We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessica Eiseman, MS, LPC-S, NCC. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessica below.
Alright, Jessica thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?
My first counseling job out of graduate school was shut down by the FBI within six months. Yep. You read that right.
It was and still is really hard to find jobs to get your hours to become a fully licensed counselor. I was networking as much as possible, trying to find anything that would get me my hours. Pro tip: Never find your counseling job on Craigslist. Don’t judge. In my defense, at that time people did find jobs through there. I applied and was quickly called to get an interview. When I showed up to the interview, my future boss had forgotten that I even had an interview. He asked if I was coming to sign my paperwork. “Nope, we just met sir, I am here for my interview.” “Oh, okay. Sit down then. Tell me about yourself.” I briefly introduced myself, he asked a few basic questions, and then hired me on the spot. Gave me a tour and wanted me to start as soon as possible. I remember going back to my bosses at my prestigious research job, and them asking if they gave me an offer letter. I innocently responded, “Nope. Were they supposed to? They just hired me on the spot.” I can still see the faces of my bosses, which I now can interpret as concern for what I was getting myself into.
Let me set the scene for you. Have you ever seen the movie, “Shutter Island?” Yep, dead ringer. Especially when it was dark and rainy. You could often look into the gate between groups and see people wandering aimlessly talking to themselves. I was “lucky” to be assigned to the Purple Group. This was the name of the group no one wanted to take, so they stuck the new girl in it. Like I said before, this group had the most aggressive and psychotic individuals in it. It averaged about 15-18 people any given day in a long, albeit narrow room with just enough room for a long table and chairs. Dirty medium-sized bookshelves lined the walls with random items, holiday decorations, and papers left by therapists who had attempted to survive this job before me.
I actually grew to enjoy working with that population. This after a few breakdowns with my LPC Supervisor, sobbing in Starbucks with him (Thank you Dr. Pace!), questioning if I made the right decision to be a counselor. (This wouldn’t be the last time I had those thoughts throughout my career). That job was a lot of hard work, I was only hit once on the job by a client there. Despite many challenges, I learned so much within such a short amount of time. It helped me learn how to work with one of the most difficult populations, so everything else from here had to be up, right? And I got really good with assessing various diagnoses, writing treatment plans, and learning to write proper, concise notes. You have to when you write 60 of them. A day.
Where does the FBI fit into all this, you may ask yourself? I knew something wasn’t right in my gut, but because I was so new to the field, I didn’t know what it was. The “doctor” over the PHP would go into tyrant rants, and fire people if they disagreed with him. He was inappropriate in so many ways, was sexually harassing, had no boundaries, and had no business running this program. After six months there, I turned in my notice. I had found another job in a more reputable PHP, working with adolescents and their families.
The first day I was on the way to my new job, my phone began blowing up with calls and texts. My colleagues had shown up to work, and the FBI had seized everything, including any personal belongings. Apparently, the program was heavily involved in over $150 million in Medicare fraud, and the entire time I was there, we were being watched as part of a sting operation. I still wonder if some of the people I worked with, like some of our mental health techs, were undercover FBI.
Now obviously, I didn’t do anything wrong, or I still wouldn’t be a therapist. Keep in mind, my extreme experience with the FBI isn’t the norm. However, unfortunately, mental health isn’t valued as other helping professions. Depending on the state you live in, like Texas, the funding for mental health services is low. And getting good jobs where you are valued and not burnt out are few and far in between.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I became a therapist after working in several non-profits, where I worked with powerful groups targeted for oppression. While obtaining my Masters of Science in Counseling, I worked in research with veterans with PTSD. I then began working in community mental health, where I spent a huge portion of my career. In 2016 I became pregnant with my daughter, and I experienced significant peripartum depression throughout my pregnancy and postpartum depression after giving birth. No one talks about how much your brain changes during pregnancy and after giving birth. “Mommy mush mind” or “mom brain” is totally real. It took me by surprise, along with my unexpected pregnancy in general. I had a really traumatic birth, which is more common than we think. And then, there is such an identity shift in being a new mom.
Luckily, I received help with my maternal mental health. This also shifted my perspective on what I felt I could handle with such a big caseload and navigate being a mom in the state I was in. This is where I started getting more interested and seeing the need for maternal mental health practitioners, and have been gaining more education in this area to put into my private practice.
After returning from maternity leave, I made a difficult decision to leave my community health job and work from home for an insurance company. I knew I would either love it or hate it, and I hated it. But this is where being so uncomfortable pushed me into greater things. I never wanted to be in private practice as I had not so great experiences as a counseling intern (now called associate), as you read previously about my first job being shut down by the FBI. When I started supervising counselors in training, I saw my associates have horrible community experiences gaining their hours, and the same with grad students’ sites. I thought I would sublease an office a few hours a week from another therapist, and allow my supervisors to receive a positive experience seeing private practice clients one on one while I supervised. Next thing I knew, I had a group practice, and now I have a team of 15.
The name of our practice Ajana in Bengali means “unknown, undiscovered, uncertainty” came from a time when I experienced not knowing what was next. I heard the saying, “Never fear the ajana, for that is where the good stuff is.” And it led me to the leap of faith to open my own practice.
One of our values at Ajana Therapy is to try to make therapy accessible to everyone. That is why we offer sessions as low as $20/session.
Ajana Therapy & Clinical Services is an inclusive and multi-culturally competent practice offering online counseling based in Houston, Texas. We provide mental health therapy, consultation, supervision, assessment, and training. We have a group of empathetic, knowledgeable, and authentic clinicians that specialize in trauma therapy, life transitions counseling, depression, anxiety, grief, stress management, relationship counseling, substance use treatment, maternal mental health, and crisis. We are an affirming practice for our LGBTQ+ community and are committed to anti-racism and anti-oppression principles. Additionally, we provide EMDR therapy and yoga for healing sessions; we also offer mental health immigration evaluations.
As a Cisgender, Straight, White woman, I know I have privilege. It’s very important for me to use that privilege to help others. I and my team have worked hard to make Ajana Therapy a place for people to come however they are.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
That is a hard one, because I had such an amazing graduate school experience in my counseling program at UHCL. I love being a counselor and am proud of our field. That being said, there are other helping professionals, like social work, for example, that have been able to establish themselves to have broader opportunities. For instance, licensed counselors like myself are still not allowed to accept Medicare, despite the huge need for mental health. But as a therapist, I would choose it again. It is so much of who I am, and at this point I don’t know how to be any different. I also view being a therapist as an honor and privilege. I have been able to sit down in my over 12 years experience now with individuals from every walk of life you could imagine. They trust me with their story, often with what they view as the worst parts of themselves. And I get the privilege of helping them remind themselves of who they are, to help them combat the negative thoughts they have, and sometimes to be the first and only healthy relationship they have ever had. One of my heroes in our field, Dr. Jeffrey Kottler, once said in one of his interviews that how cool our job as therapists is because of the stories we hear from our clients. Through them, within our lifetime, we get to live thousands of lives. I think that if more people had the experiences we have as therapists, the world would look differently.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Authenticity by far. You can learn all the tools and techniques of being a therapist, but if you can’t relate to people, it’s going to be difficult. I think also meeting someone where they are. We are not the experts of another person’s life. You know yourself, you have everything inside you to help and heal. We are merely here to be guides and hope merchants.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ajanatherapy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajanatherapy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ajanatherapy
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ajana-therapy-clinical-services/
- Twitter: @ajanatherapy
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCutNmbDdcndUev1N_IoMVFg
Image Credits
Blip Photography
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