that as a humanity, it's time for us to do better and that requires that every segment of humanity now begin to look at the traumas that have been endured and now begin to actively as groups begin to move through their own healing. The work that I do, I was doing with individuals, now it's about truth, forgiveness, and reconciliation with black people forgiving the atrocities that have been done to us. Hopefully later on it will be other groups who want to also experience the same things but ultimately for humanity to engage in every part of the process, including those who are Europeans because I think damage has been done to them as well, and that's the reason why they, seem to occupy territories where they should not.

Rita Burke 14:10

Yes.

Elton Brown 14:11

How do you gain the trust of the people you support?

Dr. Joan 14:15

Thanks, trust. I think one of the ways I build trust is through listening and it's through listening with a compassionate ear. I don't know, as people tell me their stories, I am able to just be a part of the story. I'm able to see things from their perspective and once I'm able to see things from their perspective, then sometimes just by asking a question again it connects us. Or just by making a statement, it connects us and it is in that moment of connection that really the trust is built. Once I do that with an individual, if I'm with a group of individuals, the way that I build trust is by maintaining that individuality with them, even though I'm in a group, so I could be in a group with 20 individuals and every person I communicate with, even though we might be sitting at a table and all 20 are listening to the conversation, when I'm done speaking with person A, they know their person A and that I know their person A, and if I'm speaking with person D or F, they know their person F and that I connect with them on that individual level. But we're also, part of the larger group. So I think an ability to have people just uniquely be themselves with me, even in the midst of a group, builds a lot of trust. And I think one of the places that I then need to go to in terms of building trust is with groups that are outside of the black community and just being able to, once again, to be able to connect with them to be able to offer compassion to the experiences that they've had. But I would say compassion is perhaps the greatest gift that Christ offered any of us and it's always the gift that I aim to offer the people that I'm with.

Rita Burke 16:07

Indeed. And he continues to offer it, doesn't he?

Dr. Joan 16:10

He does.

Rita Burke 16:10

He continues and he wants us to remember that.

Dr. Joan 16:13

Yes.

Rita Burke 16:13

So you are involved in a helping and a supporting and a healing to many. You are the leader, one of the leaders. I don't have to tell you this. I'm sure you're aware that leaders need to recharge. healers need recharge.

Dr. Joan 16:35

Yes.

Rita Burke 16:36

Christ God took time away to recharge. What do you do, Dr. Joan to recharge?

Dr. Joan 16:44

One of my favorite things to do is to read. I actually find that if I can set some time aside and if I can soak up the knowledge of others who are out there and learn from them, that is an amazing recharge for me. I think when I can also speak with individuals who are doing inspiring work that recharges me, I get a lot of energy from other people, right? I give energy, but I get a lot of energy. So whenever I can talk to people who are doing inspiring work but if I'm going to talk about my solitude moments every morning I'll wake up, I do something called morning journals. Or morning pages, I should say. After that, I go into a time of prayer. After that I might do some listening to music and then my devotion, like actually going into the scriptures and learning whatever lesson is for the day to bring it forward. And that's how I start my day. And I find if I don't start it that way, then I get depleted pretty quickly. But if I start it that way and I'm pretty consistent then I can move through my day and through my weeks really easily.

Rita Burke 17:49

So you have a ritual, so to speak.

Dr. Joan 17:52

Yes.

Rita Burke 17:53

The beginning your day.

Dr. Joan 17:55

Yes.

Rita Burke 17:56

As an intentional, intentionally planned ritual.

Dr. Joan 18:00

Yes.

Rita Burke 18:00

And give you the energy and the strength and the motivation and the inspiration that you need to move on. with you day thank you for sharing that with us.

Dr. Joan 18:08

Yeah.

Elton Brown 18:09

Can you tell us a little bit about the Village of Peace?

Dr. Joan 18:14

Yeah. Two years ago I did a Truth, Forgiveness and Reconciliation event that was in Brampton. We gathered together I believe it was in February, so it was Black History Month oriented, and we gathered about 50. Maybe a little bit more individuals at Brampton City Hall. And we moved that day through a truth, forgiveness, and reconciliation process. After that day, it was such a powerful day. I decided to form the Village of Peace, and the goal was to recognize. That we as a people need spaces where we can come together and in a lot of ways unite beyond the social space but also unite in some political ways for movement and change in our environment. The Village of Peace is really about gathering us together so that we can now create environments that are culturally safe and that we are free from oppression. So with the Village of Peace, we have programs that we design that's about helping government and non-government organizations indigenize move away from systemic oppression in the ways that they operate. We also have a curriculum that helps younger people heal. So talking about high school students, teaching them the forgiveness process and the healing journey that they can move through. Also using journaling as a pretty cool tool in order for some of that to happen and we have a few other programs that we're working on that I'm sure will evolve over time. But yeah, that's what the Village of Peace is all about.

Rita Burke 19:58

Dr. Joan, I to keep on listening to you because you bring so much to the table. No, you don't bring much to the, you bring to the podcast I've heard words that resonate with me in such a, an amazing way, and as I listened to you, I think of one of my favorite authors who's no longer with us Maya Angelou.

Dr. Joan 20:25

Yeah.

Rita Burke 20:25

And she has a poem, and I'm trying to remember, I think it's called A Brave and Something World. Truly Amazing. I may send it to you when I'm done.

Dr. Joan 20:33

Yes.

Rita Burke 20:34

But as I said to you earlier, SpeakUP! International. Our purpose is to inspire, to inform and to educate, and I have no doubt that we've been able to do that talking with you today. So I extend a huge thank you to you for joining us on SpeakUP! International, and I hope that a conversation doesn't end here today that we'll talk again.

Dr. Joan 21:03

Absolutely.

Rita Burke 21:04

Guess what I have to say? Back to you. Hey, we are listening. it's been a pleasure to be with you both.

Dr. Joan 21:13

Thank you for the wonderful questions that you've asked. Yeah,

Elton Brown 21:17

it's been a wonderful conversation.

Dr. Joan 21:20

Absolutely

Rita Burke 21:21

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

Elton Brown 21:27

Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! International! To request a more information about our guest. Dr. Joan Samuels-Dennis please send your inquiries to connect@drjoan.ca. Do you have a service or organization you would like to announce to our communities? Please send your name, company, name website and email address to info@speakuppodcast.ca. To listen to more of our podcasts you can go to www.speakuppodcast.ca or wherever you listen to your podcasts and look up, SpeakUP! International! Our logo has the woman with her hand pointing up mouth open, speaking UP!.