Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Mitchell.
Angela, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born and raised on the Southeast side of Fort Worth, Texas; my parents were working-class parents. I’m a product of public schools and graduated from the Paul Laurence Dunbar High School for Science and Engineering Professions (HSEP). I believe that my experience at that magnet High School thoroughly prepared me for college, which I entered right after graduation. I obtained my Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and child development from the University of North Texas. And while I was at the University of North Texas, I was blessed to be a scholar in the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program, given that I was a first-generation college student and a minority. In the McNair program I learned so much about conducting scientific research and that experience fully prepared me to enter graduate school for my chosen profession, child psychology.
And I chose psychology even though I didn’t know anybody in the profession, and I had never taken a psychology class. I just knew from the age of 16 that I loved the mind, I loved observing people/predicting their behavior, and I loved children. So, being a child psychologist sounded perfect!
I left Texas after getting my Bachelor’s degree and attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I was blessed to receive a full Spencer Pre-Dissertation Fellowship to pay for my education – in part because of the work and research I did as a McNair Scholar. I earned a Master’s and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology by the age of 27 years.
After graduate school, I completed my internship at the Fort Worth Independent School District. And after my internship, I chose to stay in the district for four more years working as a school psychologist and internship supervisor in the alternative disciplinary schools.
In 2006, I left the schools and changed my career path and accepted a position as a professor in the School Psychology Program at Texas Woman’s University. I remained at TWU for five years – teaching, advising, and conducting research investigating why students of color were more likely than their White counterparts to be sent to alternative schools for discretionary reasons. All the while, I had a private practice since 2003 and completed psychological evaluations on the side while working full-time.
Because of my concerns that people of color do not access mental health services due to stigma as well feeling as though many of them don’t feel that they have the power to achieve to their potential, I wanted to give back to my community to show that if I could do it, anybody could. I wanted to start a nonprofit organization but had no clue how to do that. But in 2010, I met a lawyer at a wedding who helped me to establish my nonprofit organization. He also completed all of my legal paperwork, and in 2011, the Renaissance Training Institute For Empowered Living (RTIEL) was born. I left my position as a professor at that time to focus on my nonprofit work, as well as to focus on my entrepreneurial endeavors – owning a business as a psychologist in private practice.
Later in 2011, a psychologist colleague of mine and I decided to merge our private practices and to leverage our areas of expertise and resources to form a bigger mental health agency. So the Center for Psychological Services was born, and we now have several psychologists on staff and as contractors. And we have two offices in the DFW Metroplex, one in Arlington and one in Plano.
Currently, my days are spent as the co-owner and Chief Operations Officer at the Center for Psychological Services as well as the founder and director of many of the programs in my nonprofit organization, the Renaissance Training Institute. Additionally, I’m very active in my church and community and work VERY hard to raise my two children – ages 20 and 17 – to be fully functioning adults who lead purposeful, productive, and prosperous lives filled with peace.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No, it has not been a smooth road. It’s been difficult to find mentorship and direction in the areas of running a small business and non-profit organization management. I had to learn a lot of things the hard way and that was often expensive – lots of hard lessons.
I was trained as a psychologist; however, learning the business side of running a private practice was not easy. There are very few individuals, especially people of color, who do what I do and do it well. I am very humble and teachable; however, finding the teachers has been the issue. Most of the time, my colleagues and I are all “flying blind” and trying to support each other and share knowledge along the way. Additionally, securing capital to grow our business or to access grant funding to provide quality services through the non-profit organization has also been difficult.
Please tell us about Center for Psychological Services and Renaissance Training Institute for Empowered Living.
The Center for Psychological Services (CFPS) is a multidisciplinary behavioral healthcare practice that focuses on serving families and children in North Texas communities. CFPS offers psychological assessment and professional consultation to individuals, families, school districts, agencies, and other mental health and medical professionals. We specialize in providing psychological assessments for Autism, neuropsychological issues, ADHD, mood-based disorders, and learning disabilities.
CFPS services are provided by mental health professionals credentialed as Licensed Psychologists, Licensed Psychological Associates, Licensed Professional Counselors, and/or Licensed Clinical Social Workers. And given that most of our psychologists are also school psychologists, they have expertise in helping children and families to navigate special education assessment and intervention in public, private, and charter schools. I think this definitely sets up apart! I am most proud of the diversity in our company, given that the company is owned by two Licensed Psychologists who are Black women and that our staff members and contractors are also very diverse. There are not too many mental health agencies in the DFW Metroplex who can offer this.
My nonprofit organization, RTIEL, has as its mission to Educate, Enhance, and Empower socio-economically disadvantaged individuals & families -assisting them in living independent and productive lives. An array of support services comprise RTIEL, and these services are provided to individuals across the lifespan. I am most proud of our Youth Leadership Program, the Trailblazers. This Program encourages the youth of the 21st century to be effective leaders and stresses the importance of civic engagement and college education.
Currently, RTIEL sponsors an essay contest for high school students and winners of the contest win an all-expense-paid trip to Montgomery and Selma, Alabama for a Civil Rights Tour that culminates in participation in the crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge commemorating Bloody Sunday. This past March marked our 8th time taking a group of high schoolers to Alabama! I am very proud of the work we’re doing to promote social justice, activism, and voting rights by exposing these high school students to the civil rights work done in the 1960s. We also provide mentorship and support as well as volunteerism experiences. We have monthly meetings and workshops/presentations that educate the students in the areas of college/career readiness, civic engagement, building generational wealth, and financial literacy.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Nothing. I wouldn’t do anything differently. I believe that everything that I’ve gone through – positive and negative – has served to develop me and prepare me for what’s to come.
Contact Info:
- Address: CFPS: 6043 West Interstate 20, Arlington, Texas 76017
- Website: CFPS: www.cfpsonline.com<http://www.
cfpsonline.com/> RTIEL.org<http://rtiel.org/>: www.rtiel.org<http://www.rtiel .org/> (website under construction) - Phone: CFPS: 817-533-0825, RTIEL.org: 818-330-9774
- Email: CFPS: info@cfpsonline.com<mailto:inf
o@cfpsonline.com>, RTIEL.org: info@rtiel.org<mailto:info@rti el.org>
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