We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jasmine Bell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jasmine , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
I came from a household led by my mother and grandmother during childhood. My grandmother immigrated from Argentina during the early 1960’s with my mother who was 3 years old at the time. My grandmother came to the United States with the intention of changing her family’s trajectory after leaving home. While growing up, my mother and grandmother taught me the value of higher education, developing a career, independence, and managing a business for myself.
Jasmine , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and own a private practice serving children, teens, parents, and adult women. I began my practice in late 2022 in order to provide mental health services for families of diverse backgrounds. I provide personalized care for each of my clients and focus on building a positive therapeutic relationship with clients. What sets me apart from other therapists is that my sessions for the most part are conducted while seated on the ground so that I am at eye-level with the child. I follow the child’s lead while playing and exploring emotions. With teens, I provide a safe space for them to voice their emotions and discover new ways to resolve conflicts/issues. With adult women, I provide a space to explore relationship dynamics that may have been learned from generational trauma in the family. My goal is to make sure women are able to set healthy boundaries, identify their needs over other other’s needs, and and communicate in an effective manner. I take pride that I was able to build my own practice within a year of starting the process and have provided effective services for many families in Pasadena, Burbank, and Los Angeles.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
What has helped me the most to build my practice has been networking with colleagues in the field. Also, word of mouth from former families has also helped to build my practice.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I worked in community mental health for a few years and had focused on working up the ladder to a management position. For the first few years, working for an agency gave me a sense of purpose, but over time it seemed as if there was a persistent need to expand myself beyond the agency. I fought this feeling for quite some time and then realized I had the necessary skills in order to build my own business. I began the process and was shocked by how quickly things aligned so that I could do this on my own.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jasminebellfamilytherapy.clientsecure.me/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasminebellfamilytherapy/
Image Credits
The Headshot Truck: https://headshottruck.com/