I started my journey in the mental health profession in 2010 as a social worker. I found myself constantly combining my experience in hip hop and ministry with my clinical and community work. As I grew over the years, I gained experiences in family therapy, refugee therapy, youth correctional systems, international social work, school therapy and urban art therapy, to name a few.
While doing refugee therapy, I met a lot of families from all over Africa and the Middle East. There was knowledge, wisdom, and insight in every one of the mothers, fathers, elders, and youth that I worked with. In helping these families build coping skills the things they had to endure, I realized that just coping with stress is not the same as healing from trauma and being able to move forward freely. I started to understand more about the intercrossing of what mental health could look like from a global lens.
In urban arts, I was blessed to have opportunities to travel the world and work with dancers, musicians and graffiti artists. I witnessed how the stress from life can burden even the most talented. I also witnessed how one’s talents can completely transform your situation and offer a healing unmatched by anything else. I realized that mental health was an art for me; it became a part of my craft. The next big challenge is to bridge the gap between the urban art world and mental health and allow both sides to see that they can be one.
I decided to dedicate myself to empowering communities and impacting the field of mental health by using my expertise in hip hop, martial arts, and ministry to empower all to reach their fullest potential through a change of perspective. In 2020, I opened up my private practice, Minds Unltd, and I have been on a journey to provide impactful mental services ever since.
Through Minds Unltd, I help people see themselves as capable of thriving regardless of life circumstances, stresses, or diagnoses. My organization empowers people by changing their perspectives. I want people to heal and thrive and not just survive.
Dr. Jarhal Duncan, LISW, Ph.D. is a Dayton, Ohio, native. He is the CEO and Lead therapist at Minds Unltd LLC.
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