Dr. Pipkins
Licensed Psychologist. Consultant. Helping Black Women Find Calm
You’ve learned how to keep going — to stay composed, capable, and outwardly steady, even when your nervous system is stretched thin. From the outside, it may look like you’re managing just fine. Inside, your body may be holding anxiety, tension, or exhaustion that never quite settles.
This space is for slowing down.
I offer therapy for Black women who are ready to feel calmer in their bodies, clearer in their minds, and more supported from the inside out. Our work focuses on grounding the nervous system, easing anxiety and burnout, and creating room for rest, reflection, and emotional space — without urgency, pressure, or the need to explain yourself.
Here, you don’t have to perform strength.
You don’t have to carry everything alone.
You’re allowed to arrive exactly as you are.
If this feels right for you, we can start with a brief conversation.
This free 15-minute call is a gentle way to explore fit — no commitment, just space to ask questions and see what support feels right.
A Quick Introduction.
What Your First Session Will Feel Like
Your first session is unhurried and grounding. We’ll start by slowing the pace, checking in with your breath, and getting a sense of what your body has been carrying. There’s no pressure to tell your whole story at once — just space to arrive, settle in, and begin exploring what support would feel like for you. My role is to listen, attune, and help you feel a little more centered by the time you leave.
When You’re Carrying More Than People Realize
You’ve carried so much for so long that people assume you’re fine — high achieving, dependable, the one who rises to every challenge. But what the world sees rarely reflects what’s happening inside. The pressure to excel, be visible, and represent can leave your body exhausted and your mind racing. Even when you pause, you don’t always feel rested.
Therapy is where we slow down that internal storm. Together, we build grounding practices you can use between sessions — tools that help you feel calmer, clearer, and more connected, even in demanding environments. My approach blends mind-body therapy, mindfulness, and culturally rooted care, so you can navigate anxiety and burnout with more ease, not more effort.
Who I Work With
I specialize in supporting Black women navigating:
anxiety and chronic overthinking
burnout and emotional exhaustion
major life transitions
feeling pressure to represent at work
perfectionism and overfunctioning
difficulty slowing down or resting
disconnection from the body
the emotional weight of visibility
If you’re a Black woman longing for grounding, clarity, and more emotional space, this work is designed for you.
How I Work
As a licensed psychologist, I’ve worked with many Black women whose lives look “successful” on the outside but feel chronically tense inside. My approach blends mindfulness, grounding practices, and integrative mind-body therapy to help your nervous system settle—not just your thoughts. We work beneath surface coping in focused phases, so change feels embodied rather than forced and you can see and feel your progress over time.
Step One: Assessment + Clarity
In our first phase, we explore what’s most pressing right now and identify meaningful, measurable goals. This helps us stay grounded in what matters most and track your progress as it unfolds.
Step Two: Grounding + Mind-Body Tools
I’ll teach you step-by-step grounding practices designed to reduce anxious activation and reconnect you to your body. These tools are simple, gentle, and personalized — and you’ll learn to use them even on the busiest days.
Step Three: Practice Between Sessions
Real change happens between sessions, not just during them. I’ll help you integrate brief mindfulness rituals and grounding techniques into your everyday life so you feel supported throughout the week, not only in our time together.
Step Four: Evaluate + Advance
Every 8–12 weeks, we review your progress and decide whether to deepen the work or thoughtfully transition toward closure. Many Black women discover new layers of healing once they feel grounded — and together we’ll move at a pace that feels right for you.
Throughout each phase, I move at a pace that respects your nervous system and your lived experience. Some weeks are about insight; others are about rest, integration, or simply breathing more fully. Our work is flexible, relational, and responsive — grounded in the understanding that Black women deserve space to heal without urgency or pressure.
What You Can Expect to Change
As we work together, many Black women begin to notice shifts that feel both subtle and powerful. With consistent grounding and mind-body practices, you may experience:
less overthinking and mental spinning
fewer spikes of anxiety
a steadier internal pace
deeper rest and easier breathing
more connection to your body
clearer boundaries (with less guilt)
more emotional space and capacity
a sense of returning to yourself
The Role of Joy, Humor, and Celebration in Healing
Therapy isn’t only a space for working through anxiety or exhaustion — it’s also a space for reconnecting with joy. Perhaps you have been taught to push through, stay composed, or hold everyone else together, which leaves very little room for laughter, delight, or the simple experience of feeling good in your body.
In our work, we honor the full emotional spectrum. There is room for the tender parts — the overwhelm, the frustration, the grief — but there is also plenty of room for lightness. It’s common for sessions to include laughter, moments of recognition, or the kind of ease that comes when you feel fully understood. Humor can be grounding; it softens tension in the nervous system and makes space for breath.
We also celebrate your wins, no matter how small they may seem. Noticing when you slept more deeply, set a boundary, spoke up for yourself, or simply rested without guilt is part of the healing process. Celebration teaches your nervous system that safety includes ease, joy, and rest, not just survival or productivity.
As your body settles and your internal pace slows, you may find yourself experiencing more flow states — moments where you feel present, creative, connected, or deeply at peace. These experiences are not extras; they are signs that your nervous system is expanding its capacity.
Healing isn’t only about reducing distress.
It’s about expanding your access to possibility, pleasure, humor, and emotional spaciousness.
This work isn’t about perfection or forced positivity.
It’s about building a calmer, more grounded relationship with your inner world — one that supports you in your daily life, not just in moments of crisis.
Where I Work
I provide online therapy for Black women across California.
In the East Bay, I regularly work with clients in:
Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Lake Merritt, Grand Lake, Piedmont Avenue, and Temescal.
If you live anywhere in California, we can meet virtually through secure telehealth.
If You’re Ready
If you’re ready to feel more grounded, supported, and connected to yourself, I’d be honored to walk with you through this next chapter of your healing. You don’t have to navigate anxiety or burnout alone — there are tools, practices, and pathways that can help you feel steadier inside and out.
Request a free therapy consultation to see if we’re a good fit.
This free 15-minute call is a gentle way to explore fit — no commitment, just space to ask questions and see what support feels right.