Mother-Daughter Therapists Use Different Techniques To Support BIPOC, LGBTQ Communities

At Magnolia Wellness L.L.C., a mother-and-daughter team employs different therapy techniques to serve the same purpose: to support the mental health needs of people of color and the LGBTQ population.

Both champions for change, Gizelle Tircuit and her daughter Janelle Posey-Green, founded the New-London, Connecticut, private family practice in 2016. Magnolia Wellness specializes in clinical services and interventions for people who are underrepresented and often misunderstood within the mental health field. According to The Day, the pair believes that the BIPOC and LGBTQ communities are among those people.

Posey-Green, a licensed clinical social worker, specializes in working with women over 16 who have experienced trauma. She has a strong background in African and Native Indigenous healing practices, such as sound therapy and other psychotherapy techniques to provide a well-rounded healing experience.

Tircuit works to accomplish her client’s goals through the educational aspects of therapy. As a licensed psychotherapist, she approaches her treatment through the lens and teachings of Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler. His framework focused on understanding individuals within their own social context. At Magnolia Wellness, Tircuit specializes in working with people who are battling addiction and mental health at the same time.

Outside of their practice, the mother-daughter therapists are active community members. They created a series of online forums called the Connecticut BIPOC Mental Health and Wellness Initiative to provide resources for those who needed support during the pandemic and nation’s uproar following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Through this initiative, Tircuit and Posey-Green developed a list of therapists of color so that people seeking help could quickly and easily find clinicians “who look like them,” understand their culture, and provide more focused therapy, they explained to the news outlet.

“While 56% of therapists identify as white, only 5% identify as Black or African American,” Tircuit told the news outlet. The lack of representation, Posey-Green said, “creates this deficit for people to get access to someone who is of the same culture as them to get support. … The best way to do that is by creating opportunities, so they have access to the same care as anyone else.”