Gracefully Imperfect

A poetic expression on the importance of remembering the process and purpose for liberation, through the use of ancestral memory and cultural knowledge. I am because we are,Brotha KD, MSWbrothakd@liberationsocialwork.comliberationsocialwork.com Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

A poetic expression of the realities of Black Power. Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we reflect on becoming a Father to a 12-year-old. From selfishness to realizing the sacred mission of fatherly nurturance and protection, our Firstborn continues to teach us about the essence of living life to her fullest capacity.In the spirit of Ubuntu (e.g., “a person is a person through their relationship with other people”), this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.Proclamations for deep reflection:“Fatherhood is healing-centered, and consequently, a liberating force.”Recent Collaboration:Collaboration Special w/ Revolutionary Social Work Podcast6/28/2025, 12 pm MST / 2 pm ESTListen/Watch the last episodes of Gracefully Imperfect:Ways to Connect and Support Genuinely:Order my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review—we are on Spotify and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and share Soul MedicineSend comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on FanbaseConnect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we briefly explore how liberation social work, as an alternative perspective and lens, emerged and some of its key influences. We highlight the inspirations of NTU, Optimal Conceptual Theory, and the science of African Psychology.In the spirit of Ubuntu (e.g., “a person is a person through their relationship with other people”), this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.Proclamations for deep reflection:“Liberation is the process of purging and untethering the soul, freeing from alien consciousness and the power bases that stagnate and delimit the illumination of the soul and the expansiveness of social and cultural consciousness. Its means and aims are predicated on a human life enhancing paradigm, supported by dignity-affirming values and informed and expressed by particular cultural orientations. - Brotha Kyle Toon“The family, which includes the living, the dead. and those yet-to-be born, is the center. The family or peoplehood is the center of existence. It is the center of the universe. For African people our peoplehood thusly becomes the source of human definition.” - Dr. Wade Nobles Upcoming Events:Collaboration Special w/ Revolutionary Social Work Podcast6/28/2025, 12 pm MST / 2 pm EST On Apple, YouTube, & Spotify Listen/Watch the last episodes of Gracefully Imperfect:Ways to Connect and Support Genuinely:Order my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on Spotify, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and share Soul MedicineSend comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on FanbaseConnect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we explore personal facets of life, such as addressing past, present, and future traumas, family, graduation, and seeking meaning through fatherhood, as well as domestic and global geopolitical realities. We also examine the power of collectivity as a people-oriented instrument of power to combat systems of oppression.In the spirit of Ubuntu (e.g., “a person is a person through their relationship with other people”), this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.A quote for deep reflection:“We must understand the tremendous value of the study of history for the re-gaining of power. If our education is not about gaining real power, we are being miseducated and misled and we will die “educated” and misled.” - Dr. Amos N. WilsonUpcoming Events: Juneteenth Collaboration Special w/ Revolutionary Social Work Podcast6/19/2025, 7 am MST / 8 am CST / 9 am ESThttps://riverside.fm/studio/aces-studio-T1EhjWays to Connect and Support Genuinely:Order my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on Spotify, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and share Soul MedicineLast article on Soul Medicine: A Liberation Social Workers PerspectiveListen/Watch the last episode of Gracefully Imperfect:Send comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on FanbaseConnect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we delve into the multiplex realities informing the sociocultural and sociopolitical experiences of Black and Brown bodies. The focus lies on the forces and apparatuses interfering, disrupting, and generating chaos in our ecosystems, worldviews, value systems, priorities, interaction with reality, and consciousness. In the spirit of Ubuntu (e.g., “a person is a person through other people”), this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.A quote for deep reflection:“…if Afrikans are to liberate themselves from European domination, empower themselves, enrich their quality of life, they must repudiate the power of Europeans to characterize their ethnicity and through it, gain power over them by characterizing their own perceptions of themselves..” - Dr. Amos N. WilsonWays to Connect and Support Genuinely:Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on Spotify, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and share Soul MedicineLast article on Soul Medicine: A Liberation Social Workers PerspectiveListen/Watch the last episode of Gracefully Imperfect:Order my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Send comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on FanbaseConnect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we delve into the concept of reality, touching on the contours of its influencing, persuasive, and