Your world with Dr. Beatrice Hyppolite
Hello,
I am Dr. Marie Beatrice Hyppolite. I hold a doctorate in Health Science with emphasis on Global Health and master’s degree in social work. I have over 14 years of experience in the field of health and human services.
This podcast is primarily focused on mental health and the quality-of-life elements that affect it such as divorce, death, domestic violence, trauma, toxic relationships, and single parenthood to name a few. It is no secret that mental health challenges continue to profoundly impact modern society although not enough discussion is given due to stigma. Research has shown an increase of 25 % in mental health crises after COVID-19. It is important to have honest, uncomfortable conversations about mental health while being supportive. Although we are interdependent, change begins with the individual, hence “your world.”
I welcome you to join me on my journey and look forward to your responses.
Your world with Dr. Beatrice Hyppolite
Balancing Celebration And Support
A party is easy. Building a pathway takes courage, coordination, and love. We open with a striking contrast: communities throwing big homecomings for someone returning from prison while barely nodding to the student coming home with a degree. That tension isn’t about shaming celebration—it’s about balance and what happens after the music stops. Are we funding a night, or are we funding the future?
Together we dig into what real reintegration looks like: legal help that clears barriers, hands-on job training tied to local demand, peer groups that reduce isolation, and mental health care that acknowledges trauma without defining the person by it. We also call out the quieter struggle of college returnees who meet envy or distance instead of support. A degree doesn’t automatically translate into opportunity; community networks, alumni pipelines, and practical encouragement do. The theme running through it all is simple and stubborn—balance. Celebrate both. Resource both.
We talk frankly about safe spaces for Black boys to speak openly on puberty, sex, stress, and identity, and why representation in therapy and social work changes outcomes. Cultural competence goes beyond buzzwords: it’s fluency in Haitian, West Indian, Southern, immigrant, and faith-based nuances that shape how boys express pain and pride. We widen the lens on talent—coders, dancers, writers, geeks, and makers belong at the center, not the margins. Mentorship becomes the bridge from interest to industry when mentors actually do the work they recommend, showing and proving rather than preaching from a distance.
Access scales when partnerships and technology meet. Schools, churches, community centers, and even local police can collaborate to build trust before crises. Teletherapy, moderated online communities, and social media outreach meet boys where they already are. Cybersecurity and STEAM offer high-growth paths that many never see up close—until a mentor opens the door. We close with a clear vision: a living network of practitioners across trades, tech, arts, and health who can pick up the phone when a boy says, I want to try that. If you believe in celebration that lasts longer than a night, share this, subscribe, and leave a review telling us the first step you’ll take to build the village.
Hello everyone, I'm Dr. Beatrice Hippolyte, and this is your world.
SPEAKER_00:The dude coming back from prison gets more attention and support from the community than the one who came back from college.
SPEAKER_01:You know what? It's funny you mentioned that I have a co-worker, you know, we always have that conversation. And I remember, you know, when I first came to this country in 2003, and it was sometimes in 2004 or 05. I was at that beauty salon, you know, to have my hair done. And there were like about five girls who came to have their hair done as well. And they were talking about that party. So it was like, you know, sometimes they were using, I didn't know those because I didn't speak English at that time. And they were like, you know, the party was gonna be late and things like that. And somebody inquired the reason why, you know, what the party was for. And it was for a boy who was getting out of prison. They didn't use the word prison home. They say he was coming home from upstate. So, but at that time, me being new to the country and being silly in my head, I thought it was a college.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and you have a right to feel that way.
SPEAKER_01:Because you already celebrate it. No, because it's like being my I was born and was in Haiti. Right back home, if you didn't go to jail for political reasons, then you have to disappear. The community will not want you. Right. So we don't celebrate that back home. And for me to be exposed and experience that for the first time, where black men coming from jail will be celebrated that way. So I didn't know. I thought it was like somebody who just graduated from college and they were, and it was when like few people started laughing.
SPEAKER_00:They're like, where do you get from? Yeah, you know what though? Um, see, that's another thing. I find uh our community very interesting because there's so many dynamics, so many uh intertwining, overlapping truths and and falsehoods that we need to we should celebrate uh people coming back from prison. We should. He did his time, right? He's coming home, we should celebrate that person. We because that's a whole nother, that's probably a third episode. Is what do we do with our black men that's coming home? How do we help them uh navigate, you know, being able to pick the pieces, pick up the pieces after they come back from prison because they don't have a lot of opportunities. You know, that prevents recidivism because they keep going back in because they come back out and there's nothing for them. So the community coming behind them to help them is a good thing. However, can we do can we keep that same energy for those coming back from college that come back with the degrees? Like it should be both. Even it's both could be true.
