We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamie Heimos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jamie, appreciate you joining us today. How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?

My path to becoming a Licensed Professional Counselor is not a traditional one. It’s technically my third career path. After college, I became a Certified Child Life Specialist and worked to support families coping with medical trauma and health related concerns. While working as a child life specialist, behavioral and mental health patients seemed to be so misunderstood and there were so many unknowns of how to serve this population in my field. I noticed that this became a huge passion area for me and I wasn’t always able to help or meet their needs as a child life specialist. This is what prompted me to do more and pursue counseling. After almost 8 years in the field of child life, I became a school counselor. Unfortunately, my time as a school counselor 3 out of 4 of my years were with Covid-19 looming over us. I was 1 counselor to nearly 475 students. I could hardly sleep at night because of all the needs running through my head, always feeling like I could do more, but didn’t have the man-power or tools. After having my daughter in October 2021, I knew my priorities needed to shift. I could no longer work 10 hour days, 5 days a week. I wanted to focus on raising a good human and having more purposeful connections in the field of mental health. So, 3 months after my daughter was born, I started a new journey as owner of Balance & Bloom Counseling! Thanks to some amazing mentors, family, and friends, I have finally achieved a great work life ‘balance’ and have been able to have more meaningful and purposeful time with my clients AND with my own family.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am the owner of Balance & Bloom Counseling LLC and am a Licensed Professional Counselor. I primarily work with kids and teens ages 3 to 18. I work primarily with kids experiencing grief, medical trauma, anxiety, ADHD, or general life stress and changes. When working with kids/teens, I often support parents and work to help understand their challenges as well. I’ve been trying to focus some energy on working on a hybrid parent course to support parents with their child’s mental health challenges. Often times, the biggest piece of therapy is understanding our client’s thought processes and simply being a presence to listen and acknowledge my client’s feelings. My office isn’t a “typical” therapy office. So many kids don’t want to leave because of the toys, games, and craft activities I have. For kids, play is the most important thing for us to be able to understand their world. Play allows for self-expression, communication, and really enhances our social and emotional relationships. As a therapist, I want to collaborate with my clients and their families. What do we want to improve? What isn’t working? What do we need to change? Can we change it? and What do we all need to thrive? I’m not really a stiff, lets sit down and talk on the couch kind of therapist, I’m on the floor, coloring, building with lego or making silly voices with the puppets.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My shift from school counseling to private practice was scary for me. I was in the fog of postpartum, trying to navigate new motherhood, breastfeeding, my own anxiety, and navigating functioning on very little sleep (while not being a coffee drinker). I knew the life I had working in my school was not working for me and what I had hoped for myself as a Mom. My daughter and husband deserved more of me than I was able to give when I was a school counselor. Opening my practice, in February 2022, I had 7 clients by the end of the month. I was terrified I would not be bringing home enough money for my family. I worked so hard on building my website, marketing myself through my network at my previous district and neighboring school districts, and connecting with other therapists. Unfortunately, we have been in the midst of a mental health crisis for the last several years, so while business has multiplied by the dozens, that also means our kids and teens are really facing some dark times.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I truly believe authentic connections is what has helped me build my reputation. I’m honest if I don’t know the answers. I worked at the Magic House before really beginning my career, and I will never forget that my boss (shout out to Paula), always trained us to say, “I don’t know but I will find the answer for you” if we didn’t know something. I truly have taken that and implemented it in so many aspects of my life. If I don’t know, I will work my tail off to figure it out. I soak in education throughout all aspects of my life, career, parenting, and elements of social justice. I want all of my clients to feel seen, heard, and cared about. My clients and their families share their vulnerable stories with me and that in itself is so precious and special to be a part of. Parents trust me with their child’s care and their struggles, and I take that seriously. I want them to know to their core, that I care about their child(ren) and want to see them succeed in life.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.balanceandbloomcounselingstl.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balanceandbloomstl/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BalanceandBloomCounselingSTL/

Image Credits
Headshot photo: Sarah Corbet Photography