Failure is an option. The thoughts: “I can’t fail,” “I can’t get this wrong,” or “I can’t mess up” are common refrains. I’m here to say, “Yes, you can.” You can fail because you will learn, and then try again, and again, and again, and ultimately succeed. And I want to clarify that “imperfect” performance does not qualify as “failure.” I know young Kelli needed to hear that.
Today, more than ever, wellness is at the forefront of societal discussions. From mental health to physical well-being, women are making significant strides in bringing about change, introducing innovative solutions, and setting new standards. Despite facing unique challenges, they break barriers, inspire communities, and are reshaping the very definition of health and wellness. In this series called women in wellness we are talking to women doctors, nurses, nutritionists, therapists, fitness trainers, researchers, health experts, coaches, and other wellness professionals to share their stories and insights. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Kelli Johnson.
Dr. Kelli Johnson is currently Dean at the College of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, a graduate program at National Louis University in Chicago. In 2002, Dr. Johnson earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Miami after receiving her bachelor’s from the University of North Florida. She completed both her internship and post-doctoral residency at the University Counseling Center at Florida State University and has maintained licensure in good standing since 2003. Post-licensure, Dr. Johnson provided both clinical services and clinical supervision for practicum students and for interns completing APA-accredited internships. Dr. Johnson then transitioned to academia while maintaining a small private practice in downtown Chicago.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I am originally from Jacksonville, Florida, and, through my academic and career paths, have since lived in Miami, Tallahassee, Chicago, New Orleans, and am now back in Chicago. In addition to adapting to the culture and identity of each city, my career has also exposed me to a continuously growing understanding of how my identity as a psychologist can be manifested.
My initial introduction to psychology came through my interest in science and in seeking answers to “why” questions. After completing my undergraduate education, I entered a doctoral program with the intent to become a psychology professor. However, my path veered towards clinical work and providing direct therapy services to clients.
After some time, I realized that I was comfortable but stagnating; I loved my work, but I felt I was not growing in dynamic or expansive ways. I did some introspection to determine what I enjoyed most about my day-to-day work and used that data to inform my next goal: to focus on providing supervision and clinical training, first in clinical settings, then in an academic program. I continue to do clinical work on the side through private practice, but I’ve found so much gratification in the mentoring aspects involved in supervising clinicians-in-training.
Through this experience, I also recognized that I enjoy the logistical and iterative aspects of developing and refining processes to allow systems to work as effectively and efficiently as possible. Since then, I have focused on administrative roles, and today, I serve as Dean of the College of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, a graduate program at National Louis University in Chicago.
Continuous learning and growth have become central to how I approach my life professionally and personally. For example, as I worked to get where I am professionally, I also learned to make wheel-thrown pottery; now, I’m a certified pottery instructor! Over the years spent in pursuit of furthering myself personally and professionally, I also became a site visitor for two major accrediting bodies, deeply engaged in mentoring — my passion — and dedicated to learning and developing who I am as a leader.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
A few years ago, a more senior colleague recommended that I apply for a leadership institute for women in psychology, and it was possibly the single most valuable thing that I have done for myself since completing my doctorate. There were innumerable takeaways from the experience, but two have been the most impactful and most frequently applicable in my life and career.
The first is that leadership does not necessarily look a specific way. Most often, we tend to be exposed to a version of leadership that is informed by norms based on Whiteness and maleness. Our societal understanding of good leadership also tends to focus on “hard” skills. This was not me, and it suggested to me that I would either never be a leader or that I would be a leader who would always be an outlier. I learned to normalize a version of leadership that, when “filtered” through who I am as a whole person, reflects what leadership can also look like. I have strong skills in navigating interpersonal dynamics, likely anchored in my years of experience as a therapist. Attention to engagement, connection, and building teams through shared values and vision have been central to my success in academic leadership roles. My process has meant embracing leadership that is genuine, sustainable, and effective, even if it seems different from the approaches of other leaders.
