Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: One of my favorite people on the phone with me right now, Dr. Portia Lockett. How are you, my dear?
[00:00:06] Speaker B: I am wonderful. It's always a blessing to have a conversation with you, Randy.
[00:00:11] Speaker A: You know, every time we have a conversation, it's something amazing.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: It is, it is.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: And I am so thrilled because I remember when you started this. This is going into the third year of the Azelle Benet Lockett Foundation. How cool is that?
[00:00:28] Speaker B: It's really cool. Matter of fact, September 6th will anniversary of helping people heal, offering them hope and holding their hearts as they are moving through any type of grieving journey.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And it is a journey, and we know that to be true.
And sometimes people just need a little extra boost from. Someone has gone through it.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: Well, I know that you're having a special event, but before you do that, I know that, you know, you've gone through the different permissions to live and laugh, permission to grieve, permission to celebrate all those different elements of grieving that we find ourselves with.
How have you worked with other people doing this now?
[00:01:18] Speaker B: Well, this has been amazing of the feedback that we've received from the community as well as others who are in the same lane of work supporting individuals who are grieving. So fortunately, we've been able to partner with individuals, you know, who are in the mental health lane, and they have just jumped on with us and given us, you know, great advice, you know, participating in our programs as well as making themselves available to. When we send individuals that come to us for therapy to be able to take on new cases, there are so many people who are burnt out and just don't have room or time because, you know, therapy is the new cool. You know, if you get therapy, this is. This is a cool thing to do now. It's nothing that you have to be shame of anymore.
So by them partnering with us, we can. Someone may reach out to us and say, you know, hey, I need therapy, and we'll make a referral. All of our therapists that we work with have already been vetted, and they are phenomenal individuals working individually as well as sometimes in a collective environment.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: And so with that being said, you know, when we make the referral to those individuals, if anyone does not have an insurance program within their businesses or their organizations, then we as the foundation will underwrite up to eight sessions for them to be able to go through with a therapist at no charge to them.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: What a blessing.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: Really excited to be able to utilize, you know, individuals like Dr. Jan Newby. We have worked very closely with Dr. Crystal Eason. We have partnered up with Hadari Brown, Otis Bellinger. I mean, he's one of our regulars that partners up with us. And so we're just grateful and thankful that people, first of all, just trust us to be able to refer individuals to. We partnered up with Regina Hall. I mean, we have so many people who have said, I want to be a part of this. And so they said yes to the ask.
[00:03:12] Speaker A: Oh, I love it. I absolutely love it. I always say it's Jesus first and then my therapist.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: And so important to be able to have that balance.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: Absolutely, yes.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: Well, coming up on the 17th of this month, you have your second permission.
Explain to everybody what that means.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Well, permission. Today we're just going to combine all of our permission series sessions into one. So we're going to start off with permission to grieve and we're going to hear testimonies, real life testimonies of individuals who have gone through a journey of grieving. And just so we know that grief is not just about the loss of a loved one. It could be the loss of mobility, it could be the loss of sight, you know, being diagnosed with a chronic illness, losing the pet, transitioning in or out of a relationship. So there's so many components of grieving. And so you're going to hear people giving their live testimonies about grieving. And then we're going to have a panel discussion getting some good advice and good insight from our panelists who are mental health experts who are going to talk to us about, you know, how do we move through this journey? You know, if I'm going through a really, really rough patch, you know, what do I do? How do I, how do I get the support that I need? So we're going to have Glenn McIntosh, you know, on that panel, we're going to have Bishop Greg Davis. You know, apart of that, it's just going to be just a phenomenal time when we can come together and just hear from individuals who specialize in this area. And then we're going to move into permission to live and laugh. Because when sometimes people are going through that grieving journey, they don't give themselves permission to laugh. Not to take away from your grief, but it's okay to be able to laugh. One of the scriptures says laughter is the best medicine.
