Kemba Douglas brings healing to marginalized communities in Boulder County
Multi-passionate Kemba Douglas (MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling) is utilizing her education to step into her power and provide service to the Boulder community. Currently a travel therapist at Sandstone Care, Douglas also started Inner Movement Counseling LLC, a private practice, right after graduating in June 2020, and recently contracted with the Boulder Valley School District. “I help support students and families of color that experience racial trauma in the school system,” Douglas says. “I am not only doing individual therapy, but I get to shape my practice to fit my passions and skills while also giving back to my community. I have fallen in love with this work.”
Douglas works to keep a current list of counselors of color updated and connects personally with each provider. She discovered the power of this resource after working for an organization that focused on serving the Queer Trans Black Indigenous People of Color (QTBIPOC) community. Her personal experiences taught her the importance of representation for creating a safe space for the QTBIPOC community to feel seen and understood. “I hope everyone who needs this resource can use it because when I got a black therapist, a lot of my healing started to shift for the better, and I felt fully seen for the first time,” Douglas says.
I knew that Naropa wasn’t like many institutions and that’s what drew me to it. I appreciate that race, social justice, and other hard conversations were welcomed.
“I am very grateful for my transpersonal counseling education because it helped me step into my power when I was pushed at times to speak up for myself and about social justice. My experience attending Naropa and having to be around the Boulder community as a black, queer woman, made me realize the community I want to serve and the work I want to do. I also met amazing people who are still in my life now, that I lean on as friends and colleagues.’
Douglas says the mindfulness seeds from her Naropa education show up daily throughout her multiple roles and she consistently uses her practices when in individual sessions, navigating group dynamics, and keeping herself safe and centered in predominantly white spaces like Naropa and her job.
“I knew that Naropa wasn’t like many institutions and that’s what drew me to it. I appreciate that race, social justice, and other hard conversations were welcomed,” Douglas says. “I think what sets Naropa graduates apart is our passion for what we do and the personal work we do while in the program and after. Being an activist is very draining, so I am learning to remember the joyful things in myself and my life that I have control over. I live my life in a decolonized way, the same way I do therapy, and will continue to live that way for myself and to help my community feel more human.“
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InnerMovementCounseling/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/innermovementcounseling/?hl=en
