We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kaleigh Rogers, Lcsw. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kaleigh below.
Alright, Kaleigh thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
In September 2023 I experienced a moment that changed the trajectory of my career and has since impacted countless lives. The backstory starts back in 2014 when I served in community mental health as a trauma therapist. Picture a residential facility of over 80 youth from all over Arizona seeking healing and life change from overdose, suicide, depression, and violence. You can only imagine their lived experiences that brought them there. I loved those kids. They faced trauma, pain, and life change with tremendous courage. How could I ever leave? The challenge with community mental health is it operates much like a crisis. There is always more to tend to than there are hours in the day. Clinician mental health falls by the wayside. A car accident confirmed some things for me but couldn’t help me change how I operated in this massive system. My inner strength and fire started to go out. I was burning out. I was at the mercy of a full-blown workaholism addiction by now and was experiencing vicarious trauma. Eventually this atmosphere in many ways could not serve me well as I served others and God opened a door for me to enter into, albeit kicked me into it. I now continued my career at an intensive outpatient for youth in South Phoenix, many with similar backstories as the young men and women I loved dearly. With safe leadership and free systems to operate under the Lighthouse Project, I began to heal.
Now you also need to understand a little bit about horses too before we fast forward to 2023… Around this same time I started to experience this spiritual prompting to “get around horses” – I had not grown up with horses so I couldn’t quite understand why I was receiving this prompting. So when I was invited to participate as a clinician in a pilot program in November 2019 with anxious and traumatized horses, I gave a resounding yes. I showed up on a Saturday morning on a ranch in north Mesa, AZ along with dozens of people. Men, women, business owners, veterans – we all gathered around the round pen. We all sought something. As the morning unfolded we witnessed Tango, the horse, go from terrified and anxious, to calm and connected. We all took a deep breath. My training as a trauma therapist started to come together more and more. Traditional talk therapies would only help my clients go so far in their healing. What was missing? I reflected on my journey. To heal from complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) I enlisted several elements: a really great advanced trauma therapist who utilized Thought Field Therapy, nature adventures to pour out the toxic stress, learn, and connect with the landscape again, fellowship with other godly Christians, and equine therapies.
Now that was not my day to day just yet… The beautiful Lighthouse project I healed in was dissolved due to a corporate buy-out, and as a virtual trauma therapist, my client’s couldn’t access the trauma therapies they really needed. And some would lose their insurance and then lose the opportunity to receive help due to cost. It’s not ok that someone suicidal cannot access therapy. I knew that it would be time to go when it was time to go – but when does a person know when it’s time to launch a small business and co-lead in a nonprofit? As someone who is dedicated to the way being available to all regardless of cost, I considered that a fund in the nonprofit account would be necessary to serve the low-income that I absolutely knew needed help but couldn’t access it. The answer of when to leave came between a Sunday afternoon and Monday night in September 2023. I met with a prayer partner at church – an incredible woman named Joyce – to pray for discernment and direction. Pretty quickly the Holy Spirit told her “nope, not going to pray, but rather show Kaleigh something.” So Monday night her and I hopped on Zoom and she showed me two Bible study videos from “Experiencing God.” God spoke loudly! He said two things: “Kaleigh, to actually get where I am taking you, you actually have to leave where you are to get there” and “Kaleigh, you say I’m a good God. That I provide for those I love. And you not leaving out of fear I won’t provide means you don’t actually believe what you say you do.” Talk about a gut punch! The next morning I put in my 30 day resignation and never looked back. I received perfect peace, that peace that surpassed all understanding. So many lives have been impacted already. I could’ve never imagined all that is happening with this ministry work.
Kaleigh, 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’m and advocate for the outcasts! My story includes both tragedy and triumph, and the person that has come out on the other side shines brighter than I ever imagined possible. My full name is Jacqueline Kaleigh Rogers, however I have gone by my middle name Kaleigh since childhood. Who I am today began materializing when I was a teenager. It was through my personal experiences and watching movies that I witnessed the painful state of our world. Our cities full of hurting souls, unsure where to turn. Cultures devoid of emotional safety and connection. A broken justice system and its inability to provide trauma-informed care. He taught me to: “defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3-4). Defend, uphold the cause, and deliver – that’s the rescue mission I’m on.