controlling nature of our minds, emotions, consciousness, behaviors, and personality wiring. Reality depends on a people's ontological and epistemic structure. So, in other words, reality is best understood and interpreted through a culture's particular knowledge and truth-seeking systems. In the spirit of Ubuntu, this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.A quote for deep reflection:“Our children is brought up with wisdom and understanding. We was brought up in ignorance, that we had to search to find the truth. But our children born and from them born them hear the truth.” - Bob Marley Ways to Connect and Support Genuinely:Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on Spotify, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and share Soul MedicineLast article on Soul Medicine: A Liberation Social Workers PerspectiveListen/Watch the last episode of Gracefully Imperfect:Order my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Send comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on FanbaseConnect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we continue the discourse on Love. Traveling through adolescence to adulthood, I open the portal to some life experiences that have partially shaped and influenced my Love journey. Eventually, my Wife and I found each other unintentionally, and while neither one of us was ready to embrace the fullness and powerful vibrations of Love, she demonstrated nothing but grace, decisiveness, and patience as I went through a matrix of confusion, disbelief, and immaturity. Towards the end of the episode, I recite a self-written poem titled “Let Love Live” that I wrote on behalf of my Love to my Wife, recited for all listening ears, and located in my independent poetry anthology “The Depths Below.” I hope this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.Let Love Live: An everlasting touchmeets an everlasting grip;Who can say that lasting lovecan never exist?Be honest and love yourself, and in returnsomeone will love you.The blacker the berrythe sweeter the juice,Love is an eternal drugAnd I am addicted to you.Ways to Connect and Support Genuinely:Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on Spotify, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and share Soul MedicineLast article on Soul Medicine: A Liberation Social Workers PerspectiveListen/Watch the last episode of Gracefully Imperfect:Order my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Send comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on FanbaseConnect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we reflect respectfully and humbly on Grandma Toon’s influence on my understanding of community, spirituality, and family: exercising love as a practice, investing in the transformation and growth of community members, applying the concept of family-first, being congruent and real, and holding space for inner wisdom (prayer, somatic practices, quietness). I hope this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.The recited poem is self-crafted and self-written:Queen Mother Granny, life has been exceedingly daunting when wanting more collides with the growing pains generated by the heartbreak and existential sores the body absorbs… disenfranchised by grieving alone in front of the only window seal in this cold, dark, depressing home - Oh, Granny, what time is it? how did I get here? Is my mere existence in alignment with and according to your prudence, purpose, and visions? when the clock stops ticking, time will tell and reveal the heavy, hearty truth - buried… hidden… concealed… and shielded by earthly spectacles glamorizing pop culture on the center stage, supplying pure entertainment on sick days rather than preventative medicine, as our souls are encroached upon by the narrowness of life’s wicked maze… Sweet Granny, I’m engulfed by suffocating shadows of impermanence and poisonous hazes of constitutional destruction, my heart bleeds with sadness for holding such existential weight of the unsavory fate without your perceptiveness and grace so much is at stake… with so little time to waste… please, Queen Mother, look over this place - and help us - all of us - see your lovely rare essence manifest and inculcate graceful, moral immunity in every village, town, city, or COMMUNITY!Ways to Connect and Support Genuinely:Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on Spotify, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and share Soul MedicineWatch the Podcast interview w/ Brotha Gary Taylor, LCSWLast article on Soul Medicine: A Liberation Social Workers PerspectiveListen/Watch the last episode of Gracefully Imperfect:Order my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Send comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on FanbaseConnect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we initiate a deep exploration of love. Drawing from lessons learned, divine messages, and golden insights gathered from formative childhood years - through the aches and pains of the life process - and crystallized during the co-journeying process of matrimony, helped with the reconceptualization, reimagination, and relearning of the transcendence and transformative power of love. I hope this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.A quote for deep and intense reflection: “Love is divine only and difficult always. If you think it is easy you are a fool. If you think it is natural you are blind. It is a learned application without reason or motive except that it is God. You do not deserve love regardless of the suffering you have endured. You do not deserve love because somebody did you wrong. You do not deserve love because you want it. You can only earn - by practice and careful