The Homecoming Podcast with Dr. Thema

Author and organizer, Dr. Key discusses the importance of healthy relationships and positive, collaborative community support. Dr. Key also shares her life’s journey and provides practical guidance for economic growth and purposeful, intentional partnerships. Dr. Lakeysha “Key” Hallmon, EdD, is a transformational social entrepreneur, speaker, civic leader, and author of No One Is Self-Made. Dr. Hallmon is reshaping the future of economic power by building ecosystems where small businesses thrive and communities flourish. She is the founder of The Village Market, Our Village United, The Village Retail, and Village Books— enterprises that have supported thousands of small businesses, facilitated over $10 million in direct sales, delivered services to entrepreneurs valued at over $15 million, and deployed more than $1 million in grants and technical assistance. Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe and share. Music by Joy Jones. Mixed & Edited by Next Day Podcast info@nextdaypodcast.com

Dr. Thema shares green flags and red flags in romantic relationships. She shares concrete examples of what to consider as you're deciding if your relationship is worth fighting for. Healthy love enhances our lives. Dysfunctional relationships sabotage us. Learn the difference in this week's episode. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share. Music by Joy Jones.

Dr. Thema shares a heartfelt and inspiring message on rising, growing, and thriving. She combines insightful keys to staying motivated with practical tips for you to move from stagnant and stuck to soaring. Dr. Thema Bryant is a psychologist, author, professor, sacred artist, and minister who is leading the way in creating healthy relationships, healing traumas, and overcoming stress and oppression. Her life changing books include Matters of the Heart, Homecoming, Reclaim Yourself: The Homecoming Workbook, and The Antiracism Handbook: Practical Tools to Shift Your Mindset and Uproot Racism in Your Life and Community and they empower readers to connect with themselves and to others, exploring topics such as: control issues, emotional unavailability, practical activation activities, case studies, and teaching how to shift mindset and patterns around mental health, relationships, and liberation. Dr. Thema Bryant completed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Duke University and her post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical Center’s Victims of Violence Program. Upon graduating, she became the Coordinator of the Princeton University SHARE Program, which provides intervention and prevention programming to combat sexual assault, sexual harassment, and harassment based on sexual orientation. She is currently a tenured professor of psychology in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University, where she directs the Culture and Trauma Research Laboratory. Dr. Thema is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and leads the mental health ministry at First A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles. Most recently, she was the 2023 president of the American Psychological Association (APA) and is the host of The Homecoming Podcast. Mixed & Edited by Next Day Podcast info@nextdaypodcast.com

Angela Rye joins Dr. Thema to share her personal journey of coping with and healing from political stress and disappointment. Angela shares the importance of community care and spirituality in her process of homecoming. She also is transparent about the challenges of self care when your sense of purpose and meaning get disrupted. Angela Rye is an award-winning host, lawyer, social justice advocate, and Principal/CEO of IMPACT Strategies, where her political advocacy and crisis management firm’s Professional Development Program has supported more than 500 alumni now serving at the highest levels of government, corporate, and nonprofit sectors. Rye is also the co-creator of State of the People, a coalition of 200 local and national organizations providing resources, education, empowerment, and relief to thousands of citizens. She is co-host of the NAACP Image Award–winning podcast Native Land Pod and co-founder of Reasoned Choice Media with Lenard “Charlamagne tha God” McKelvey and Chris Morrow. With more than two decades of experience in political strategy, coalition building, and advocacy, Rye previously served as Executive Director and General Counsel to the Congressional Black Caucus and as Senior Policy Advisor and Counsel for the House Homeland Security Committee. She currently serves as a board member for Wilberforce University, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, Black Futures Lab, the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, and on the advisory boards of Club 61 and Boon Boona. She holds honorary doctorates from Wiley College and LeMoyne-Owen College and is a proud alumnus of the University of Washington and Seattle University School of Law. After you listen, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share. Music by Joy Jones. Mixed & Edited by Next Day Podcast info@nextdaypodcast.com

Dr. Marcus joins Dr. Thema to discuss the importance of holistic reparations as they explore his thought provoking book in light of the American Psychological Association resolution on Individual, Collective, and Intergenerational Trauma Recovery: Considering the Restorative Roles of Resttition and Reparations. Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter is a professor of sociology and African American studies at UCLA. He is also the author of "Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation," among other titles. In his last book, he talks about the many forms of reparations and things the nation can do to bring healing and repair to descendants of enslaved Africans. He is committed to raising awareness about the many contributions of Black people towards building the United States of America. Mixed & Edited by Next Day Podcast info@nextdaypodcast.com

Dr. Anita shares her homecoming journey as a multi-gifted person. She is a New York Times bestselling author, trauma therapist, and interim lead pastor of One Church in Los Angeles. Along with discussing her multiple callings, she and Dr. Thema explore her heart's journey post-divorce which includes both healing and re-opening her heart to new possibilities. Widely recognized as a thought leader at the intersection of mental health, faith, and culture, Dr. Anita holds degrees from the University of Maryland and Regent University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is a dynamic speaker and podcast host who adores her family and friends, a good pint of ice cream, and sitting by the ocean. Mixed & Edited by Next Day Podcast info@nextdaypodcast.com

Filmmaker, author, and journalist, Esther Armah joins Dr. Thema to discuss the pressure and expectation of emotional caretaking placed on Black women as well as our pathway to healing and liberation. They explore the emotional and physical costs of being an emotional mammy and the psychological and social steps to freeing one's self from these societal expectations. Esther A. Armah is an author, former international award-winning journalist, film-maker and playwright. Esther is author of ‘EMOTIONAL JUSTICE: a roadmap for racial healing’ Emotional Justice is a racial healing roadmap Esther created over a 15-year period through assignment, research and community engagement in Accra, Philadelphia, Cape Town, London, Chicago and New York. She is CEO, The Armah Institute of Emotional Justice, a global non-profit devising, developing, designing and delivering programming for international human rights organizations, global philanthropy, social justice organizations and academia. As a journalist she has worked in London, New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. As a playwright, she has written five plays, that have been produced and performed in New York, Chicago, and Accra. As a film-maker, her short film is called ‘…goodbye to the EMOTIONAL MAMMY.’ which centers Black women’s wellness and the emotional weight we carry. Throughout 2025, she’s done a global screening and dialogue tour for this short film across the US and Africa, in New York, Ghana, South Africa and Washington DC. Don't forget to like, subscribe, share, and comment. Music by Joy Jones.