The second takeaway had to do with fluency and my gained understanding of the importance of recognizing what is valuable to those with whom I engage. In essence, this means learning the language of your partners and colleagues and speaking your needs in a language that they can understand, receive and identify with. This skill has been invaluable in clearly communicating to colleagues the ways in which what I am asking for will fulfill my needs. And, when asking colleagues for something — like resources, support, collaboration, etc. — this skill has also provided me with the ability to better explain why each request is meaningful and what the outcomes for them may be.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
A mistake that I made repeatedly when I first set off in my career was in not asking for help when I needed it. I think of myself as a recovering perfectionist. Whatever the source of the tendency, I left myself little room for anything less than “A” level performance, regardless of circumstance.
The truth is that, like all humans, I am imperfect, fallible, and miss things sometimes. In the past, it was a source of embarrassment and shame, and I would avoid letting others know when I was struggling. Over time, this can wear on a person, and, for me, it showed up in my health, relationships, and my overall sense of joy and satisfaction with my life. I recall a moment in graduate school when I was exhausted from spending weeks of very long days preparing for my qualifying exams. Unfortunately, on the final day of the exams, I was so tired and unfocused that I misread a question. I wrote a thoughtful, thorough, comprehensive response with appropriate citations (from memory) to the question that I thought I had read, not the actual question that had been asked. When I got the results, I was devastated and contemplated leaving school. I decided to stay but had to shift my attention from performing perfectly to performing well, which is enough.
It was not the last time that I had to learn this lesson, but it was definitely one of the first times that I experienced the fact that you can be imperfect and still experience successful outcomes. I want everyone to know that everything in life and work is unequally weighted; it is essential to adjust the value you place on your well-being and performance accordingly.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
I engage with health and wellness work in a number of ways and spaces. In all that I do, my focus is always on equity.
My primary work is as an academic administrator; specifically, I am the Dean of the College of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, a graduate program at National Louis University in Chicago. As a dean, I encourage equity in access to a strong, high-quality, graduate-level education and encourage colleagues to consider equity in how we function for our students, faculty, and staff.
We know that what we see in the world trickles into the microcosm of our educational systems. Manifestations of bias and abuse of power can show up in overt and subtle ways that lead to differential treatment, experience, and outcomes for students from historically marginalized populations. One of the aspects of my role that I most appreciate is the ability to protect students from that experience to the best of my ability through policies, procedures, oversight, and accountability.
As I have mentioned, mentorship is a passion for me. This passion and my career can be credited, in large part, to a Black female psychologist who, 25 years ago, accepted a role as my mentor and who continues to be a source of wisdom and encouragement in difficult times.
My visible role in academic leadership helps BIPOC- and female-identified students who may not have had previous exposure to someone like me or imagined themselves in a similar leadership role. As we look at BIPOC representation among mental health and wellness professionals and recognize the dichotomy between those in search of mental health support and the overwhelmingly high percentage of white female practitioners available to meet the nation’s needs, I feel it is incumbent upon me to stress the value of supporting mental health and wellness professionals that reflect a diverse patient population. These practitioners can have a deeper understanding of their BIPOC patients’ lived experience, which, as a mental health care provider, is vital.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
Sleep — It is extremely difficult to be present enough to do things well when you are too tired to focus. In addition, other aspects of our health can suffer when we don’t sleep properly, including concentration, mood regulation, and appetite, which can spread into general functioning at work, school, and interpersonal relationships.
Exercise — Like sleep, regular exercise supports physical, mental, and emotional health, as well as the ability to sustain the energy we need. I also find that exercise is a great means of managing stress.
Quiet Rest — Rest is restoration. Taking time to ground oneself in the midst of daily life can provide space to reflect, appreciate, plan, and assess in a focused manner. Given the hectic nature of many of our lives, as well as the tense sociocultural environments that surround us, it is easy to become overwhelmed and exist in a space of survival instead of living with intention and focus.
Be Mindful of Where You Invest Your Time and Energy — As I mentioned, everything and everyone may not be worth equal investment. You do not always need to give %110 in all that you do, especially with regard to people and spaces that take much more energy from you than they impart. Eventually, your cup will run empty.
