Why Are Conventional Mental Health Tools Not Working? – Exclusive Interview with Shale Maulana
- Brainz Magazine
- 19 hours ago
- 9 min read
Updated: 6 minutes ago
Many people are doing everything they’re “supposed” to do for their mental health, therapy, medication, mindfulness, self-care, productivity hacks, yet they still feel anxious, overwhelmed, or disconnected. If you’ve ever wondered why the usual tools are not working, you’re not alone. In this exclusive interview, liberation-based therapist and mental wellness coach Shale Maulana, MPH, LMSW, reveals what most approaches overlook and how integrating the mind, body, spirit, and nervous system can create deeper, more sustainable healing.
Shale Maulana, MPH, LMSW, is a liberation-based therapist and mental wellness coach who helps driven, sensitive people finally feel well in their minds, bodies, and spirits–without abandoning their values or their communities. With a professional background spanning clinical research, public health, and clinical social work, Shale weaves together evidence-based therapeutic techniques, somatic and nervous system regulation, ancestral and spiritual practices, and emerging wellness technologies such as neurofeedback and biometrics.
Her work centers people who are often overlooked or overwhelmed by traditional mental health systems–high-achieving women, caregivers, BIPOC leaders, healers, and professionals who “look fine” on the outside but feel depleted, anxious, or disconnected on the inside. Shale’s signature approach is trauma-informed, culturally conscious, and spiritually grounded, helping clients understand not just what they feel, but why they feel it–within the context of their bodies, histories, lineages, and the systems they live in.
Through 1:1 work, group experiences, digital programs, and writing, Shale is redefining what it means to “get better” from anxiety, depression, burnout, and chronic stress. Her mission is to make deep healing more accessible, relational, and liberatory–so that her clients don’t just cope more efficiently, they reclaim their capacity to thrive.
Shale Maulana, Liberation-Based Therapist and Coach
Who Is Shale Maulana?
At my core, I’m a therapist, teacher, and bridge-builder.
I’m a liberation-based therapist and mental wellness coach working at the intersection of psychology, public health, nervous system science, spirituality, and social justice. I support people who are doing “everything right” for their wellness–therapy, self-help, yoga, meditation–and still feel anxious, disconnected, or overwhelmed.
I’m also a mother, partner, daughter, and community member. I carry lineages of migration, resilience, and resistance, and those roots deeply inform my work. I don’t see mental wellness as something isolated in the brain. I see it as something shaped by our bodies, histories, relationships, identities, and the systems around us. When practitioners and clinicians fail to address all of these layers, we fail to truly help people.
Professionally, I blend my experience in clinical research, public health, and clinical social work with somatic, trauma-informed, spiritual, and ancestral frameworks. Personally, I believe healing should feel deeply human, relational, and transformative–even for people who’ve been let down by conventional mental health care and systems.
What inspired you to build a holistic, liberation-based practice that integrates mind, body, and spirit?
This work began with my own questions and my own body.
I grew up seeing how stress, racism, and structural inequities were identified as “individual problems”–anxiety, depression, chronic illness–without much acknowledgment of the systems causing harm. Later, working in public health and clinical settings, I saw how often people were given coping tools without being given context, community, or true agency. My own experiences of burnout, anxiety, and mental crisis were my greatest teachers and helped me understand these complex issues more deeply and personally.
I kept asking: “What if your nervous system isn’t malfunctioning? What if it’s giving you honest feedback about the conditions you’re living in?”
Over time, I realized I couldn’t separate the mind from the body, or the individual from their history and environment. Yoga, somatics, and Reiki taught me how the body remembers. Public health showed me how systems shape health outcomes. Clinical therapy taught me how trauma shapes thoughts, emotions, and behavior. None of these pieces felt complete on their own.
Creating a holistic, liberation-based practice was my answer to that tension. I wanted a space where people could bring all of themselves–mind, body, spirit, culture, ancestors, and ambitions–and be met with both rigor and tenderness. In essence, I became the healer I longed for but never had, one who could hold the complexity of my experience with skill and compassion.
When someone comes to you feeling overwhelmed or disconnected, what is the first step you take together?
