GET TO KNOW ME

Jessie T

I’m Jessie, and like many of you, I have several roles. I am a trauma focused therapist in my big adult role and mother to three in my “i have no idea what the heck I am doing” role. I am fueled by radical empathy, connecting to others, and entirely way too much coffee (I am trying to quit..really).  I’ve been a serious empath for as long as I can remember. This probably was passed down to me by my two super loving parents. This empathy is probably why I have been drawn to a career path that requires compassion and a deep understanding of human beings. It is most definitely why I co-created this group of women with my dear friend and co-worker, Amber.

I started my career in child welfare and found myself in a very reactionary role with little power to prevent or heal anyone from deep-rooted trauma. Completely dissatisfied putting Band-Aids on broken hearts, I went further and obtained my master of social work degree in the hopes of gaining more knowledge and wisdom in the healing of trauma. Shortly after graduation, I began work full time as a therapist where I currently provide much needed therapy to hurting children and their families. That whole radical empathy piece of me...yea, it is super necessary and beneficial in this line of work. However, it also means I literally absorb all the feelings and emotions of my clients.

I quickly found that while in a high stress job, absorbing sadness and pain, and quite frankly, a high stress home environment of my own I needed an outlet! Self care, self-exploration, and connection with genuine humans who are not going to judge me for my rats nest hair, smeared mascara, and tantruming kids.  I value my personal health and fitness and make it a priority in my life. Loving others cannot happen if I don’t give number one some love first.

The belief that we can balance (ughh how I LOATHE that word) it all and still function has always been something that pissed me off a little (okay A LOT). And mainly because I chose to make my life a little more difficult than it actually needs to be. To say I have felt defeated, stretched so thin I wasn’t sure how my organs were staying inside my body, and a shitty mom is way more than an understatement.

So, I got to reflecting..what the heck man? Is life really just something I am supposed to survive? Why do I teach my clients mindfulness, being present, loving yourself etc. when I am clearly struggling with finding time to do this myself? Fraud alert fraud alert. This freak out moment(s) coupled with multiple sessions with Amber, produced an epiphany for me...I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE. Further talking and mind alignment with Amber produced even more epiphanies...other women might think they are the only ones too! But guess what? I am not the only one, and neither are you. So out came this group, Backyard Lobotomy. I hope many revelations come to you during your time here, but mainly, I want you to know you are not alone, and there’s so much more to this crazy life other than simply surviving it all.