SPEAKER_01:And I agree with you 100%. But Mr. Bennett, so I'm not trying to be hard on those who can, you know, who had come in from out from prison. I've the same talking. If the community wanted, really wanted to celebrate, there's nothing wrong to celebrate somebody, you know, that person probably served time for something that he didn't do. You know, things happen all the time. Or some, you know, all the time. You do things, things that's life. So it's like, hey, I'm glad that you're out and you're gonna learn from that mistake. But if I had the money, I know you've been out for 10 years or eight years or what have you, it's gonna be a complete restart for you. So after the community throw that party, what's next?
SPEAKER_00:What's next? Right. Or should we be throwing a party or should we just use that money that we put in fire to build the resources for that person to come and be able to pick their pieces back?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because you're gonna need to reintegrate society.
SPEAKER_00:And this world is not set up for that reintegration. So I I think that we we as a community, as social workers, that's that's also a thing. Right?
SPEAKER_01:And you know, to address the second part of those who graduated from college or are being seen differently or treating differently. Just because I graduated from college. Yes.
SPEAKER_00:You should. And the the your community should, your family should. And but instead, that person gets hated on. Now I'm now let's make it clear. I'm generalizing. It isn't generalization. This doesn't happen in all families and all communities. We're just generalizing here. Make that clear. But um, yes, this happens. You know, it it people hate on on the guy coming back from college. There's like, oh, so you think you're big stuff because you got a degree. Yes. Yes, I I am big stuff because I got a degree.
SPEAKER_01:Because it really takes a lot. Yeah, it takes a lot.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, can we support? Yeah, can we support? So it's both are true. Both are true. We should balance it and we should, we need to, we need to act accordingly.
SPEAKER_01:That's the key word. Balance.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:You know, that's the key word. Okay, next question: how can we create a safe and supportive environment for black boys to discuss their mental health?
SPEAKER_00:Um, what we're saying, you know, I I think one, we some of the things we mentioned already, like I think more black men, black people in general, but black men should need to um become social workers and become therapists, become psychologists and psychiatrists. You know, we need more of us there. That's one way. Two, the community. The community needs to get together. We need to be more supportive, be more open, create an environment where black boys can feel safe to uh express themselves.
SPEAKER_01:Why do you think it is important that we have to have more black therapies to address our black boys' big issues?
SPEAKER_00:Because I don't think, and again, this is an overgeneralization, everyone to recognize that, but I don't think that a non-black person uh understands the where what we're going through. Especially, and sometimes I will even go as far as to say I don't think in in all cases black women know what black men are going through. So I'm not saying black women are incapable of being proper social workers and proper therapists. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that um sometimes even our women don't know what we go through. So it's important that black men, you know, the proper black men, because you know.
SPEAKER_01:So do you believe that it's because you know those black young black men, you know, will feel more comfortable to reveal to the same sex company. I'm just trying to understand.
SPEAKER_00:I do think that. I think that young black boys will feel more comfortable seeing a a successful black man there who can show. Because a lot of times so they can have a men to men come. Yes, yes. Absolutely, and understand what he's going through when he's going through puberty, when he's talking about talking about sex, you know, that's something that is important. You know, black boys should feel comfortable to be able to talk about sex. And he might not feel that comfortable with a with a woman talking, but a black man, and also uh um again, more generalization. A lot of times black boys need to see, show, improve. We need to see, you know, so having someone, a white therapist, say, I think that you, you know, selling drugs on the street is not a good thing, you know. Um, you know, and then it's like, well, what evidence do you have of what you're saying? This is what the argument can be, right? I see no evidence that me getting a job working for someone is gonna make me successful. What evidence do you have, white lady? You know, but if it's a black man there who has gone through, who has experience, he's probably been in a sense of similar situation when he was younger with sitting next to a black boy, um, he can say, I've been the way you've been. And this is what I did with my life. This is how I am, this is my experience, this is my my life, this is where I am. This is I'm showing and proven just by sitting here in front of you. It's showing proven that you can do it. You know what I mean? If you if if if he has a house, you know, not that not that material things make it, you know, make the man, but if he has a successful house and that's where his therapy sessions are held, he's in his house and like, this is you can have this.
