Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr Jacqueline Mack-Harris. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Dr Jacqueline thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The more we talk about good leadership the more we think good leadership practices will spread and so we’d love for you to tell us a story about the best boss you’ve had and what they were like or what they did that was so great?

Vicki Geisler is the best boss that I have ever worked for. She employed me as the director of nursing for her home healthcare agency. She is a retired nurse who started her business in the 4th bedroom of her family home. She often shared stories about her journey from becoming an independent home health nurse to an entrepreneur. My relationship with Vicki began while I was working at an assisted living as the Wellness coordinator in an assisted living community. It was a very challenging place to work. I gave notice after a series of challenges at the Assisted Living Facility. I got a call a couple of days later from Vicki Geisler. She invited me to come to an interview for a job with her. I became the nursing director at her home healthcare agency. She placed caregivers in the homes of elderly homebound people and provided them with care, companionship, housekeeping, and assistance with their activities of daily living. I worked for Vicki for nine years. It was truly a time of growth and learning. Vicki and Her husband Ron took me, my husband, and our daughters under their wing and mentored, guided, and ministered to us over those nine years. They taught us how to be more financially aware and responsible. They were kind, generous, nurturing, non-judgmental, and honest. We learned how to trust hard work to produce good fruit. I am grateful for my time under Vicki’s wing. She helped shape me into the businesswoman that I am today. Her mentorship, guidance, love, and support have given me the courage and confidence to start my private practice and non-profit mental health care agency.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a 55-year-old Black woman and a US Air Force veteran. My husband of 34 years is a combat veteran. He served 13 years in the Marine Corps. I have two adult daughters and two grandchildren. Both of my sons-in-law are in the military as well. One is active-duty Navy, and the other served in the Marine Corps. I started The Bridge Marriage and Family Therapy because I wanted to be a job creator. I want to build a family business that can serve the community, make a difference in the world, and provide financial security for future generations. After working as an LVN for over 20 years, I became a therapist because I realized that most people deal with things they are not equipped to manage or change. Women in my church groups would come to me for help, and I often felt that what I shared with them didn’t help them, and sometimes it made them feel worse. I knew that there was a lot that I did not know. I went back to school and got my master’s degree in marriage and family therapy because I wanted to have more resources when people came to me for help. I wanted to know how to help people learn, grow, and change in meaningful ways so that they can live the life they dream of. I want to make mental health care more widely available and easily accessible to the people who want and need the care. The most direct way to accomplish this is to build my own psychotherapy practice and train others to do the same.

The Bridge MFT is a private psychotherapy practice. We work with adult individuals, couples, families, and children and adolescents. We use psychotherapy interventions to help our clients make the changes they want. When support, encourage, and validate the people we work with as we journey with them toward the healing that they desire.
I am a couple’s therapist for the most part, and I typically work with high-conflict couples. I work from an attachment perspective. Using a model called Attachment Core Pattern Therapy based on the book or taken from the book How We Love by Milan and Kay Yerkovich. The main problem that I solve for clients. Is the problem of miscommunication and missed communication. I help clients learn to listen, validate, and empathize with their intimate partners. Often this means helping them acknowledge another person’s perspective.
I am most proud of and want potential clients to know that TBMFT has been successful at helping couples reestablish emotional connection and learn to turn towards one another. Couples therapy is a process in which both of the individuals learn to explore their personal, family, academic, vocational, and religious histories as well as their childhood, their families of origin, and the experiences that they’ve had within their family of origin that have taught them to behave in certain ways, to connect in certain ways, to show up in a relationship in certain ways, and to relate in certain ways. I believe that once we know ourselves better, we can better get our needs met by ourselves or, when necessary, by others.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I have funded my business by working as an associate professor at a local university and working full-time as a licensed marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT). My work as an LMFT pays the overhead of my business.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I have built my reputation within my market by cultivating and nurturing relationships with organizations with a common interest by providing mental health training and resources to schools, churches, clubs, businesses, and professional associations.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thebridgemft.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebridgemft/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thebridgemft/?viewAsMember=true
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5pFk4m3uQx71e7LDr7-vSw8TCJE6SFsX
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-bridge-marriage-and-family-therapy-murrieta