Today we’d like to introduce you to Cornisha Cunningham.
Hi Cornisha, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Growing up as a young girl from Gary, Indiana, I experienced challenging events that later affected my teenage years. Being an honor roll student, receiving the principal’s award with a 3.67 GPA, to being kicked out of school due to my behavior has impacted my growth as the young woman I am today.
After being kicked out of school for poor decision-making, I transitioned to Indianapolis, Indiana, where I continued to get kicked out of school and hang around the wrong crowd. I was then required to attend night school to receive the necessary credits needed to graduate. However, after obtaining all my credits in a month, I knew it was time to change. I was tired of proving a point that didn’t require verification initially.
I transitioned back to the standard school setting, where I changed my group of friends, excelled in my classes, graduated, and went to college. I initially attended Indiana State University due to my denial from Ball State University. There, I made the Dean’s list my first year at ISU, which I then reapplied to Ball State University, where I was accepted that same week! I knew if I continued to work hard and focus, Ball State would welcome me with flying colors.
I attended Ball State University, where I met the father of my beautiful daughters, Kameran, and later graduated with a bachelor’s in social work, with a minor in Psychology, in 2018. Shortly after graduating, I continued school to obtain my master’s degree, which I graduated in 2019. Because I experienced some of the most complex and traumatic events throughout my graduate journey, I decided not to continue to attend school at that moment.
However, because school is my haven, I was recommended to apply to Capella’s Doctorate program for Clinical Social Work, and I instantly got accepted! Throughout my journey as a doctoral student, I moved from Indiana to Texas in 2020, created a family, and started my career as a psychiatric Social Worker. Fast forward to today, I will graduate with my Doctorates in Clinical Social Work in the summer of 2023.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
To be truthful, no, it has not been a smooth road. Some of my struggles during my journey were losing friendships because I outgrew the environment, I was comfortable around. I experienced four deaths in the same year I graduated with my master’s degree (2019); in which one of them was my grandmother on my father’s side. She transitioned on December 1, 2019. Ten days before my birthday and thirteen days before graduation, but guess what? I had to pull myself together and continue what I had finished. I kept my head held high and still graduated with a 4.0.
Many have told me that I make going back to school look easy due to my straight A’s, but school can be highly challenging. I still have days when I cry and want to give up. Still, I think about my why and the reason I’m doing this in the first place—being a mother, having a career, and having papers due require balance, and that’s what my book “Live In Balance” discuss—a guide of tips and strategies to a healthier lifestyle. Nonetheless, my mother always taught me that God gives his most brutal battles to his strongest soldiers. That is the motto that uplifts me during my darkest times as well as drives me to success.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a clinical social worker, I assess and evaluate an individual’s mental health. My background includes experience working with at-risk youth. I worked at a residential facility as a Youth Specialist. I mentored and monitored dysregulated at-risk youth by helping them gain healthy coping skills to live more positively. I am also a former Registered Behavior Technician who only worked with children with autism. As an RBT, I conducted ABA therapy for individuals with autism, ages 2-18, to help establish daily living skills. I then worked as a Case Manager at the Family and Social Service Agency to help families obtain the necessary resources, such as food, clothing, and shelter, to live fulfilling lives.
When I moved to Texas, I had the honor of becoming a Qualified Mental Health Professional (QMHP), in which I worked primarily with adults and mental health. I would conduct crisis interventions, psychosocial assessments, recovery plans, group therapy, and discharge planning to promote stability for each participant.
As a current inpatient clinical Social Worker, I work primarily with adolescents at a psychiatric hospital. Still have the pleasure of conducting psychosocial assessments, CBT group therapy, family sessions, treatment, and discharge planning.
I am known to be energetic, bubbly, fun, empathetic, and understanding. Working with adolescents allows me to connect with them professionally because I have experienced what most of them have experienced. So, when it is time to build rapport and a relationship with each participant I encounter, it makes their treatment flow more smoothly in an acute hospital.
Likewise, I am most proud of my ability to turn my struggles and hardships into power. Being transparent while sharing my testimonials inspires others to overcome challenges because even flowers need rain to grow, and it is essential to remember that. If I can do it, so can anyone else.
What do you think about luck?
When my manifestations come to fruition, some may say it’s luck, but I believe God is answering my prayers at the right time. I journal pretty often, so after every journal entry, I ensure that I end by thanking God for all he has done and what is yet to come. I am mindful that the energy I put into the universe is critical, even on a bad day. So, every day I wake up, I meditate and start my day off on a positive note to attract all positivity and good energy. With a positive mind, blessings will flow abundantly.
Pricing:
- 15.99 (hard copy)
- 4.99 (E-book)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amazon.com/Live-Balance-Strategies-Healthier-Lifestyle/dp/B0B6LG2VYH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2JDERPBLC871C&keywords=live+in+balance&qid=1675194952&sprefix=live+in+ba%2Caps%2C409&sr=8-1
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/c.yvonne._?igshid=YWJhMjlhZTc=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/china.yvonne?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cornisha-cunningham-msw-qmhp-ba5a2115a
- Other: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/live-in-balance-cornisha-cunningham/1142903460?ean=9798840244395
Image Credits
Whitney Nicole