Keep Growing — For the last 15 years, I’ve tried to learn how to do one new thing each year. I have missed a few years along the way, but I’ve discovered things that I never imagined would be of interest or, as with marathoning, within my ability. Finding challenges, navigating the process of meeting them, and ultimately achieving them is a great way to keep the mind active and to remain interested and engaged with the world.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Attention to self-care. By self-care, I’m referencing caring for one’s health above other things that we tend to prioritize. As it pertains to wellness, it’s common, especially for women of color, to make sure that everyone else is okay before attending to themselves. These subconscious behaviors result in less sleep, less healthy diet, less attention to exercise, delayed healthcare appointments, working well beyond the point of fatigue, and only resting when our bodies refuse, too ill and tired to go on.
I am a firm believer that you cannot pour from an empty cup. Self-care can look like exercise — even walking for a few minutes a day — meditation, getting adequate sleep, eating as well as your budget will allow, and scheduling and keeping healthcare appointments. It isn’t always possible to engage in all of these things at once, even when we should, but the commitment to doing as much of these as you can will have positive cumulative results, just as neglecting these areas will slowly wear a person down.
In this vein, I feel the public needs to understand the importance of balance. I think of balance as inhaling and exhaling our lives. The ability to exert energy requires that energy is coming in. We can each boost our own energy through these self-care avenues and in other ways, but no matter what, we each need to refuel in order to meet a new day and try again. This is why it’s so important to serve in a supportive and congenial role for those you care for; your support gives them much-needed energy. And be sure to let your systems support you in their own right. Don’t be like I have been. Ask for help when you need it and give yourself the grace you would readily extend to others.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
You can change your mind if the path you are on is not the right one for you at a given time. This does not necessarily mean immediately giving up and shifting gears whenever things get difficult, but discerning when the path is genuinely not right. Challenges can be great opportunities for growth. However, there will be times when we make choices that we wouldn’t have if we had had more knowledge, experience, and wisdom. We change as we learn and grow; being well sometimes means setting a new course based on who we have become.
Failure is an option. The thoughts: “I can’t fail,” “I can’t get this wrong,” or “I can’t mess up” are common refrains. I’m here to say, “Yes, you can.” You can fail because you will learn, and then try again, and again, and again, and ultimately succeed. And I want to clarify that “imperfect” performance does not qualify as “failure.” I know young Kelli needed to hear that.
Leadership does not look the same for everyone. As I mentioned, leaders often try to embody what they think a leader should be based on subconscious biases about who a leader is. Putting a square-peg-shaped leader into a circle-shaped hole will neither benefit the leader nor those under their leadership. Shaping leadership roles and responsibilities to the needs of the community and the ability of the leader is often a more effective path toward success. Normalizing divergent leadership styles will help leaders embrace what makes them unique, develop more tailored leadership styles, and ultimately better meet their goals.
Success may not look the way you thought it would. As we grow and change, the things that are of the most value will shift. I have found that with age, quality has become more valuable than quantity or status. As an early career professional, my attention was definitely on making more money and elevating my title. However, at this point in my life, finding peace, kindness, and belonging are core to guiding my professional (and personal) choices.
I can offer something that fills a need. For many people, the mental shift from seeing oneself as a receiver of knowledge to a person with expertise to provide is difficult. For me, it has required hearing from colleagues for years and years that I needed to internalize the fact that I do have skills, knowledge, and wisdom to share. As some of my expertise was gained through mistakes, I can be of value to developing individuals by sharing my insight and helping them avoid making the same mistakes I once made.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Mental health and wellness, as they relate to caring for the whole person, are definitely dearest to me. They are particularly meaningful considerations regarding equitable and sufficient access to quality health care for BIOPOC-identified populations. Mental health is often perceived at an individual level. However, the health and wellness of the individuals that make up our communities significantly impact that of the whole community — and vice versa. Marginalized individuals are not marginal but are core members of our communities who need and are deserving of the best possible care. In some cases, that means attending directly to the individual; however, it also means attending to the current and historical systems that have created and sustained inequities.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
For more insight from me and my academic colleagues, please visit the LinkedIn pages below.
Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelli-johnson-866b4613b/
National Louis University: https://www.linkedin.com/school/national-louis-university/mycompany/verification/
College of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences at National Louis University: https://www.linkedin.com/company/89570704/admin/feed/posts/
Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com .