SPEAKER_01:But Mr. Bennett, for the fact that I have not experienced certain things or live that life, it doesn't mean that I cannot offer or assist. You know, it's like, for example, I may not have any children, but it doesn't mean that I don't have great parental skills.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely, I agree. I agree with you. And again, it it's it's not to say, again, it was a generalization, not to say that that even a white woman couldn't be a good therapist to a black boy. That's not what I'm saying. You know, I that you know, I just think that we need we just need more black men in in the business, you know, and to deal with to deal with our boys. Um, and I'm not saying that black men are the only path, because I know plenty of successful and competent black women who could do it, who do the job. But I just think that we we need more representation. Representation is important.
SPEAKER_01:I agree with you. I agree with you because culturally, when you have a Haitian person come to therapy, the minute that they, you know, they found out there is somebody, you know, who speaks real, yeah, that's a person they want to see.
SPEAKER_00:That's a connection.
SPEAKER_01:You know, because they know that certain things that I remember I had that experience where I've seen somebody because there was some ACS situation going on, but it seemed that the child claimed that she got beaten. The mother, when she came and found that I was Asian, oh municipality, you know back home.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_01:I'm like, so and so uh I don't want to go into detail, you know. So it's like, but culturally, I see where she was coming from, but what you live in your culture is not the same as this culture, right? And you have to be able to make a difference and live according to the culture that you are living in.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. And you know, um representation matters. It doesn't matter. I mean, with the school I work at, uh it's it's a predominantly uh Asian community. Um, but there are some, it's a it's but it's still they're very sensitive to diversity in my school, which is a good thing. Um, and whenever there's a a black child who's going through something, uh a teacher sometimes they they call me. I'm not that's not even my student. They call me, it's like, can you help me with this this this black boy? And of course that that it helps. It does help. Representation matters.
SPEAKER_01:So my next question: how can we incorporate cultural strength and values into mental health support services for black boys?
SPEAKER_00:Coming from Brooklyn, New York, right, and being state, you know, having this be my main area, uh, we know that Flatbush is is a you know Caribbean heavy neighborhood. Um and I think that these types of things matter. You know, we incorporating uh this is like the story you just told me, right? So that you know, a young black boy who may be West Indian can feel comfortable, and vice versa, you know, having uh, you know, somebody from the south, having uh somebody who might be southern culture, because we know we are we are diverse people, you know. You always hear the term we're not a monolith, but it's true, we're not. And um having all of these places, all these things um baked into the the the soil of the the the programs that we're creating is important. Being able to come in here and you could be from anywhere, I could be from Trinidad, I can be, or my parents could be from Trinidad or from Haiti or from Mississippi or from California, and being able to come to this place that has a program for us and and you you could still feel at home. It's important. And not even just culturally, but even mentally, like you know, even spiritually, right? You can have different spiritual uh beliefs uh is welcomed here. It shouldn't be this is a Christian thing or a Muslim thing or you know, it's it's a place where you don't matter what your religion is, you could feel comfortable. You know, you know welcoming. Yeah, feel uh welcoming. You know, if you're a nerd, right, that's not a cultural thing, but that's a mental mentality, right? There that's another thing. That's that could be a whole nother episode we could talk about. What is a black nerd, black geeks, right? They that's a whole nother thing that we got to deal with that I dealt with as a kid, you know. Um being in a place where it's not cool to be into comic books, not cool to be into cartoons and toys and stuff like that when we were coming up. You know, even though everybody was into it, but we all pretended that it wasn't a thing. But you know, um now it's it's kind of becoming a thing. Being into anime, uh and you know, so black kids who who who who draw, who who who are are dancers, you know what I mean? Like um a black boy who do who does ballet, where where does he go?
SPEAKER_01:Oh man, back in the days that was something.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Yeah, that something is is a lot. You're talking about this. So where does that boy go? You know, where does he go? And then there's there's a whole nother another episode that we could have about and and you know what?
SPEAKER_01:And a lot of black boys that you know had great talent.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, it was stuffed, it was stuffed down because he wasn't a football boy. Yeah. If needs to get all the love. Artists and academics in our community don't get enough. We need to change that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and and even back home, you must be seeking your head to go and tell your parents that you want to be a musician. Musician where?
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Because they had those five professions that kids had to get involved in. Doctor lawyer. Doctor, lawyer, engineers. Yeah, and uh there was another one, I forgot what it was. Wow, those kids could have been great artists, great musician, great dancer, or even trade school.
