Nate Howard's "Tell Your Story Before They Do"

The professional growth opportunity that I decided to attend was Nate Howard’s “Tell Your Story Before They Do” motivational speech sponsored by the African American Mentoring Program (AAMP). It was held in the Council Chambers in the Conrad Presby’s Aztec Student Union here at SDSU. He is a poet, motivational speaker and entrepreneur from San Diego. Nate Howard’s Movement is called B.E., which stands for Be Empowered. His goal is to help students across the nation find their purpose through self- expression.  Movement B.E. stemmed from an event that happened in 2013 after a celebratory graduation party in the inner-city community of Los Angeles near USC. The police and the S.W.A.T. team came to the party and shut it down arresting a lot of people in attendance (mostly students of color). This resulted in a peaceful protest regarding racial discrimination and a lot of publicity in the media. He realized that he did not want anyone telling his story and defining who he was. I chose to attend this workshop because I too have been allowing people to tell my story and to define who I was based on my race, my gender, and where I am from. It is important that we use our own story to help the students that we are working with create their own stories and their own paths.

            Nate began the workshop by asking for us to pair up with someone that we did not know and ask one another “Who are you?” while looking into each other’s eyes. Each person had a minute to say as many adjectives to describe themselves. While I am an advocate for eye contact when speaking to someone, I found it challenging talking about myself and thinking of words to use without disconnecting the eye contact. The goal of this activity was for us as participants to know who we are and why and to understand why both being a student and being creative matters for our purpose. That activity transferred over to the “I am” poem that we were required to write. This poem helped for us to understand what our purpose was and why the adjectives we used are so important. Below is my poem.

I am strong

I am brilliant

I am resilient

Because my purpose is to fulfill the lives of the students I will be working with through leading by example for those after me.

After writing my poem a sense of empowerment came over me and I saw it transcend throughout the room. I enjoyed the workshop so much that I was able to meet with Nate outside of class for a meditation session at the beach. Our meditation session consisted of him asking me my goals and what I wanted out of life. I enjoyed the session because he helped for me to realize that I have the capability to do anything and everything that I want to do. There are no limits.

The form of counseling that Nate embodies with his clients and in his workshops is Narrative Therapy. Narrative Therapy is an evidenced-based counseling technique that helps for the client to realize there true potential and values regardless of any problems that they are facing. It great to use this technique with students who have already been defined by teachers, parent, or other staff as being the troublemaker, degenerate, not smart enough. Because the level of self reflection that this technique requires from the clients it works best with students who are in middle school or high school. The technique was used in the context of a workshop, but it can be used one to one and also in group counseling sessions. As a school psychologist it is important that we are change agents and continue to support students, especially those students whose stories have already been written for them. I will love to use the counseling approach of “Telling Your Story Before They Do” to encourage and remind students who may be struggling academically, socially, and emotionally that they have a valued purpose to be great.

-Davone Brice