contemplation - the right to express it and you have to learn how to accept it. Which is to say you have to earn God. You have to practice God. You have to think God - carefully.” - Toni Morrison (Rest in Power)Ways to Connect and Support Genuinely:Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on Spotify, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and share Soul MedicineLast article on Soul Medicine: A Liberation Social Workers PerspectiveListen/Watch the last episode of Gracefully Imperfect:Order my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Send comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on FanbaseConnect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we discuss a recent life experience with hypocrisy, deceit, and disillusionment manifested into questioning human dignity and worth. Drawing from lessons learned, divine messages, golden insights gathered from community practice - including familyhood, helped with the restoration of dignity, courage - self-knowingness. I hope this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.A quote for deep and intense reflection: “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together” - Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Rest in Power)Ways to Connect and Support Genuinely:Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on Spotify, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and share the Substack newsletter, Soul MedicineNewest article on Soul Medicine: A Liberation Social Workers PerspectiveKyle ToonRead full storyListen/Watch the last episode of Gracefully Imperfect:Read full storyOrder my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Send comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on FanbaseConnect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we briefly explore the personal pivot from military officer to liberation social worker. Drawing from lessons learned, golden insights of spiritual substance helped me realize that the human services work fulfilled in the military accurately translates into a liberation social work practice context. I hope this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.A quote for deep and intense reflection: “Man's consciousness is a creative act and the kind of consciousness one has will determine the kind of world one creates” - Dr. Amos Wilson”Dr. Amos Wilson’s book, “Afrikan-Centered Consciousness Versus the New World Order” Ways to Connect and Support Genuinely:Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on Spotify, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Subscribe and share the Substack newsletter, Soul MedicineNewest article on Soul Medicine:Listen/Watch the last episode of Gracefully Imperfect:Order my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Send comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on FanbaseConnect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we explore and address the distorted Western conceptions of mental health, within the context of communalism and collectivity. Drawing from insights and understandings gathered from roots in the Black church, experiential self-knowledge, self-studying of Ancient and indigenous civilizations, including the perspective of African psychology, and amplified by an African self-consciousness, I hope this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.A quote for deep and intense reflection: “When the human spirit is well, whole, and healthy, the human being is characterized by confidence, competence, and a sense of full responsibility and unlimited potentiality” —Dr. Wade Nobles Ways to Connect and Support:Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!*Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Listen to the last episode on:Order my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Send comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we explore and reclaim the underlying force that emboldens the spirit of liberation, justice, and resistance for the pursuant of addressing and advancing the collective needs, interests, and faculties of African/Black people: Revolutionary Love. Drawing from insights and understandings gathered from Black liberation movement leaders, the ethos of the Black Panther Party, African-centered scholars and educators, and musical artists who centralized cultural and racial consciousness in their song-making process, I hope this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.A quote for deep and intense reflection: “Why don’t you live for the people?; Why don’t you struggle for the people?; Why don’t you die for the people?” —Fred HamptonWays to Connect and Support:Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, too!!*Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠⁠ CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠Listen to the last episode on:Order my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠⁠ "The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Send comments and feedback to the business email -kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠⁠ Service page⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we explore the underlying force and message to the domestic political violence and greater geopolitical struggles impacting African people. Drawing from insights and understandings gathered from deep contemplation, prayer, reflection, reading, research, and stillness, I hope this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity.A quote for deep and intense reflection:Love is "the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth."