Syreeta B Paves the Way for Holistic Mental Health

Meet Syreeta B, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over 14 years of experience. At a young age, she started her path to mental health when witnessing the struggles her family faced. She attended California State University-Northridge and received undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Af-Am Studies. Soon after, she relocated to San Francisco and enrolled in a Graduate program at The California Institute of Integral Studies, where she received a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Holistic Psychology and Medicine; this paved the way for her to become the founder, President, and CEO of Just B Consulting.

Just B Consulting began at a chance meeting at a concert. Syreeta had the pleasure of meeting the owners of LVRN, a record label based in Atlanta. She presented the idea to create a Mental Health & Wellness Program within the label and soon became a collaborator and consultant with an in-house program within the company. The goal was to focus on the mental health of music artists and employees. Her unique holistic treatment has broken barriers in the mental health world. In a short time, she created a new normal in the music and entertainment industry, stating that taking care of your mental health is an essential component of any career. ENSPIRE talked with Syreeta about the services Just B Consulting provides, where her passion for mental health stems from, the importance of applying consultations in the music industry, and the struggles to overcome in a business.

Just B. offers an array of services within LVRN. We offer Mental Health and Wellness support to LVRN staff members, executives, and artists. Some LVRN team members take advantage of weekly therapy sessions paid for and supported by the company. We also provide Executive Coaching and group conversations with the executive team, which happens on a monthly basis. We also provide interview feedback to potential candidates to help them create the most optimal work environment. Intentional spaces were created for employees to work and decompress in the office. A weekly lunch was also provided in the LVRN office to promote a cohesive work environment. We work alongside the executive team to create team-building outings and activities to show all team members how much they are appreciated, amongst other things.

No, When I first got to college, I thought I wanted to be an Accountant until I realized you had to take math classes, and I hated math..lol. I was an Accounting major for two weeks before becoming a psychology major.

Two weeks after becoming an Accounting major, I realized that psychology was more my speed. At first, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it because the only understanding I had about being a therapist was what I saw on TV, which also meant that I had to prescribe medication, which I was grossly against, because of my own life experience seeing people that I loved over-medicated or using other forms of self-medication. I always had an interest in understanding myself and my family and our generational trauma, and that is what led me to want to make a profession out of it. I tried to understand my family dynamics first, which made me interested in others.

I’ve always loved music. I am named after a musician, Syreeta Wright, Steve Wonder’s muse. Music is a massive part of my life; it is the way I learn new concepts, and I read to a melody, which helps me remember things more easily. Music is a cornerstone in my life. When studying to become a therapist, I’ve had the desire to make a global impact, and the way I knew I could do that was by working with individuals who could already capture the hearts and minds of people globally. I understood if I supported artists in creating a safe space for them to explore being their best selves, those emotions would be communicated in their music, and that would be the way to impact the world. Music is so powerful that it transcends many of the barriers that we create in our world. Music is a unifier; it’s a connector. When you put good into the world, it makes it a better place, just as when you put harmful music into the world, it also makes it a more problematic place.

When first starting, I received a lot of NOs, like a lot of No’s…lol. However, I knew my vision and the intention. Just B. was created, and out of that, it was needed. So, I stayed steadfast in my pursuit, and finally, I was given the opportunity by LVRN to support them in a time when there was a lot of uncertainty in the world. It made a difference for their staff, them as executives, and some of the artists. For that, I will be eternally grateful. They took a chance and believed in Just B because they knew it was needed, which gave other labels the courage to follow suit.

Through this process, my hypothesis has been: “If companies offered in-house mental health and wellness programs, would employees take advantage of it? And if so, would it create a more sustainable and attractive working environment”? What I found was my hypothesis was correct. Having an in-house mental health and wellness department allowed individuals to feel and be supported so they could bring their whole selves into their work. They felt and understood that their employers cared about their overall well-being, allowing most employees, executives, and artists to give above and beyond their capacity before implementing the department. Caring for individuals is a cheat code I wish more companies utilized.

Many of the services we implemented with LVRN are the services and programs we offer at Just B. We tailor our approach to the needs of the company that we contract with. Basically, if there is a need in the space of mental health and wellness, we can provide it: retreats, workshops, quarterly and yearly planning, nutrition, in-house massage, and meditation. If the company is open to it, we can do it.

Because legal fees and settlements are expensive, creating an environment where people feel cared for and cared about allows for growth, expansion, and productivity in ways companies have only dreamed of until now.

The fact that humans can navigate through many uncomfortable situations with our breath is one of the many cheat codes that I’ve encountered in the work I do within Just B. Also, suppose we pay attention and take a proactive stance on stress reduction and management. In that case, it allows many of us to perform optimally, regardless of our job or responsibility.

I am so proud of what we have been able to do as a collective within LVRN. Our collaboration has changed how mental health and wellness have been discussed and presented in the music industry. The collaboration with LVRN has opened many doors within the music industry and beyond. The attention we have gotten for being thought leaders has permitted other industries to follow suit and seek out Just B. for services. My long-term goal with LVRN is to continue to grow and inspire. For all of the other industries Just B. is in, our long-term goal is, and has always been, to be the leading consulting company that is called upon to create in-house mental health and wellness departments for every industry globally.

Part of her expertise is helping clients heal from several forms of trauma, such as childhood abuse (emotional, verbal, physical, sexual), lack of attention, affection, and nurturing in childhood, post-traumatic stress disorder, heartbreak recovery, divorce issues, betrayal, affair recovery, anxiety, depression, grief, anger, emotional abandonment, physical abandonment, career issues, and racial trauma. Syreeta takes an approach by setting up a unique space for those feelings. This allows her clients to explore the depths of their minds and soul and face their fears without judgment. The point of this approach is to challenge her clients using a fluid therapeutic approach to ‘Just Be’.

For more information, go to Just B Consulting. You can also follow their Instagram for updates. Interested in joining a program click here. If you want to see what other services they provide, please click here. If you're going to hear a music artist’s impression of Syreeta B, please view this video with Summer Walker.

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