This clinical psychologist lives up to her name
Fifty miles northeast of Lubbock lies the West Texas farming town of Floydada. “That is where I developed my sense of community,” reminisces Dr. BraVada Garrett-Akinsanya, “and that it doesn’t necessarily refer to someone who lives next door.”
Although only a handful of Black families resided there when Garrett-Akinsanya was growing up, people “always looked out for one another, no matter who they were or where they came from.”
The sixth of seven children born to Austin and Lavada Garrett, she was the first girl, following five boys. “At first my mom wanted to name me Bravo,” says Garrett-Akinsanya. “She was so thrilled to have a girl in the house.”
She settled on BraVada, an offshoot of the word “bravado,” to instill in her daughter the idea that she was “bold, daring and audacious.” So, when contemplating the Christian name her mother gave her, the surname passed down from her grandfather, and her married name (Yoruba for “one who recovers through strength and power),” Garrett-Akinsanya found collective meaning in all of them.
“I see myself as an African American woman boldly recovering from the vestiges of slavery to regain her strength and power,” she affirms. “That’s how I define how I walk in this world.”
While it didn’t take long for Garrett-Akinsanya to figure out what she wanted to do in life, she admits her pre-teen rationale wasn’t precisely what you’d call “inspirational.”
“Chad Everett starred on this TV show ‘Medical Center,’ and his girlfriend on the show was a psychologist,” she laughs. “So I surmised that maybe I could have a boyfriend like that myself if I became a psychologist.”
Her initial motivation marshaled real meaning when Garrett-Akinsanya accompanied her mother to Lubbock for her appointment with an optometrist. “The medical center there had many different doctor’s offices, and one was for a psychologist,” she recounts. “So I walked in and announced that I’d like to see the doctor.”
Upon verifying that Garrett-Akinsanya didn’t have an appointment herself, the receptionist asked, “Why do you want to see the psychologist?”
“Because I want to become a psychologist one day too,” she replied.
Eventually, a tall, heavy-set white man with reddish hair came out to the lobby, where he asked, “Hi, little lady, what can I do for you?” After sharing her professional dreams with the man, she asked, “What do I need to do now?”
“Well,” he said, “Study hard in school and take many different classes. Make A’s on your report card, then go to college. And then, you go to college some more.”
After thanking him, Garrett-Akinsanya was about to leave when he said one more thing she’ll never forget: “Hurry up and stick to it. We need you out here!” That set her on a mission: She would become a clinical psychologist.
A few years later, she enrolled at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. As she approached graduation, Garrett-Akinsanya was accepted to several graduate schools. However, none offered money toward tuition. Afraid her dream was over, she turned to her father, who ensured her things would work out.
Just before earning her B.A., she gained admittance to and funding for the graduate program in psychology at Texas Tech. When she modeled her cap and gown for her dad, he looked at her and said, “I’ve waited my whole life to see a Garrett graduate from college.”
After walking the stage at commencement, receiving her diploma in the very coliseum that her father helped build years before, a call came over the PA system asking her to locate her family. As she approached, she noticed her father wasn’t there, having passed away before the ceremony.
While visiting the funeral home later that day to say her final goodbyes, Garrett-Akinsanya promised her dad that she’d “take this all the way.” In 1990, she became the first African American at Texas Tech to earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.
She began her career as assistant director with the University of Houston’s downtown counseling center before moving on to the professional faculty at the University of Texas at Austin.
Recruited by Washburn Center, Garrett-Akinsanya notes that her initial response to that prospect was, “Oh, hell to the no,” adding that the snow and cold of Minnesota was not for “this Texas girl.” However, her husband, Akinyele, convinced her to at least consider it, and the idea that she could make a difference in the lives of Black children who might lack culturally competent care tipped the balance in Washburn’s favor.
Garrett-Akinsanya spent two years at Washburn before venturing into private practice and establishing Brakins Consulting & Psychological Services, where, in addition to working with children and the victims of intimate partner violence, she specializes in helping organizations identify and address race and gender bias.
“I saw that there was a critical need for this kind of work here,” she explains, “including teaching clinicians how to work cross-culturally.”
As a practitioner working with those impacted by intimate partner violence, Garrett-Akinsanya’s clinical work and philosophy center around the use and abuse of power.
“Black women and other women of color suffer disproportionately from physical, psychological and emotional abuse,” says Garrett-Akinsanya. “This isolation makes them unsafe,” she adds, citing the need for community inclusion, emotional affirmation, and other tools to aid in healing.
In 2009, Garrett-Akinsanya founded the African American Child Wellness Institute, a “culturally specific, trauma-informed agency” that provides children and their families access to mental health services and “holistic wellness resources.”
“Our children are abused too. They are overrepresented in special education, out-of-home placement, and protective services. Some entities are making a lot of money off Black pain.” It’s around the health and wellness of children where Garrett-Akinsanya voices perhaps her most notable clarion call.
“We have to get back to sharing responsibility for children, where we believe that all kids are our kids. Because, indeed, they are all our babies.”
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