Sahsha Coleman, Owner of Inclusive Wellness
LGBTQ+ businesses in the United States contribute an estimated $1.7 trillion to America’s economy, creating thousands of new jobs each year. The Greenhouse celebrates the LGBTQ+ innovators, entrepreneurs & their allies who provide essential services and diversify our community!
GH: Tell us a little about yourself and your business!
SC: My name is Sahsha Coleman, I am a Black and Afro-Latina queer psychotherapist that is both a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. My private counseling practice, Inclusive Wellness, LLC, is located in Downtown St. Pete and just celebrated its 5th anniversary. The focus of the practice is to center inclusivity and the intersectionality of my clients while helping them navigate complex issues.
GH: What inspired you to start your business?
SC: I dreamed of having my own private practice and working for myself for a long time, but the seeds of my inspiration grew into action while I was in graduate school. Previous unaffirming experiences, peppered with microaggressions, left my close friend and myself ready to seek therapists who understood us and our experiences- something that felt like finding a unicorn. My friend was hung up on, turned away, ignored, and berated while searching for a therapist who could truly support a trangender person’s experience navigating the world. I searched for months for a therapist who would understand the intricacies of my intersectionality and how I navigate the world. While the COVID-19 pandemic furthered my isolation, I watched Black people of various intersectionalities across our nation under the media spotlight experience far too many of the worst parts of the human experience. I realized that, while it was imperative that someone address this conversation within the mental health community, I couldn’t wait for “someone else” in my classmates, professors, and colleagues to understand what was happening for Black and Brown mental health students and mental health professionals. I began speaking up during our online classes and found community with graduate students who looked like me, echoing my feelings and agreeing that what we were feeling and seeing was also showing up in our offices from clients. The staff and professors were supportive, willing to learn, and collaborative in letting us lead these necessary and difficult conversations to better meet this moment. Out of all of these experiences came the foundation on which my practice would take shape. I couldn’t find my unicorn therapist, so I became a therapist who could fill that gap for others out there.
GH: What do you love about having a small business in St. Pete?
SC: I really love how collaborative all the small business owners are in St. Pete and I also really love all of the local supports, like The Greenhouse from City of St. Petersburg and SCORE Pinellas, available to help often for free. I wish I had known about these resources when I first started my business.
GH: What does Pride month mean to you?
SC: For me, Pride month is the culmination, but definitely not the only time, that we honor the trans women of color that fought for our rights to exist in public, love who we love, and experience joy and happiness. The first pride was a riot, and every pride since has been a rebellion; a rebellion of joy, happiness, and love in the face of oppression and hatred. It’s a time to be inclusive and not gatekeep any of our siblings, although I hope we do that year round as well.
GH: What are your future goals/plans for your business?
SC: Right now, I have scaled back my practice to part-time only and it’s currently full. So I want to use this time to return to school for my Sex Therapist Certification followed by furthering training in Psychodrama; this will allow me to expand the services and modalities that I can offer my clients. Further down the line, I would love to start a non-profit with a focus on helping clinicians of color start their own private practices. I don’t want anyone to feel like I did at the beginning and think that they can’t do it on their own and to be aware of really amazing resources available to them.
