GoodTherapy Member Spotlight: Dr. LaNail Plummer

Q: What would you want someone who’s never been to therapy before to know about starting therapy?

Dr. Plummer:

Therapy is a relationship: it’s a therapeutic partnership or alliance. It may take a bit of time to really get into the groove of things. It takes time to build that ease and comfort. If the comfort doesn’t happen right away, give it a little more time, maybe a couple of months, to really see how you feel.

The other thing to consider is that whatever brings us to therapy, our presenting issue, may not be the root issue. Often, it’s a symptom that brings us to therapy, not the actual root. If we trust our therapist, they can help us get to that root issue. And whatever that root issue is, it has likely been forming for years, if not decades. 

In summary, recognize that therapy is a relationship and a process, and it’s going to take a little bit of time.

Q: How can therapy help someone who feels like something’s off but can’t quite put their finger on it?

Dr. Plummer:

Our brains are designed in a particular way where we can often ruminate, specifically in the positioning between our amygdala and our hippocampus. But being able to talk through that issue pushes it through the amygdala and the hippocampus and up to the prefrontal cortex, where we’re thinking differently and have executive functioning and behavior from that. So talk therapy helps us stop that rumination. Think about a hamster on a wheel: that’s what happens with our thoughts when we keep having them recur. But therapy is the way to stop the wheel and allow the hamster to come off.

Talk therapy has a neurological effect, but it also has an emotional effect. When we’re going through something challenging and having a difficult time coming up with a solution, we need a safe space. Participating in therapy allows us to have a relationship with somebody who truly cares about what’s best for us and has a treatment plan to help us get where we want to go.

A therapist is often objective to the situation. They will ask questions and share summaries or interpretations that may allow the client to think outside the box because it’s not so personal.

Q: Why is it important for people to find therapists who truly understand them, whether through shared background, identity, or something else?

Dr. Plummer:

My most recent book, The Essential Guide for Counseling Black Women, is specific to Black women, but it’s the first in a series that will be dedicated to different demographics.

It’s important because when a client comes in, they want to be able to talk about whatever challenge they’re having and get direction, questions, summaries, and interpretations. They come in to be the client; they don’t come in to be an educator. Often, clients are looking for counselors who are similar to them in any type of identifier because they don’t want to have to explain who they are and some of the cultural nuances.

All mental health professions require their graduate students to take a multicultural course, but the course is only about 15 weeks long. It doesn’t spend as much time identifying all of the needs for different races and genders. There may be one class per course that talks about a specific race or gender, and that’s really just not enough.

A book like The Essential Guide allows therapists to go deeper in their learning and understanding so that even if a client comes and doesn’t think they are most relatable to that therapist, the therapist has the cultural competency and understanding to do more than adequate work with that client.

Q: If you had to describe your therapy approach in one sentence, what makes you a good fit for clients?

Dr. Plummer:

My approach is that I actually care about people. I actually really love people. I am extremely curious about who people are, how they became who they are, the decisions they’ve made in their life. I like to highlight their strengths as well as where there are gaps between who they currently are and who they want to be.

Most people identify me as extremely relatable. I fit into lots of different spaces and elements and lots of different engagements with other people. Because of that, I can pick up quite quickly what people need in that particular moment, whether it’s words of affirmation or a particular direction and approach.

My theoretical orientation is cognitive, so I spend a lot of time thinking about people’s thoughts and helping them think about their thoughts before we really get into the emotions and the actions they’ve taken. That tends to lead toward my therapeutic modality as well, which is CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).

Q: What’s one practical tip or mindset shift you often share that helps people start feeling better?

Dr. Plummer:

Often, people come to therapy seeking advice. A good therapist is not going to give advice: they’re going to guide a client toward a solution that the client wants for themselves. 

I often give the analogy that a mother teaches her daughter how to ride a bike because all she knows how to do is ride that bike. She learned how to ride a bike, she felt empowered when she learned, and it allowed her to move through spaces quicker and get things done. She’s proud of her ability to ride a bike. So when she has a daughter, she teaches her daughter how to ride a bike because she wants to pass that information on. 

But then later in life, [the daughter] feels cheated because her mom didn’t teach her how to drive a car. But the mom never knew how to drive a car. I think that makes clients feel better in understanding that your parents and grandparents often did the best that they could, even though it wasn’t all that you needed. Just because you don’t have a need met right now doesn’t mean that it can’t get met and that somebody can lean in and support you in that process.

Wherever there are gaps, we’ll help them find out who in their life can support them. And even if it’s within them already to learn how to do certain things. I think that takes some of the pressure off of them to feel that they have to know everything right in this moment, and the challenges they’re currently experiencing won’t last forever.

Q: Tell us about your book, The Essential Guide for Counseling Black Women.

Dr. Plummer:

Many of our multicultural courses don’t teach us enough about different races and genders, and it is our responsibility to educate ourselves, as opposed to expecting the client to educate us. This book allows us to really dive deep and educate ourselves.

With over 222 pages, I have research, lived experiences, and client insights. I have therapist tips, so things that therapists need to be considering along the way as they’re reading each chapter. The book has catalyst questions, so therapists know how to engage with a client. I also have journal prompts that clients can be using. So the book is written for therapists, but it’s also written for Black women to give us all shared language about some of the experiences we’ve had.

There’s also a therapeutic guide so therapists know which therapeutic modalities would be best used when working with a Black woman on a particular theme, whether it’s cognitive therapy, REBT, or narrative therapy.

The book is specifically for those in healthcare (therapists, coaches, psychiatrists) and for Black women. It should be read by both populations, and it can be read by other people too, just to understand the lived experiences of Black women and why we do certain things. It allows Black women to be empowered and understand their experiences and why they do the things they do and how it’s helpful for who they are. As we build community, it’s important to have guides and language around how we can support each other to ensure we are not allowing our biases to enter the conversation, but instead allowing our sense of community and empowerment to be the anchor in how we continue to build relationships with people.

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