- (M Scott Peck, 1978, as cited in hooks, 1999)*Get the SMOKE AND MIRRORS poem and other poetic pieces on Substack (link to subscribe is below) *Ways to Connect and Support --Subscribe to the⁠⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠, too!!Listen to the last episode on ⁠⁠Contradictions & ParadoxesOrder my self-written poetry anthology,⁠⁠⁠"The Depths Below"⁠⁠⁠*Subscribe and share the Substack publication,⁠⁠⁠CREATIVST.⁠⁠⁠*Send comments and feedback to the business email -⁠⁠kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠and the⁠⁠⁠Service page⁠⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we explore the essential themes and characteristics of contradictions and paradoxes: Psychological and social distress/disunity, spiritual distress, confusion, manipulation, and incongruence. Drawing from my academic experience within the Master of Social Work program and broader sociohistorical and sociopolitical context of colonialism and oppression, I hope this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity. A quote for deep and intense reflection:“Black people cannot be equal in a society that is fundamentally unequal.” - Dr. Amos N. Wilson (Rest in Power) Ways to Connect and Support --Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, too!!Listen to the last episode on ⁠Antidote to ShameOrder my self-written poetry anthology, ⁠⁠"The Depths Below"⁠⁠Subscribe and share the Substack publication, ⁠⁠CREATIVST.⁠⁠Send comments and feedback to the business email - ⁠kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.com⁠Connect, follow, and share on⁠⁠ LinkedIn ⁠⁠and the ⁠⁠Service page⁠⁠Connect, follow, and share on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we explore what counters the effects of shame and what ingredient can assuage its negative impacts. Drawing from my personal experience as a father and husband, seeker of the healing antidote, and scholarly insights from trauma research, I hope this intimate reflection will help you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity. Ways to Connect and Support --Subscribe to the ⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠, too!!Listen to the last episode on ShameOrder my self-written poetry anthology, ⁠"The Depths Below"⁠Subscribe and share the Substack publication, ⁠CREATIVST.⁠Send comments and feedback to the business email - kyle.liberationsocialwork@gmail.comConnect, follow, and share on⁠ LinkedIn ⁠and the ⁠Service page⁠Connect, follow, and share on ⁠Instagram⁠ Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

I am Kyle Toon, of African descent, a husband, a father, a military conscientious objector, and a Liberation Social Worker (graduating May ‘25). Mental & Creative Liberation is not only a small, Black-owned business, it is an institution that supports and prioritizes mental vitality, emotional vulnerability, spiritual awareness, and creative liberation through community building, community-centered support, courageous conversations, creative writing, empathetic coaching, counseling, and consultation. I can provide consultations, training, workshops, group facilitations, speaking support (keynote, as well), and creative writing for non-profit organizations, grassroots movements, and any other community-centered entities responsible for the healing, transformation, and restoration of Black bodies and souls. Let us connect and see if there is alignment.Ways to connect/support Mental & Creative Liberation -Subscribe to CREATIVIST. Listen, share, and subscribe to the Gracefully Imperfect PodcastInstagram LinkedinLinkedin Service Page Purchase an independent copy of “The Depths Below” - a self-written poetry anthology centering racial identity, mental health experiences, and cultural knowledge. Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

2025 is upon us and Gracefully Imperfect is back to co-journey with you; the person, the soul - confronting or challenged with emotional vulnerability and embracing human beingness. In this episode, we explore Shame - what it is, how it manifests, relational and mental health implications, and explorative seeds to identify the source or root of Shame. All in the context of my personal experience as Black father and husband; however, hopefully from this intimate reflection, you draw parallels, become inspired, and develop a sense of curiosity. Ways to Connect and Support --Subscribe to the ⁠Podcast⁠, share with a loved one, and write a review - We are on Apple Podcasts, too!!Order my self-written poetry anthology, "The Depths Below"Subscribe and share the Substack publication, CREATIVST.Listen to the last Episode, The Narrative of a Conscientious Objector, Part II or the previous Episode, The Narrative of an Imperfect FatherConnect, follow, and share on LinkedIn and the Service pageConnect, follow, and share on Instagram Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe

An ongoing conversation about the insensitivities experienced and endured as a military conscientious objector.Quote Of The Day:“Liberation means you don't have to be silenced.” ~ Toni MorrisonConnect with Semantics7 and the embrace your imperfection (EYI) movement:⁠ https://www.embraceourimperfection.com/home/life-coaching⁠ - Life coach program that promotes life fulfillment and existential wellness⁠@always_gracefullyimperfect⁠ - Follow the IG⁠poeticsemantics7@gmail.com⁠ - Send an email giving feedback, a testimonial, or to have a discussion.Upcoming Events:Gracefully Imperfect monthly newsletter (CREATIVST.) is complete and ready for dissemination - send your name and email address to ⁠poeticsemantics7@gmail.com⁠ - if you would like to subscribe to the newsletter and receive this powerful infusion of spirituality, creativity, intellect, and collective consciousness.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gracefullyimperfect/message Get full access to CREATIVST. at creativist.substack.com/subscribe