Blog - Page 2 of 4 - Deborah Beckwin | Content Strategist for Mental Health, Healthcare & Edtech

October 20, 2020

Influencers have been accused of not being authentic, and for good reason. A woman holds out her pink cellphone and smiles into it.

What Does Being Authentic Online Even Mean Anymore?

Hey there, small business owner…we need talk about how to be authentic online. If you crave real, authentic connection with people — especially if your business is based on one-on-one interactions — then being online these days may feel like you’re walking into a dollhouse full of pretty paper dolls. But it really is important to have some sort of online presence, because people are looking for you. Whether you are online or not, as a small business owner, you are most likely the face of your business or brand. And with that, there’s a tension between keeping it professional, keeping it real, keeping it too real, and keeping it entirely fake. While being on social media and online as a business owner and content strategist, I’ve been struggling balancing all of those competing compulsions, especially as someone who had social media 1.0 as a young adult. ICQ. MSN Chat Rooms. Message Boards. sixdegrees. AIM. MySpace. LiveJournal. Remember those? All of these platforms were centered mainly around connecting, not making money. Social media 2.0 evolved into marketplaces — of ideas, lifestyles, products, and services. Connection is still important, but even the idea of having “content” is a part of this evolution. Now, social media is all algorithms and ads and corporatization and poor data security and governmental manipulation…truly, a mess. And yet, it’s generally a good idea to be on one of these platforms if you own a business. Believe it or not, you can still genuinely, authentically connect with […]

October 1, 2020

A white woman dismissively holds up her hand and looks away as a woman of color looks annoyed.

Checking Your Inner Karen — White Women in the Workplace

This a post I have avoided writing for years, because I just didn’t want to deal with the possible blowback of white denialism. But it’s on the 4th anniversary of the last day (September 30th) I worked for an employer in a 9-to-5 capacity. Hooray for self-employment and biz ownership! The Concrete Ceilings of Patriarchy and White Supremacy So it seems like a good time to reflect back on how patriarchy and white supremacy have been barriers in my career as an employee — by white women in particular, and how they uphold patriarchy and white supremacy explicitly and implicitly. And they don’t have to go full-on ballistic Karen to do that. These concrete ceilings I believe are the main reasons Black women end up being the fastest demographic of people who end up creating businesses and start-ups, but are still less likely to obtain funding (CNBC talks about it here). Simply put: Black women like me go into business for themselves because of the barriers of advancement in traditional employment. Aggressions, microaggressions, being consistently paid less than their white counterparts, being consistently passed up for promotion, full-on racist and sexist behaviors from fellow employees and managers…it all pushes Black women out the door. Black women create businesses mainly out of sheer necessity. And other marginalized groups, such as disabled folks and LGBT folks (and you can imagine the intersections if you’re queer, disabled, and Black), probably have to do the same thing because of the lack of work protections […]

July 27, 2020

Spongebob Squarepants Meme "Me Helping Clients" with a buff Patrick Star and "me trying to do stuff for myself" with Patrick Star with a nailed board in his head while holding a hammer.

Client Work vs. My Own Work

Do You Feel Like This Meme? Ah, the struggle to balance my work with with client work! 😩 I saw this meme that my friend and colleague posted the other day, and I thought, wow, this is at the heart of my business. We really do need each other to succeed because we can’t do everything by ourselves. It’s probably at the heart of your business, too. You realize that there are some things that people can’t necessarily do on their own — such as heal from childhood trauma or recover from heartbreak or mourn the loss of a loved one. If you’re a therapist, intuitive, or any sort of healer, you’ve trained and gained experience helping others grow and live their best lives. For me, I’ve trained and gained experience in helping others consistently connect with the people they want to help through the written word. That’s also known as content marketing and strategy. 😉 And I want to make sure that people aren’t nailing themselves in the head when it comes to their own content! And sometimes, you just want to do that yourself — write your own content, post your own social media, have your own unique voice out there. But who has the time? The Time Crunch with Work So, I get it. I also find it hard to carve out the time to create my own content. Sometimes, I feel like this Patrick Star meme. And it’s not because I don’t know how to write. […]

June 11, 2020

A Black Lives Matter protest outside of the White House. Proteters hold signs that say "WHITE SILENCE IS VIOLENCE" and "BLACK LIVES MATTER" A blog post "Protests and Pandemics: Support and Resources" by Deborah Beckwin