[00:05:01] Speaker A: Yes, it is.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: And so we're going to have two comedians that are going to be with us and we're excited about that. And then we're going going to move into permission to Love again, because sometimes people forget how to love themselves. And we're going to hear a testimony from Angela Peterson Mayberry talking about her. Her journey of going out of the space of once early love in her life and now in the midst of a very intentional black love relationship.
And then we're going to have a young lady by the name of Fatima Jafar who's going to give her testimony about, you know, finding love within herself after attempting to commit suicide. Right. And so, yes, then we're going to move right into permission to move forward. So even after moving forward, we are going to give you an opportunity to plan ahead. And so we're going to have Dr. Alicia Shelby, who is a medical doctor, talking about if you should be hospitalized, what are some things that you want to consider? Do you have your five wishes in place? What do you want to happen? Who's going to be your advocate? And then we're going to have Pamela Denise Mack, who is an attorney that is going to be talking about planning ahead as it pertains to having your wills and your estate planning in place. Something should happen to you. And then we're gonna have Will Sampson, who is one of the. The directors with Wayne County Community College. Because as you're going through your grieving journey, sometimes it's good to be able to start over and move forward. So let's go back and finish that education or start something and learn something.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: Brand new that is good.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: Yes, yes, yes, yes. And so we're gonna also have someone from James H. Cole Funeral Home, Latonya Williams, to come in and about planning ahead for your own services. What do you want it to look like? Do you want a funeral? Do you want a celebration of life? Do you want nothing? Do you want to be cream? So all these things that you have an opportunity to learn about and put into place, we're also going to have someone by the name of Deborah Curtis, who is going to also talk about falling out of love with herself and then going through this weight loss journey and rediscovering who she really is. And we're going to have Sharon Banks, you know, with bankability, who's going to be talking about the laws of her son. Then we're going to follow up with all this with permission to celebrate.
So how do we celebrate from day one of our journey to now, the space that we're in, it could be a week, it could be a year, it could be 10 years ago that I experienced this. But how do I celebrate my personal accomplishments? So I'm excited to have, like I said, Dr. Alicia Shelby, Otis Bellinger, Jan Newby. Oh, and I forgot to mention. Oh my God, how do I forget the people's chief, James Harris.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Oh wow.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Detroit Fire Department. And he's going to give us perspective of being a first responder and sometimes the grief that these individuals experience as they are going out and saving our lives on a day in and day out basis.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: Wow, wow, wow. It is going to be amazing.
At the Wayne County Community College District, the Northwest campus again. It is coming up on Saturday, May 17. How do you get tickets?
[00:08:10] Speaker B: You can go right to Eventbrite and purchase your ticket. Just put in permission today or you can go to the Azelle Binet Lock foundation which is a Z L B E N N E locket L O C K e t t foundation.org and there is a link that will take you directly to the Eventbrite so that you can purchase your tickets.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: Yeah. And bring people with you because my goodness, it is just so helpful. And I, and I've seen some of the videos from the last segments that you've done and they've been so powerful and to see it up live and close is probably the best medicine as well.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: Yes. We're going to have vendors that are going to be there, you know, from people selling books to jewelry to personal items from body scripts, the whole nine yards. And we're also going to feed you a good breakfast and a lunch because it is a long day from 9:00am to 3:00pm yes. So you're going to come in for just 25 per person, two for $40. You know, that is nothing. You, you can't even get your nails done these days for 25.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: Not at all.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Don't get your hair done or even, you know, a good wholesome meal for 25. So we're going to feed you, we're going to bless you. This is going to be interactive. Everybody is going to walk away.
We're going to give away a lot of prizes and gifts from some of our vendors and it's just a place where you can just come and interact with other individuals that are grieving and we want to reinforce that you are not alone. We're going to have entertainment, as I mentioned before, we're going to have comedians there, but also some good music and it's just going to be powerful. You're going to live there feeling so uplifted and so encouraged, knowing that no matter what space you're on in your grieving journey, you can make it.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: Yes. And you have permission to do that. Dr. Portia Lockett, thank you so much as always. I always look forward to talking to you.
[00:09:59] Speaker B: Likewise. Thank you so much for having me, Randy.
