SDVoyager Community Highlights:
Meet Brittani Williams of HEALmatic Group Practice
Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittani Williams.
Hi Brittani, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
Growing up in a Mexican American home, I was raised to push through hardships, ignore feelings, and work hard regardless of your circumstances. We were taught not to talk about our family problems or personal struggles, so when it comes to the concept of therapy, we had no idea it even existed. From as far back as I can remember, music has been my outlet. At the age of 15, I found a sense of identity and belonging in the local LA underground Hip Hop scene and began rapping and freestyling. This was my way of releasing, grounding, and also finding community; this was my form of therapy.
Once I identified this as a form of healing, I was committed to further researching the clinical implications of Hip Hop culture and integrating cultural affirming models into the therapeutic process. From there, I started my academic journey and obtained a Bachelor’s in Sociology from the University of Southern California and a Masters in Social Work from University of Hawai’i at Manoa. After graduate school, things got real, and I needed to find a job. I ended up working in community mental health in North County San Diego and spent 6 years there working in schools, foster homes, and group homes. During this time, I felt a sense of frustration and anger, not only with myself but with the greater systemic issues that exist in community mental health. Becoming aware of these challenges reminded me of why I got into this work in the first place and inspired me to provide an alternative to traditional approaches to mental health.
In 2020, in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, I decided to take a major risk by leaving a full-time job to pursue my ultimate goal of opening a practice with a primary focus to:
Destigmatize mental health
Build a team of therapists with lived experiences that show up as their full selves.
Provide culturally affirming space for healing
Focus on trauma-informed, identity affirming, and integrative approaches that contribute to the individual and to the collective healing.
Today, my business, HEALmatic Group Practice, is averaging over 180 sessions monthly, partnering with nonprofits, providing training to agencies, and speaking engagements to various associations.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Yes, there are so many aspects involved in opening and operating a business and this is something that we aren’t prepared for in graduate school. For example, deciding what type of business you want to operate under LLC/Scorp, marketing, accounting, and other legalities while also managing all the life changes that were brought upon us due to the pandemic. Thankfully, I was able to find a lot of support from other therapist entrepreneurs on Instagram and TikTok.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about HEALmatic Group Practice?
The name of my practice (HEALmatic) is inspired by the legendary Hip Hop Album ILLmatic by Nas. Naming my practice after one of the most important albums of all time was my way of honoring how much Hip Hop has brought healing into my own life. My team specializes in somatic work and believes that you can’t separate the brain from the body; both must be addressed to support individual and collective healing. What sets us apart is we are therapists that show up authentically and practice from a people-centered and culturally affirming lens. HEALmatic’s brand is us; we are first-generation college graduates, first-generation recipients of therapy and first-generation therapists who have personal lived experiences with our own mental health. We offer individual, couples, family, and group therapy along with workshops, trainings, and speaking engagements.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My grandma was the first one to show me what it looks like to have a heart for people. Spending time with her in East Los Angeles, she taught me the importance of community, self-worth, and fearlessness. On the business side, my dad and my uncle Pete were the first ones to start businesses in my family, showing me that it was possible to not just start your own business but be in a position to provide opportunities to others in our family and community. It’s important for me to also pay homage to my childhood friends, those who were undocumented, the ones that came from single-parent households and lived in poverty. Their individual stories and experiences are why I do what I do. With the support of my husband, children and family, I was able to create something that I can pass on to the next generation. Through the years, I’ve had so many people who have helped and supported me to get to this place, and I am forever grateful for their advice, investments, business partnerships, and mentorship.
