Mrs. Morgan earned a Master of Science from Fuller Seminary School of Psychology in 2000. Post licensure, Mrs. Morgan went on to be an active leader of The Boeing Company's Threat Management Team, Clinical Supervisor for Fuller Psychological and Family Services, adjunct faculty for Fuller School of Psychology, Director of Psychology for Synergy Performance in El Segundo, CA and featured therapist on reality TV's R&B Divas of LA. Today, she runs her own group practice (now located in Rancho Cucamonga, CA), chosen Best of Pasadena and Best of Ontario for 9 consecutive years.
SPMG PEOPLE: It was great meeting you a few months ago. I'm excited that we are finally interviewing you. Your business is Ideal Living Psychology Center. Tell us what inspired you to move into this field?
BREAUX MORGAN: The circumstances that inspired me to move into this field are varied. My own heart’s desire to live from a sense of purpose is first among them. I often prayed to know my calling. This was not a one-time prayer; this was a question I contemplated deeply for months—maybe years—before I had an epiphany. It finally came to me one day while reading through the newspaper. I noticed an announcement that Pepperdine University was hosting an informational meeting about degrees in Psychology for interested parties. I, immediately, felt compelled to go. Reading the ad felt surreal, as though it had been printed just for me. I, therefore, wasted no time arranging to attend the assembly later that week.
I sat through that informational meeting convinced that a degree in Psychology was the first step of my purposed path. So, you might imagine how disheartened I felt when the informant announced that enrollment the following year would be my first opportunity to start their program. Correctly reading the disappointment on my face, the speaker offered me a plan to begin right away. “If you really want to begin coursework now, you can enroll at Santa Monica College for these classes”, she said as she wrote three course titles on a piece of paper for me. “Pepperdine will require you to take these classes during your first semester, or you can transfer only the credits from these classes for a head start,” she further explained. With renewed hope, I drove straight to SMC, registered for the classes, and completed the courses over the next two semesters.
In addition my own heart’s desire and the woman that pointed me to SMC, Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer of Faithful Central Bible Church also inspired me to move into this field. Dr. Ulmer was like a father to me, and he opened my eyes to the fact that a graduate degree was attainable for me. He was the first example I had of a “doctor in the family”, so to speak. Therefore, if he could do it, I could do it, I told myself. My close proximity to him, his scholastic example, and what I sometimes refer to as “The Call”, motivated me to gain the level of education required to be a professional in this field.
“The Call” from Bishop went something like this: While I was preparing for work one morning, the phone rang. …Now before I continue, let me say that an early morning call from Bishop (who, again, was like a father to me) was not out of the ordinary. He called many times before to invite me to brunch, holiday gatherings, and amusement park outings with the rest of the Ulmer family. What was out of the ordinary, this time, was the fact that he called early on a weekday.
“What are you doing?” he asked casually.
“Getting ready for work,” I answered, matter-offactly”. I also threw in that I’d been invited to Fuller Seminary’s Prospective Student Day happening that morning.
Without hesitation, he said, “Whatever you do, don’t miss that event.”
“But, I have to go to work,” I said.
“Whatever you do, don’t miss that event,” he repeated.
In the end, I went to Fuller’s Prospective Student Day. More importantly, I applied and was soon accepted because Bishop helped me think past my undergraduate degree. And he, like the woman from Pepperdine, also pointed me to the next academic institution on my journey into this field. More importantly, he probably helped opened the door that gave me access to Fuller’s Master’s program.
Finally, comes the last person that inspired me to venture into this field. I met him the morning of Prospective Student Day as pitches to apply for enrollment at Fuller were underway. As I sat outside alone in the lobby, a man I didn’t know approached to ask why I wasn’t inside with the other prospectives. “I’m not sure I belong here”, I said. “These kids went to MIT, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, to name a few of the Alma maters I’ve heard boasted,” I told him. “I didn’t attend a school like that, nor did I study psychology in undergrad”, I added, feeling defeated.
“Well…” the stranger began, “…to be accepted to one of our psychology programs, you only need to have taken…” I couldn’t believe my ears when he listed the titles of the courses I had recently completed at Santa Monica College. “I just completed those classes!” I said, seemingly in shock. “Then you belong here”, he replied, matter-of-factly. That guy was Dr. Jim Guy, the Dean of Fuller’s School of Psychology at the time. He is the forth person I credit for inspiring me to move into this field because he pushed me to courageously forge ahead when I was so close to backing down from moving into this field.
SPMG PEOPLE: That’s a powerful story. Thanks for sharing that.
SPMG PEOPLE: Your company tag line "Promoting Power, Love and Sound Mind for Adults, Couples and Families" is powerful. How does your work help transform someone's life?