The first step is slowing down and creating a space where their truth is safe.
Most of my clients arrive in some variation of “functional overwhelm.” They’re still showing up to work, caring for others, checking the boxes–but inside they feel anxious, numb, exhausted, or like they’re quietly falling apart.
Many have already spent a lot of time in talk therapy and can intellectualize their experience with fluency, but don’t know how to be with their emotions in a way that feels safe.
Rather than rushing into a protocol, I begin by helping them name what’s actually happening in their body and life. We map their nervous system patterns:
How does overwhelm show up somatically? When does anxiety spike?
Where do they collapse or shut down?
We also explore the contexts–family, culture, work, identity, systemic pressures–that shape those patterns.
From there, we co-create a regulation and safety foundation: small, doable practices that help create a sense of safety in their nervous system from the inside out. This might include breathwork, grounding rituals, sensory strategies, somatic micro-practices, or environmental shifts.
Only once there is a bit more stability in the body do we move into deeper trauma processing, identity work, or big life decisions. The first step is always: You don’t have to hold this alone anymore–and your system is not broken. Let’s listen to it together.
How do you blend public health, clinical social work, yoga, reiki, and somatic work into one approach?
I think of my work as one ecosystem with many roots.
My public health training helps me see patterns–how chronic stress, racism, gendered expectations, and capitalism impact mental wellness outcomes. It keeps me zoomed out and aware of the systems people are navigating.
My clinical therapy and trauma training provide evidence-based frameworks for understanding anxiety, depression, attachment, trauma, and relational patterns. This is where modalities like EMDR, somatic work, parts work, hypnotherapy, and nervous system regulation come in.
Yoga and somatic practices reconnect people to their bodies as sources of wisdom rather than enemies. We work with breath, posture, movement, and stillness as ways to shift and support the nervous system.
Reiki and spiritual/ancestral practices provide a way to honor the unseen layers–intuition, energy, lineage, and meaning-making. For many clients, their spiritual life is a profound, often underused resource for healing.
The approach is seamless because we’re always asking the same core question: What is your system trying to do to keep you safe–and how can we support it more skillfully, across all levels?
What kinds of transformation have clients experienced through working with you?
Clients often say they feel “seen in 3D” for the first time. Common transformations include:
From chronic anxiety → grounded clarity: They learn to regulate their nervous system, name triggers, and trust their intuition.
From burnout → sustainable, values-aligned living: High achievers stop overfunctioning and start building lives that nourish them.
From self-blame → self-understanding: People begin to see their symptoms as intelligent adaptations, not personal failures.
From disconnection → embodied presence: They reconnect with their bodies, creativity, relationships, and spiritual resources.
What clients often say they couldn’t find elsewhere is the combination of clinical depth, somatic work, cultural consciousness, and spiritual groundedness–all held in a deeply relational, non-shaming space.
What issues do you most commonly help people overcome–and why is this work so important now?
The most common themes include:
anxiety and chronic stress
high-functioning depression and burnout
trauma and complex trauma
identity and life transitions
systemic and intergenerational stress
caregiver burnout
emotional overwhelm
We live in a time where constant stress and nervous system activation are normalized. Many brilliant, heart-centered people are quietly burning out–holding their families, their workplaces, their communities–while suppressing what’s happening inside.
Addressing these issues now is not just about symptom relief. It’s about protecting long-term health, creativity, and leadership capacity. Unresolved stress and trauma ripple into our relationships, parenting, work, and communities.
When we tend to anxiety, trauma, and systemic stress in a holistic way, we interrupt cycles of burnout and disconnection–for ourselves and for the generations before and after us.
What makes your approach stand out in the wellness field?
I don’t ask people to leave parts of themselves at the door.
My work is trauma-informed, meaning we move at the nervous system’s pace; I prioritize safety, consent, and collaboration; and I understand symptoms as adaptations, not failures.
It’s culturally conscious, meaning I take seriously how race, gender, class, sexuality, immigration, ancestral trauma, family history, and systemic oppression shape mental wellness. We don’t spiritualize away injustice, and we don’t pathologize people for having very human responses to oppressive conditions.
