Still Employed, Still Afraid™ — Episode featuring Dr. Mary Darden-Robinson

Your mental health deserves more than corporate lip service.

In this raw, necessary, kitchen-table-real conversation, Dr. Mary — mental health clinician, administrator, author, and advocate — breaks down the invisible weight Black women carry at work. From microaggressions to “diversity desert” workplaces, from hijacked ideas to complex PTSD caused by the job, she says the quiet part out loud:

You’re not imagining it. You’re not overreacting. And you’re definitely not alone.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Why “resilience” isn’t linear — and why healing from workplace harm looks different for everyone
• How fear, exhaustion, and constant hypervigilance shape the emotional ecosystem of Black women in today’s workforce
• The reality of layoffs, disappearances, and the 300,000+ Black women pushed out of the labor market
• How virtual work creates new kinds of harm — and why sometimes the safest boundary is turning your camera off
• The gaslighting cycle every Black woman needs to recognize and unlearn
• The power of community, documentation, therapy, and grace
• Why your story matters — and how to stop accepting other people’s narratives about you
• The truth about advocacy: There’s more than one way to “stand up for yourself”

This conversation is for everyone who’s still employed… and still afraid.

Everyone who’s tired of pretending the workplace isn’t hurting them.

Everyone who needs language for what their spirit has been trying to name.

About Dr. Mary

Dr. Mary Darden-Robinson is a mental health & substance use clinician, administrator, and bestselling contributor to the Triumph in the Trenches anthology series. Her work spotlights the unseen psychological cost of navigating workplaces that were never designed with women of color in mind. Connect with her:

Website: Creative Therapy Approaches & Consulting, LLC

TikTok & IG: @IamDrMary / @IAmDr.Mary

Referenced Work

Triumph in the Trenches (Volumes 1 & 2 available now; Volume 3 coming February 2026)

Edited by Ilona Washington

Stay Connected

Follow Patrice Williams-Lindo and the Career Nomad™ ecosystem:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thecareernomad

Website: https://careernomad.org

Join the Movement

If you’re navigating job insecurity, layoffs, or you’re just tired of pretending everything’s fine at work, this podcast is your morning lifeline.

Subscribe, share with your sister circle, and stay tuned for more truth-telling and strategy-building episodes.

🚨This episode includes discussions of workplace trauma, mental health challenges, and burnout. Listener discretion is advised.🚨

Episode Overview

In today’s workforce, resilience isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s survival. Dr. Mary Darden-Robinson joins Still Employed, Still Afraid™ to break down the emotional and psychological weight of workplace trauma, especially for Black women carrying disproportionate levels of stress, layoffs, and systemic dismissal.

Dr. Mary brings the truth with clinical clarity and lived-experience warmth, naming what happens when workplaces push you past your limits and how to rebuild when your identity, confidence, or sense of safety has been shaken.

If you’ve ever felt overworked, overlooked, or emotionally threadbare, this episode speaks directly to you.

What We Discuss

• The hidden layers of workplace trauma for women of color
• How mental health + career identity collide during job instability
• The emotional cost of being “the strong one”
• What culturally competent care really looks like
• The signs that true healing and recovery have begun
• How to rebuild your sense of self after a traumatic workplace
• Empowering tools for staying grounded when you’re still employed… but still afraid

Key Takeaways

• You’re not imagining the exhaustion — workplace trauma is real, patterned, and measurable.
• Healing is not linear, but it is possible with the right support system and mindset.
• Culturally competent care is essential for meaningful recovery — not optional.
• Recovery begins the moment you stop blaming yourself for a system that was never designed to protect you.
• You are allowed to take your power back in real time, not just after you leave the job.

Memorable Quotes

“Resilience isn’t bouncing back — it’s rebuilding forward.” — Dr. Mary

“Some of us weren’t burned out, we were being worn down.” — Patrice

Connect with Dr. Mary Darden-Robinson

LinkedIn: Insert her link here

Work & Writing: If provided, add here

Connect with Patrice & Career Nomad™

Website: https://careernomad.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thecareernomad

Join Career Nomad Noir™: link

Subscribe for new episodes every week.

Employed, Still Afraid™ returns with a powerful, soul-level conversation featuring Rev. Dr. Xenia Barnes — minister, psychologist, and advocate for spiritual resilience in the modern workplace.

In this episode, we explore the emotional, spiritual, and psychological toll of being “technically employed” but living with constant instability: layoffs, hostile environments, leadership failures, and the silent fear that shadows even the strongest professionals.

We go deep into:

✨ What fear really does to the nervous system

✨ The spiritual cost of chronic workplace uncertainty

✨ How Black professionals navigate invisible labor + invisible harm

✨ Faith as a stabilizing force during reinvention

✨ The difference between being carried by purpose and being stagnated by fear

✨ Why your next chapter might require a spiritual interruption

If you’re holding on, powering through, or feeling betrayed by systems that were never designed for your flourishing — this episode is your exhale.

⸻

🛑 Content & Context Note

This conversation touches on anxiety, racialized workplace trauma, boundary-setting, and spiritual exhaustion. Please listen with care.

#layoffs

Content Warning / Episode Note

This episode includes references to personal trauma, mental health struggles, and the emotional aftermath of workplace harm. Elona shares her story of walking away from a Big 5 firm with no savings, no job lined up, and a body begging for rest. Listener discretion is advised—especially for those navigating burnout or emotional exhaustion. Take what serves. Leave what overwhelms.

What happens when the dream job becomes the final straw?

In this powerful episode, Elona Washington joins Patrice to share her raw and unfiltered story of leaving a Big 5 consulting firm at the height of burnout—with no job lined up, no savings in the bank, and everything on the line. What pushed her to walk away wasn’t just workplace culture—it was compounded trauma, internalized silence, and a body that finally said enough.

Together, they unpack:

• The collision of personal trauma and professional harm
• Why high achievers ignore the warning signs until it’s too late
• The truth about what really happens after you quit without a plan
• What mental health first looks like when you don’t have the luxury to “rest”
• Rebuilding a new life as a writer, publisher, and self-led professional

Elona doesn’t offer easy answers—she offers the kind of lived clarity you can’t get from a webinar or a workbook.

This episode is for every woman sitting at her desk with a broken spirit, whispering to herself, “There has to be more than this.”

Key Quotes:

“I left with no job, no savings—just my sanity, and I had to protect it.”

“You don’t need a company to validate your voice. You just need to stop betraying yourself.”

Takeaways:

• Leaving a toxic job isn’t reckless—it can be the most strategic move you make
• There is no timeline for healing after workplace harm
• Career reinvention is not a luxury—it’s often the cost of survival
• Your story is not something to hide. It’s something to monetize.