SPEAKER_00:Right, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:You know, because sometimes, you know, we we we wheel it down great trade school.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we do. And and and having a trade, you'll always have work. And you could always start your own business.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. It's much easier to start your own business with a trade school.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:You know, a lot to talk about. Okay, so what role can mentorship programs play in supporting the mental wellness of black boys?
SPEAKER_00:Mentorship is such an important thing. It's not even like when I was younger, I was always in search for a mentor. Um now I have my father, which which I I will not, I don't want to, you know, sidestep that. But my father, I don't want to say but, and my father, he didn't quite know how to get me to where I need to go because he wasn't an artist. He wasn't, he wasn't from here, right? He was from Trinidad, right? He he came here as a grown person. Um, so he didn't know how to navigate and how to get me to where I needed to go. And I used to be in search for I used to go out and seek mentors. I like can, you know, and people would say, well, I ain't got time for that, you know. So yeah, I think that mentorship is is extremely important. You know, um I'm also a part of a um a military fraternity called Kappa Lambda Chai, Military Fraternity Incorporated. And uh we uh we have another uh uh under another umbrella uh underneath Kappa Lambda Kai called uh the Lambda Dream program. And we do mentorship for for black boys. Specifically black boys, yes. So um that's that's so that's important. So yes, absolutely. We need to create more of these opportunities for us to have somewhere when black boys can go to to be mentored.
SPEAKER_01:And believe it or not, those mentors, their voice have power. Yes. Especially when you find some good ones that can really lead those boys to the right direction, you will be surprised how much of a difference that will make.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. I can't stress how important mentorship is. Um, but you have to be you have to be dedicated to it and not just do it because it's cool to say I'm a mentor, but you have to be dedicated time-wise and quality. You have to be quality, a quality black person, a quality mentor. Meaning you you you walk the walk and talk the talk. You can't just say you're gonna do this and then you don't represent, you get in trouble yourself and you know to fully invest and like if you were raising your own child. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so how can we increase access to mental health services for black boys, particularly in underserved communities?
SPEAKER_00:We need to partner with the schools, we need to partner with the churches, we need to partner with the the community centers, uh, partner with the police department. Partnership is the answer to your question. You know, we need to build a community. Um, what is that, you know, we what does it look like to actually, I know a lot of people are not gonna want to hear this.
SPEAKER_01:Well, we need to we need to that sometimes, you know, it's like it's okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, I mean you may not want to hear certain things, but if it is the way we are it is that what would that look like if the elders and the people in the community went down to the police department and actually partnered up with the police and created a uh an atmosphere, you know, that was was one of partnership. You know, now I know uh it's kind of difficult because we're dealing with a certain mentality, the way the police are trained to deal with our communities, but we need to untrain them by one, not giving them the vision of what they say we are, right? When they come into our communities and police our communities and we resist them and and give them fight back, like like in other words, we should fight back. But but we are communicating in a way that clashes all the time. That is um that's not healthy. Um, what we should do is not when something is happening, but we should go down to the police departments and our community leaders and create and develop a relationship with them in a way that is they can't say that we're being the way they say that we're being. They can create this atmosphere where they can just come in our communities to do whatever they want.
SPEAKER_01:You want to have that uh partnership where they can be part of that village.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Because you know that it takes a village.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:And if we can bring them as members of that community to raise our voice, that would have been awesome and instead of look at them or see them as threats.
SPEAKER_00:Nobody wants to talk about that. Nobody wants that as an idea. We just want to see them as the enemy all the time. And we if we don't give them the reason to see us, and I know this is not this is a cookie-cutter answer, and it's not always gonna work the way we want it, but we gotta at least make the attempt. You know, can you imagine if you're you're we're having a block party or something, and the police come and we know the police's first name by first name, and he knows us, he knows your son. He's like, oh, this is what's up, Jimmy? You know, and that that creates a different environment. You know, now I'm not naive. I know that that you know it doesn't always work out that way, but we at least need to make the attempt.
SPEAKER_01:That will have helped to create a better environment. Right.
SPEAKER_00:At least that's the attempt. That's the that's the idea.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, what role uh can technology play in increasing access to mental health support for black boys? And this is my last question.
SPEAKER_00:Well, that's a that's an easy one because right now social media is the thing, right? And this is the way that we communicate. This is the way that that our young people communicate. We as older people need to get get on board with it, whether we like it or not, it's the way of the of the present. I don't even want to say the way of the future, it's the way of the present. So we need to just get involved with with social media and and all of the projects that we're doing, that's we need to learn how to communicate through that. And and you know, we got the websites, we have our our social media, we have uh, you know, this is this is the way of the of the present. We need to get on board.
