WOMEN’S WELLNESS- HERE’S HOW DR. CAROL LABOR TURNED HER BROKEN CHORDS INTO SYMPHONY

Dr. Carol Labor is a mother to four children ages ranging from 14 years to 29 years old. Secondly, she is a survivor of complex trauma , this fuels her passion and her purpose. Professionally,   Dr. Carol is a Doctor of Public Health with over 29 years combined professional experience, with 11 years in international development in Sierra Leone, the country of her birth.

Dr. Carol left Sierra Leone at the age of five, returning for the first time almost 40 years later. Her professional experience is inclusive of  Principal Consultant of the Women’s Wellness Group (a woman-owned minority consulting firm); and Senior Consultant and Permanent Representative to the United Nations ECOCSOC; and a former Senior Health Equity and Diversity Specialist.

Dr. Carol’s education background is inclusive of a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Development; Master of Science in Education; Doctor of Public Health- degree.  Her professional certifications are inclusive of a Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Certificate; Certified Domestic Violence Responder; Certified MHFA Instructor (Adult, Youth, Higher Education, and Rural Modules); Posttraumatic Stress Management (PTSM) and Acute Trauma Responder (Violence, Disaster, and Emergency), Certified Storyteller; and Opioid Reduction Training Facilitator

Her hobbies are reading and being a voice for the voiceless in under served communities and vulnerable populations. Her professional life spans almost 30 years so her aspirations at this stage of her life is to use her skills with her personal experience as a survivor of complex trauma to influence discussions on mental health and wellness in the education, community, and employment sectors. Her mandate is to empower the next generation of women and girls to tell their stories.

What is living a purposeful life?

I believe that living a purposeful life entails doing what you’re called to do and living out your purpose. As a survivor, my life’s work has always been through a survivor’s lens; and my pedagogy has always utilized a survivor-centered approach long before I knew the meaning of same. I’m an educator, advocate, and a published author. I operate on the mantra of being the person I needed as a child, I’ve culturally and linguistically appropriate education and psychosocial programs for diverse immigrant and refugee women and children from countries including, but not limited to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Haiti, Ghana, Turkey, Syria, China, Jamaica, Mexico, and Iraq; and education and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) initiatives for girls exposed to gender-based violence (GBV) in Sierra Leone.

Self-care in everyday life.

Self-care is an integral part of my life. I practice self-care on an ongoing basis and have crafted it into my work as a Consultant- only working on projects that support my healing as a survivor. I unplug as much as possible; having only email notifications sent to my phone (no social media or messenger); and at times I turn my phone off completely for a day or two. It’s important for women to recognize when to disengage. I do not try to save the world as I’ve learned over the last 3 decades that the world and people, family, friends, and associates, will go on long after I’m gone.

Connecting and harmonising love, beauty and peace in my daily lifestyle.

This is a pivotal moment in my life as 2019 serves as 30 years since I began my journey of motherhood, professional experiences, educational experiences, etc.; and I took a two month sabbatical (with 2 key professional meetings) to reflect and recharge. What an experience! I examined the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of my life for the last 30 years. I allowed myself to grieve for situations and losses in a manner that made me cry, laugh, and let go. Harmonizing love, beauty, and peace means allowing myself to be me, authentically me; and to experience physical and emotional love in a manner conducive to myself as a whole.  Beauty?  I had to learn to love myself and the way I look over the years because as a child and teenager, I was told I was ugly. I was nicknamed “Black Carol” because of my skin tone; and “Bootyscatcher” and “Shaka Zulu” because I’m African.  If I got into a disagreement with another girl as a child I was denigrated and called a “Black Bitch” or “African Bitch” or Ugly Bitch”.

As a woman I learned to embrace my skin, my features, and my natural hair, accented by natural wigs and my signature look now is a big natural hair. Peace? I’m an extroverted introvert so I protect my peace though isolation. Although I know people and many people know or think they know me, I’m often alone outside of my sons and life partner. I can go days, weeks, and months without seeing family and friends outside of social media posts. Isolation is a coping mechanism and trauma response I learned in my childhood. When I was alone I couldn’t be teased, bullied, or beaten. When I was alone I couldn’t be touched by the neighbor next door or touched or propositioned by my uncle(s). I describe myself as a tortoise. I come out of my shell and can be the life of the party every once in a while, but few people can tell you that we talk and/or see each other on a regular basis.

The low moments- the broken chords turned into symphony.

I had to take a break before sharing this… As an African child in urban America, I always knew I was different. I never knew the exact reasons that I attended so many schools so last year I requested my elementary, middle, and high school transcripts. My trauma played out in those records like a story that was invisible to the eye of educators and administrators in the numerous schools and school districts. With my education and social and emotional learning skills interrupted so many times, I was granted a high school diploma and thrown out into the world. As an African woman thrust into the professional world, I was unprepared to say the least. The professional world was unprepared for an immigrant woman who was/is nuerodiverse and never did fit in. I was viewed as standoffish by some African-American women insinuated that I thought I was better than then; and for Caucasian women and other non-Black women I was aggressive when I expressed my views.

In 2014 I was sexually assaulted on more than one occasion by a Caucasian woman in the office of a powerful state senator. I spoke out and was blackballed. I lost friends and political clout. I went from being invited to congressional, state and local political events to being shunned. Even though I had/have a diary that documented dates and times of each episode, as with many victims of sexual assault in the workplace, I was mocked and my name became synonymous with troublemaker. However, the only trouble I made was sticking up for myself. As an African woman I was stigmatized. For women of color the “Me Too” movement isn’t for us as Caucasian women can name their perpetrators publicly and are celebrated, as an African woman I was vilified.

I became depressed and suicidal as the sexual assault triggered past trauma that I had disassociated from. My therapist, who is now my Life Coach, urged me to take a class which prompted my doctoral journey. I focused my research on gender-based violence as well as mental health and trauma in women and communities of color inclusive of African immigrants and refugees. I know I’m still blacklisted as I get individuals who have been interested in my work who became disinterested once they found out “that’s Carol”. I view it as a blessing as it’s allowed me to see people for who they are.

The power of learning

It was after I experienced said challenges that I found my voice, my passion, my purpose, through my pain. I’ve rebuilt my professional life and created my brand. Through my doctoral journey I evolved. I processed. I shed layers. I realized that as an African woman my education and professional experience was/is a threat to some and in a literal sense I’ve had to fight all of my life. Fast forward to 2019, my 30^th year of my adult journey has taught me many lessons. I’ve been muted, silenced, discriminated against, overlooked, and abused sexually and emotionally over the years. The most important lesson is I’m still here and have carved out my niche. I’m reading the book Childhood Disrupted which is an eye-opener to my complex trauma experiences. My life experiences has evolved into my life’s work. Going forward my goal is to continue to convene wellness groups for women and girls around the world; and can if interested in hosting Dr. Carol’s workshops or lectures contact her at drcarol@womenswellgroup.org