BREAUX MORGAN: Psychotherapists, like myself, are specialists of mental, emotional, behavioral, relational, and familial health. In general, we help clients transform their lives by facilitating a process of relieving distress and dysfunction brought on by trauma, chaos, and stress in any of these areas. We accomplish this through a process of gathering history, evaluating symptoms, assessing problems, and intervening with strategic planning, psycho-education, tools, and safe holding environments to work through the issues clients present for treatment.
My own innovative method of therapy, coined Incorporeally Conscious Therapy or ICT, has been described, by clients and colleagues alike, as the most trans theoretical model they’ve ever experienced. ICT is based on the premise that we are not the physical images we see when we look into mirrors. We are, instead, the nonmaterial beings inhabiting the body reflected back at us.
The strategy behind ICT is to raise clients’ awareness of nonmaterial facets of self that have a tendency to interfere with inner peace and the ability to function when those elements of self lack proper framework. Additionally, an important operation of ICT is to help clients integrate tangible infrastructures that reveal unseen contributors to problems and to offer clear solutions for fixing them. When applied properly, these infrastructures help safeguard against past, present, and impending threats to wellbeing in all realms of life.
Perceptions, thoughts, and feelings are just a few examples of what I mean by nonmaterial facets of self. ICT’s methods of intervening on nonmaterial phenomena like these help transform clients and their lives by fostering symptom relief as well as the positive outcomes that result from ideal living. Ultimately, ICT helps clients realize that they are not helpless victims of fate, but rather, phenomenal vessels of power, love, and sound mind with ability to overcome whatever dares to sabotage their experience of wellbeing.
SPMG PEOPLE: The pandemic has been tramatic in many ways for many people. From isolation at home, fear of food shortage, lack of funds to take care of basic needs. What have you found to be one of the most common challenges people are faced with during the pandemic and how has your work helped people?
BREAUX MORGAN: As a treatment provider of personal and interpersonal issues, the most common challenges I’ve heard about during this pandemic are marital discord and infidelity. Frustrations run high in times of stress, so many people look for someone to blame for how they’re feeling. Often the one blamed for the other’s unpleasant emotions is the spouse. Displaced blame on a spouse makes it easy for the blaming spouse to seek relief from their negative feelings by finding someone else to project pleasant feelings onto.
My work has helped people see the problems as the problem instead of seeing each other as the problem. Once the real problems are understood; which in this case include things like cognitive distortion, projection, a lack of personal insight, and a lack of useful communication skills; the individual or couple and I can focus energy on solving the problem—not attacking, abusing, or cheating on the people they love.
On the other hand, if an individual finds that their partner is not willing to collaborate on working though the problem, my challenge has been to help the abused and/or abandoned partner grieve loss, recover from pain, revive inner strength, learn from experience, and emerge triumphant on the other side.
SPMG PEOPLE: What are some tips you've offered clients to endure isolation and the fear of COVID-19?
BREAUX MORGAN: The following five points are a few helpful ideas to keep in mind while coping with COVID-19 or any life stressor:
“Inherent to the apple seed is the apple tree.” In other words, even though we look and feel small in the face of a pandemic, there is remarkable strength and growth potential inside us.
It will produce what we need when we are discerning of our own power, love, and sound mind.
Adults are what my ICT model calls Independent/ Free Agents. This means that regardless of what the problem is, adults have the capacity to solve it—even if he or she hasn’t identified how yet.
Problems, by definition, have solutions. Therefore, if there is no solution for what an adult perceives to be a problem, it’s not really a problem. Furthermore, the proper strategy in the absence of a solution is coping because people also have the capacity for resiliency when no solution yet exists.
Contact a safe friend, supportive family member, licensed therapist, or urgent hotline if you need assistance solving a problem or coping with a stressor.
SPMG PEOPLE: Marriage therapy is a big part of your business. From my own experience I've found the pandemic has had a huge impact on marriages - either the couple becomes closer or it has highlighted areas that have cause couples to go their separate ways. What has your experience shown and why do you think that is?
BREAUX MORGAN: If you are the best hairstylist in all of California, but you show up to the salon without tools and supplies, you can’t create what you otherwise have the potential to create. Likewise, if you’re the best homebuilder in the country, but you show up to the construction site without tools, equipment, or supplies, you won’t produce what you otherwise have the potential to produce. As straightforward as this logic seems, many of us don’t think this way about being an adult. An adult, like a professional, is an evolved status that comes with a dutiful role. So, when we show up to adulthood without tools like selfawareness, boundaries, autonomy, self-efficacy, assertive communication, and the will to collaborate without violating the rights of others, we won’t produce the outcomes mature, highfunctioning, intellectuals (i.e., adults) actually have the potential to produce.
SPMG PEOPLE: Your offices are located in Rancho Cucamonga, CA and are gorgeous, comfortable and non-intimidating. You not only have therapy clients, you assist other therapists by mentoring, providing affordable office space and leads. Tell us about this program?