And it’s spiritually grounded, which doesn’t mean imposing a belief system–it means making room for clients’ own spiritual, ancestral, and intuitive resources.
What stands out is the integration. You don’t have to choose between a therapist who “gets” systemic injustice, a practitioner who understands trauma in the body, and a space where your spiritual life is welcomed. You get a space where all of that is relevant, honored, and woven into the work.
How does your work shift for individuals vs. Groups vs. Organizations?
The core principles stay the same, but the container changes.
With individuals, the work is deeply customized. We’re tracking your unique nervous system, history, identity, and goals. This is where we do the most intensive trauma processing, identity work, and personalized regulation strategies.
In groups, the emphasis is on shared language, community, and relational healing. Many people realize, often for the first time, “It’s not just me.” Group formats are powerful for practicing boundaries, self-expression, and co-regulation in real time.
With organizations and teams, I bring a public health and systems lens. We look at the culture, structures, and expectations that impact wellness. Rather than offering one-off “resilience talks,” I focus on sustainable shifts–helping organizations move toward practices that are humane, psychologically safe, and equity-informed.
In every setting, the goal is the same: helping people unlock their innate capacity to thrive and experience mental wellness deeply. More nervous systems that feel safe enough to imagine, create, and connect.
What would you say to someone who’s never tried therapy or holistic healing before?
I would say: You don’t have to already know “how to heal” to begin.
My job is not to judge or fix you–it’s to walk alongside you with curiosity, skill, and care. You get to bring your questions, your doubts, your spiritual background (or skepticism), your culture, your story, and we will sort through them together.
Working with me, you can expect:
A non-shaming, collaborative relationship
Clear explanations of why I’m suggesting a particular tool or approach
Attention to your body, your emotions, your history, and your environment–not just one piece in isolation
Space for both science and spirituality, logic and intuition
You don’t have to identify as “spiritual” or have all the right language. You only need a willingness to be honest about where you are and a desire for something different. I’ll help you with the rest.
How do you support clients navigating transitions, identity shifts, or systemic stress?
We start by naming what is often invisible.
For clients in big transitions–career changes, moves, parenting shifts, relationship transitions, coming into a new identity–the first layer is honoring that these are not “small things.” Your nervous system, your sense of self, and your relationships are all reorganizing.
For clients healing from systemic stress and inequity, we explicitly name how racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, classism, and other oppressive structures impact them. Instead of internalizing everything as personal failure, we locate their experiences within a broader context.
Practically, this means:
Mapping identity and role changes and how they land in the body
Using somatic and regulation tools to build capacity for change
Engaging in narrative and parts work to integrate past experiences with emerging identities
Honoring grief, anger, and exhaustion as valid emotional responses–not pathologies
We also explore liberatory practices: joy, rest, community, pleasure, creativity, and boundary-setting as forms of resistance and healing.
What is the biggest barrier people face in reclaiming their well-being?
The belief that they are the problem.
Many of my clients have internalized the message that they’re “too sensitive,” “not resilient enough,” or “just need to try harder.”I help clients move past this by:
Normalizing their nervous system responses
Contextualizing their symptoms within trauma, identity, and systemic realities
Helping them unhook from perfectionism and productivity-as-worth
Introducing small, sustainable practices that build self-trust and evidence of change
Reclaiming wellbeing isn’t about becoming a different person. It’s about becoming more fully yourself–with more internal and external support.
For readers who feel ready to begin this journey, what’s the next step?
The best next step is to visit shalemaulana.com and explore the ways we can work together–from 1:1 therapy and mental wellness coaching to digital programs and upcoming group offerings.
There, you can:
Learn more about my approach and background
Access free resources
Read articles and blog posts
Join my newsletter for upcoming workshops, classes, and retreats
Reach out to inquire about working together in a format that suits your needs
When we connect, you can expect a warm, honest, and thoughtful conversation about what you’re navigating and what support would serve you best. If I’m not the right fit, I’ll help you find someone who is.
Healing is not something you have to do alone. And you deserve a path that honors your whole self–mind, body, spirit, lineage, and community. If that resonates, I’d be honored to support you as you reclaim your wellbeing.
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