Protests and Pandemics: Support and Resources

What supports are you relying on in this uncertain time right now? Looking back at my last blog post, I can’t believe it was written in late March. So much has happened to me personally and globally that prevented me from writing here more frequently. But I am back. Still, frankly, it is extremely difficult to write about mental health in times like these, even though mental health is of paramount importance. Frankly, I’m feeling like this: It’s a bit absurd to keep going as if everything is fine, because everything is not fine. Since Memorial Day, after George Floyd was extrajudicially murdered over an alleged counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the U.S. has seen national unrest as we grapple with our bloody, racist history. And I’m sure the COVID-19 pandemic, with its resulting historic unemployment and economic impact, played a catalyzing role in mobilizing Americans, who inspired people across the world to look at their country’s colonial histories. So, you know, it’s a lot. And the protests have centered around police brutality of Black people, which has, in turn, propagated more police brutality. People are getting maimed by rubber bullets, and the use of tear gas (which can’t be used in international warfare according to Geneva Convention) during a pandemic of a disease spread through our respiratory systems — it’s especially cruel. I personally cannot watch all the videos of people being harmed by police because it’s traumatizing to watch. Children especially have been experiencing distress, from distance learning […]

March 26, 2020

An infographic by the TheCounselingTeacher.com (Sheltering in place)

Sheltering in Place: Healthy Ways to Deal with Anxiety and Isolation

The Mental Toll of the COVID-19 and Sheltering in Place As more cities, counties, and states begin sheltering in place due to the coronavirus pandemic (including my county), life in the great indoors is becoming our new normal. A lot of us are working from home, trying to learn how to create routines for ourselves and our children. But today we learned that close to 3.3 million people applied for unemployment insurance in a single week. On top of the work and employment concerns, we’re encountering empty shelves in grocery stores, enduring increasing amounts of cabin fever, and probably, most of all — we’re worried. There’s so much uncertainty — of how we’ll pay our bills, if we’ll get sick, if we or our sick loved ones will get better, or if that cough is due to seasonal allergies or something else. It’s OK To Be Worried So I’m not here to say you shouldn’t be worried. This outbreak is a serious matter. In the U.S., our infrastructure has been laid bare and low. Hospitals are scrambling to find masks, gowns, ventilators, and more medical professionals to keep up with the growing amount of people who need to be hospitalized. The economy has essentially shut down because need to keep physically distant from each other to help contain this virus (and not like everyone is adhering to those recommendations). It’s a scary time. Worry and anxiety about the present and the future aren’t feelings you should shove to the side. […]

March 13, 2020

Things to do 1. Own today printed frame beside teal headset

So You Have to Work from Home? Here’s My Experience.

The Coronavirus and Transitioning Into Work from Home Life The World Health Organization has just declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a global pandemic. And it’s a little scary, and that’s mainly because of how the American federal government is responding (hint: not very well). So as many businesses and events are shutting down, you may have to work from home (WFH). Online and offline, many people are offering tips about how to transition as we’re trying to implement more social distancing. And I’m here to give my two cents of advice, too. But first of all, I want to say flat out that it will be a transition, but you can do it! I’ve worked from home starting in 2007 when I had knee surgery, back when remote work isn’t as popular as it is now. That was for two weeks where I had to be on crutches. And, I admit it was strange. I lived with three other young women. In the morning, they all would go to work or school for the day. And then, I was left with myself. I called myself “the cat lady without any cats.” because I didn’t leave the house except to go to physical therapy for two weeks. There were times I enjoyed the solitude, but after my knee was stable enough for walking, I was happy to go back to work because it was weird to be by myself for 8 hours a day. Fast forward to now and I’m […]

February 26, 2020

How a Religious Television Network Successfully Used a Predictive Text Meme

The other day, I saw this tweet from the Catholic TV channel EWTN and was surprised: “For Lent, I’m giving up…” (finish with predictive text) pic.twitter.com/BzAFz9tVt3 — EWTN (@EWTN) February 11, 2020 I was a little shocked that this got into my timeline from people who are probably closer to pagan than Catholic. But it caught my eye just like that Variety tweet did during the Oscars. I had to double check to see if this was the same EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) I knew back from when I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. And it was! On the way to church with my family, through long winding roads up in the hills, we would pass by the TV station. I never would have thought that this most likely not well known religious channel would have a viral tweet. But they used a pretty common type of meme to do it: the predictive text meme. You can call it a sort of divination, or a just a way to have fun, but according to Know Your Meme, predictive text as a meme has been around on Twitter for a few years. So if you’re been on Twitter for any amount of time, then you’ve probably seen these memes before. But this was the first time I had seen a brand use a predictive text meme. And just like with Variety, I would not expect EWTN to use a meme or popular culture for their social media feeds. (They used […]

