Black History Month Team Spotlight: Therese Despeine, LMFT-D, Clinical Coordinator

If you ask me what I do here at The Child Center of NY, the answer is that I serve as the organization’s clinical coordinator. In this role, I focus on making behavioral health services more accessible by staying closely connected with our internal teams and community providers. I’m actively involved in the admissions process—screening, assessing, and supporting clients as they enter care—and I also maintain a small caseload of clients, which keeps me grounded in direct practice. I supervise clinicians and interns as well, helping them grow in their clinical work.

But at the heart of what I do is helping both clients and clinicians be a better version of themselves. My goal is for clients to be able to navigate life’s challenges—and some have much more than their fair share—so they can be functional and happy in their day-to-day life.

The Child Center is the perfect place for me to do this. My background is similar to the background of many clients we see here. I grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, which is a very diverse neighborhood with a significant Caribbean population. The Child Center’s rich diversity felt familiar, and I immediately felt at home being surrounded by a variety of languages and cultures. I am the child of Haitian immigrants and often help people through struggles related to being new Americans. If my client is new to the U.S., I can help with the transition. I also like to help with conflicts that commonly arise between immigrant parents and their children. Growing up with parents who sacrificed a lot to get here, you know that succeeding in life is not optional; you have to succeed to make their sacrifice worth it. I know what it’s like growing up with that expectation, and I can serve as a bridge for my clients.

Because of my background, both parents and their children find me a credible messenger and trust me. In the Caribbean, as is the case in a lot of cultures, there is still a big stigma around mental health. Families are often skeptical of what therapy can achieve. A lot of my clients fight it. When I tell them I'm Caribbean, they know that they're seeing someone who understands their culture, who will honor their culture, and bring it into our sessions. Over time, they open up more.

When I look back at the impact therapy has had on clients, so many individuals and families come to mind. One in particular stands out because the mom still calls me occasionally. In this family, the mom often got frustrated because her son acted like he wasn’t listening. However, as a professional who has worked with teens for a while, I could tell he was paying attention, and I would say to the mom, “I promise, one day he’s going to repeat verbatim what you’ve been saying.” When we closed the case, things had improved, but not as much as we would have liked. Of course, what the mom wanted was for her son to make a complete 180: get good grades in all his classes, go to school every single day, and never sneak out at night. By the time we closed the case, his grades had improved, his attendance was much better, and, well, he was still sneaking out at night, but not as much as before. The mom was doing a better job of listening to her son’s concerns and emotions. She was more patient with him, and because of that, he was more responsive to her and some of the household rules. The family as a whole made improvements and showed consistent progress. As my supervisor at the time used to say, “Sometimes you just have to plant a seed. You don't always get to see it sprout.”

Then one day, years later, I was experiencing imposter syndrome, wondering if I was making an impact at all—and the mom called me out the blue. “You were right,” she said. “He was listening.” She told me her son graduated high school and was doing much better. Now every couple of years she calls me and gives me an update. He finished trade school, has a full-time job, and is considering starting his own business as a mechanic. She told me that he often says, “Therese used to say….” And I replied, “I told you he was listening!”

I aim to have the same impact on my team. I supervise marriage and family therapists and interns who aren’t yet licensed and help them to grow professionally. I let them know it's OK to feel overwhelmed and feel like you don't know what you're doing. Especially in the first couple of years, new clinicians doubt themselves a lot. I help them realize they can trust themselves a little more, and they’ve got this.

Until I was asked to write about my professional journey for Black History Month, I never really thought about how my story fits into Black history. I was just living my life! I’m usually a closed book and don’t like to talk about myself. But I will say that in working as a therapist, I’ve seen how African diaspora communities deeply value connectedness and bring families together. I am proud to play a role in keeping that spirit and those bonds alive.

When I think of what it means to be a part of The Child Center, I think of it more as my individual role: I’m living the dream of being a therapist. I really enjoy that. I'm also carrying on a family legacy. A lot of women in my family are in health care: They’re home health aides, they’re nurses, they're doctors. I'm carrying on that tradition of being in health care, except I was the only one who went into mental health. I guess I'm a pioneer in my family that way.

I also am grateful for the opportunity I had to bring the integrated care coordination project from a grant proposal to full fruition at The Child Center. The goal of the project was to bring together all of a person’s providers so that we could ensure effective care for the whole person. Now this work is embedded in our wellness centers and Health Home Program.

Whether I’m supporting a client, guiding a clinician, strengthening systems of care, or continuing the legacy of Black history, my goal remains the same: to plant seeds that will grow, even if I don’t get to see the tree in bloom.