BREAUX MORGAN: Professionals of any industry can tell you how difficult it is to launch and run a business. It is no different for a psychotherapist in private practice. While academic institutions do a great job of teaching future therapists how to administer therapy services, most institutions don’t do a great job of teaching future therapists how to start and run a practice. That’s where Ideal Living Psychology Centers come in. Ideal Living Psychology Centers offer everything a therapist needs in an environment ideal for clients and therapists, alike. Also, there are two business collaboration options to choose from.
The first option is to use the space as a virtual office. When a therapist takes the virtual office option, she runs and operates her own practice onsite or virtually as needed. With this option, the therapist pays a small hourly rate for a minimum of only four hours per week. If the therapist decides she needs more than four hours per week, she can easily add another block of 4 hours on the same day or on another day whenever she chooses.
The second option is for the therapist that would like to launch or continue a professional brand of practice without the stress of marketing, operating, or financing the practice himself or herself. This option allows a therapist to join the roster of ILPC therapists as an employee in exchange for W-2 compensation that amounts, in essence, to a 60/40 split. Since operating a private practice with all the bells and whistles could otherwise cost 60% or more of earnings, this option is a no-brainer for those wanting to have a private practice without the hassles of marketing, administration, and sunken costs that usually come with it.
When I first began private practice, I had a difficult time finding an office that provided everything I wanted and needed without countless mistakes and large amounts of sunken costs. ILPC is the premier psychotherapy office that finally offers a mental health professional everything she could want or need at an affordable cost. Those that are interested can contact the office to schedule a tour and learn more.
SPMG PEOPLE: Most people are resistant to therapy. Why and when should someone seek therapy - especially those in the African American community?
BREAUX MORGAN: The straightforward answer is every mature, high-functioning, intellectual (i.e., adult) should seek psychotherapy because every mature adult is responsible for his own wellbeing. Psychotherapy is the process of evaluating and treating the affects of life’s stressors on adults, couples, and their families. When our bodies suffer from injury, disease, or distress, we consider it wise to seek treatment from a medical or physical professional. Therefore, we should also consider it wise to seek treatment from a mental health professional when our perceptions, memories thoughts, emotions, behaviors, relationships, or families suffer from injury, disease, or distress.
With regard to whether or not I think African American’s, especially, should seek therapeutic services, my answer is “no and yes”. I first say, “no” because I believe singling out African Americans in this regard perpetuates the toxic message that genes—especially AfricanAmerican genes—are indicators of mental, emotional, behavioral, marital, and familial unwellness. That’s non-sense.
On the other hand, I say “yes”, because race rhetoric has effectively warped many minds (including African-American minds) to believe that our genes (the inherent determining factor for skin color) are pestilence to us. Because African-Americans, in particular, are the targets of this egregious false rhetoric to one degree and another, African-Americans, in particular, have a high probability of experiencing extraordinary amounts of toxic trauma, chaos, and stress.
While thinking of the question from that perspective, I’d say “yes” African-Americans, especially, should get therapy—not because those with darker skin are inherently flawed (skin color is determined by genes), but because we live under constant torment of this ridiculous gaslight.
SPMG PEOPLE: Many people will be restarting their lives - work and personal - as the pandemic tapers off and we move into our new reality. What are some ways you can assist people into confidently moving forward?
BREAUX MORGAN: One way I assist clients confidently move forward through their therapy process is with an ICT intervention I call “Shame and Contempt Abatement”. Though I’ve not said it this way during a therapy session, I venture to say now that shame and contempt are psychological weaponry—viruses, if you will— that corrupt or interfere with a person’s ability to live from their own heart. If another’s projections of shame, guilt, and contempt interfere with your pursuit of health and wellbeing, it’s time to see shame, guilt, and contempt for what they are--sabotage. If you are an adult, it is appropriate and congruous to differentiate from controlling attachment figures of childhood in order to take ownership and responsibility for your own health, wellness, and prosperity.
SPMG PEOPLE: What advice would you give someone considering therapy, but might be afraid of what to expect or what others they love might think?
BREAUX MORGAN: Putting off dealing with the effects of trauma and stress to avoid feeling hurt and pain is like putting off taking out the trash to avoid smelling unpleasant odors. You can deny or ignore the source all you want, but the evidence of suppressed things still rise to the surface. Better to identify the source of the irritant before it turns into disease.
SPMG MEDIA; How would our readers reach out to you?
BREAUX MORGAN; I invite anyone who would like more information to contact at or follow me on the following platforms:
Instagram--@ideallivingpsychology
Facebook--@ideallivingpsychologycenter
Twitter--@RakeshiaBreaux [or @RakeshiaMorgan]
Website— www.idealliving.org, www.rakeshiabreaux.com [ or www.rakeshiamorgan.com]
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