February 26, 2020

How Variety Used a Different Brand Voice to Drive Twitter Traffic

After being on and off social media since 1997, sometimes I’m still shocked at its power. I should have written about this on the 10th, but you’ll be reading this on the 26th, 16 days after this happened. ON Sunday, February 9th, I watched people on Twitter watch the Oscars. That’s because 1) I didn’t want to actually watch the very monochromatic Oscars and 2) it’s more fun to watch people watch TV than to watch TV. Still, despite the near whiteout conditions of the Oscar nominees, I was only rooting for two people: Matthew Cherry, whose film “Hair Love,” was nominated for Best Animated Short film; and Parasite, a Korean film up for a few awards including Best International Feature Film and Best Picture. Cherry won, which was lovely. And Parasite won four Oscars: Best Picture, Directing (by Bong Joon Ho), International Feature Film, and Writing (Original Screenplay). My timeline was intensely ebullient with each win. Seemed like everyone was hoping against hope that Parasite would win Best Picture. When Parasite did win, it was a Super Bowl type of synchronous excitement. Here’s a tweet that caught me off guard. #PARASITE FADSJKFDASLKJFALJKFASELJKDFSAKJLFDSAKJLADFXJKLFDSAJKDFASKJLASFDJKLFDASJKLFSDAJKLFJKL@#JK@RKWEFKJLFWEAJKL WE DID IT KIDS!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/cY2VaNAAwZ — Variety (@Variety) February 10, 2020 Variety as a publication has been around for eons and their Twitter page is usually quite sedate. They report entertainment news. The reports are not typically salacious. It’s Variety. So when this tweet came through, I lost it while everyone else was losing it. I couldn’t […]

February 19, 2020

An East Asian woman in a cream sweater and glasses looks sideways while sitting down at a black laptop computer. Mental Health.

The Intersection of Social Media and Mental Health

My Mental Health Escape? Lately, it’s been on my mind how reality TV and social media affect people’s mental health. After seeing people talk about it non-stop on social media, I binge-watched the dating reality TV show, Love Island — all five seasons — last summer. It’s such a fun little tropical escape for me. For a few sun-drenched weeks, 20-something UKers looking for love live in a villa in Mallorca, Spain (this season, they’re in South Africa). To win the game, contestants have to be in a couple at the end. The audience votes for their favorite couples throughout the time and the most popular couple wins 50,000 pounds. The popular show now has a U.S. version as well as an Australian version. It’s fun to watch couples fall in, and out, of love. It’s touching to watch friendships form. The drama, the tears, the giggles, the “sexy times.” ? It’s like Big Brother but for dating. But there’s a looming dark side of reality TV and the intersection of social media and mental health that needs to be addressed. Paradise Darkened For five seasons, Caroline Flack was the host, a spunky, smiley, bright-eyed blonde. But if you saw her come to the villa, you had a bittersweet feeling because you knew people were going home. Love Island is currently filming its 6th season, but Flack is not the host. Last December, she was charged with common assault because of an argument with her boyfriend. She was going to […]

January 8, 2020

Give Your Ideal Audience The Content They Crave

Happy New Year!? So, let’s dish because it’s been a minute since I’ve been on my own blog! How is your blog doing? Is it dead? Write any new content lately? What your content plan for 2020 look like? ? If you’re in the mental health field and are a successful business owner, you may know the value of consistent, quality content. But you may not have the time to write or expertise blog posts every week, couple of weeks, or even every month. You’d rather be focusing on serving your clients. And believe me, I get it. I have been so busy lately working on a major project that my blog here has fallen into a hole of “I’m too busy.” It happens to even professional writers like me. But content marketing is for future customers — whether they be clients you see in a private practice or industry clients you serve. Business may be great now but eventually clients move on and projects end. So if you’re focused on your current clientele, then who is focused on your future? And let’s face it — things are hard for a lot of people. People are craving content that enlightens them, reassures them, and helps them on their healing journey. So you may be providing those kinds of life-changing services to your clients, but is your content helpful and inspiring? And do you have time to create it? I’ve helped people just like you to create content using their unique […]