SPEAKER_01:And we have to pay a lot of attention because social media really can don't get me wrong, they are some in everything. They are positive and part and they are negative and parts.
SPEAKER_00:It's about it's about how you use it. It's a tool. The other part, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just want to say this before I forget. The other part is uh there are the way technology is going, cybersecurity is a big part of it. And um, the more the internet grows, the more there's need for cybersecurity, and there's more jobs coming up. So we need to get our boys involved in cybersecurity and in tech, you know, just learning the different uh aspects of technology as as opportunities and jobs. There's a lot of opportunities out there. So, but we don't see ourselves in that. We see ourselves as athletes and rappers and stuff of that. But we need to get involved in in tech, you know, um a STEM, right? All of the STEM, or I will say STEAM, I'll add art in there. The STEAM is a thing that that that that's that's that's being created and it's growing. So we need to get our boys involved because everybody else is getting involved except our boys. So we need to we need to get in get in there.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so what one example or what what is one way that you will encourage people to get our boys involved?
SPEAKER_00:This the communication that's they're talking about, like during the mentorship programs that we have, during our mentors, you know, when we find the mentors, it would be it would behoove us to have mentors who are actually in that business. So that's what I was talking about earlier. Our boys are more about showing proof. So imagine you have a son whose mentor is in cybersecurity or in or is it is an engineer, and that's the mentor, you know, and that and he's like, this is what we can you can do, and the mentor could actually be showing him what he's doing. So we need to look for those when we're looking for our mentors, when we're vetting our mentors, that's how we do. We we get people who are actually doing the things that we're asking our boys to do, not just somebody talking, say, you know, you should be a doctor. Well, what do you think about being a doctor? I don't know, but you should be a doctor. Are you a doctor? No, but you should be a doctor. That doesn't make sense. So we need to show and prove.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. But at the end of the day, so it's like can we really, as a mentor, can we really or should we place ourselves in a situation to just point blank that you should be a doctor, you should be a social worker.
SPEAKER_00:No, we shouldn't. We should what we should do is pay attention to what the child wants and see if we could help that child get there. If it's something help the child navigate. Yeah, navigate. Now, if you have a child who doesn't know what they want to do, our program should be designed in a way that helps the child find what they want to do or what they can do and what they're capable of doing. And then if the child does know what he wants to do, and if that thing is legal and moral, we help the child get there, right? As mentors, we like, this is the let me show you the path. Like we I would I envision a program where I have a Rolodex of a digital rolodex of black men that can call up and say, Look, I have this boy who he wants to be a um a tech engineer, right? He wants to be a cybersecurity uh technician. I could go through my phone and be like, hey, I need you. Come down here. I got a I got I got a kid, I want you to mentor. I'm right there. Boom. I oversimplified it, but that's the idea we want. That's how we want it. Yeah. You know, or if you if and I'm not even against the athletes in hip hop and stuff. We got a kid who's really good at hip-hop and he's a he's a dope MC, and he's actually has what it takes, not just, you know, a run of the mill, but he's actually a talented kid who's learning how to engineer, produce beats and stuff. Hey, DJ so-and-so, I need you to come down. I got this kid, he's good. You need to help this kid. You know, so we it's it's it's all it's like you said earlier, it's balance. It is balance. So there's nothing wrong with the athletes, and it's just that we need to show that there's more to it than we're more than just athletes and and rappers. We're also authors, you know, kids who want to write. Creative writing is another thing we didn't talk about. That's a whole nother podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so I don't have any more questions and anything else that you wanna say about your business, uh, final thoughts on um boys and mental health.
SPEAKER_00:Well, uh, well, first I want to say thank you for having me on your show, and I really appreciate you inviting me into your beautiful studio slash home. Uh um, but uh yes, um black boys' mental health is very important. We want it we talked about prison and trying to keep them out of that or trying to have them come back from it in a way that is healthy. We need to, you know, um keep that same energy for our boys who come back from college, right? We need balance. We need to balance this whole thing that we have here through a strong backbone, a strong community. Build a foundation that that makes it easy for us to come together and and pull all our resources and and make it happen.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Darktruth22.com, artofvalor.org.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, now it's my turn. I want to thank you so, so, so much for taking time off your busy schedule. I know it was not easy, so but you find a way to be here today, and I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. And come again. Come again.
SPEAKER_00:My pleasure, my pleasure.
SPEAKER_01:I will. It was with you, Dr. Hippolyte, with your world.