For the last 10 years I have served on the spiritual battle front of human suffering combatting the mental health, drug abuse, and suicide epidemic in the United States as a nationally certified trauma therapist. I served in domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, a nationally renowned residential treatment center for youth brought in from detention and psychiatric hospitals, outpatient care, and leading a trauma team. I’ve loved on the hearts of those climbing out of the depths of abuse and despair. I’m a graduate with two master’s degrees and extensive post-education, but really it is my personal experience with trauma and Jesus’s teachings that has taught me the most.
Today I am the owner and founder of Shine His Light LLC and master builder in local nonprofit AZ Broken Arrow Wranglers. Shine His Light LLC is a safe place for the lost and hurting. My full vision is that the ministry of Shine His Light will be a beacon of hope for those stranded out at sea. A sanctuary of the soul where people can re-learn what it means to be loved and cared for. My laser focus has been serving individuals through advanced trauma individual therapy, building equine therapy contracts to serve aging out foster youth, EMS first responders, and addiction treatment. I’ve also been spearheading and fundraising a 6 Week Healing Intensive for 10 women that hurt and hide in the shadows right here in our Arizona community. I co-lead and partnered with the nonprofit Broken Arrow Wranglers to ensure anyone regardless of income can access the healing therapies they need. I am a passionate advocate for trauma informed reformation in our prison system – let’s go y’all!
Professionally I hold the titles of Licensed Clinical Social Worker, nationally certified trauma therapist, female founder of a small business, master builder in a local nonprofit, an Arizona board of behavioral health certified supervisor, engaging speaker, and program builder. But really I am small town girl from West Virginia who grew up in the Arizona desert, learning what it means to truly follow Jesus. As a conduit for Jesus’s Holy Spirit, each day I walk with people through the darkness of pain and help them see and experience hope, emotional freedom, connection, and healing. It’s my life’s mission that people know they are loved and they matter.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The grind mentality, also known as hustle culture, is one in which I have come face to face with. We’ve throws blows! And we’ve had d our fair of KO’s in the ring on each side. Most of my career I wholeheartedly embraced the grind mentality. As aptly defined by internet AI, the grind mentality “is a mindset that encourages people to work hard and constantly strive for success in their personal and professional lives. It’s characterized by an “always more” approach that’s fixated on achieving goals at all costs, and can lead to a cycle of relentlessly pursuing professional achievements at the expense of personal well-being.” Nailed it. That’s exactly what I did while seemingly thinking I wasn’t. I worked 70 hour weeks at times. I continuously thought about serving others. I neglected my health in every dimension possible – mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I neglected my family relationships and didn’t have time for friends. I was even too busy for fellowship with God! I told myself that I was relentless in the pursuit of helping people except relentless to me meant never stopping. What happens to a care when you never use the brakes and only the gas? Rest? I told myself I didn’t need it. I actually thought that I could keep my foot on the gas pedal going 90 miles an hour around cliff-turns and not experience any wear and tear to my vehicle (me) or consequences from that level of grind. I wasn’t living well. I refused to see that Jesus Himself rested during his ministry and displayed balance. Addiction – yup. It wasn’t until I was sitting in my work office paralyzed, unable to pick one leg up after the other to work with one of my clients that I knew something had to change. At first I thought I was broken, but after some education on the matter, I learned I was experiencing compassion fatigue. I saw this list of symptoms for the first time during a 7am social work ethics presentation at a Qi Gong conference:
– difficulty managing emotions; feeling emotionally numb or shut down (burnt to a crisp).
– fatigue, sleepiness, or difficulty falling asleep (fatigue!).
– physical problems or complaints, such as aches, pains, and decreased resistance to illness (severe tension, pain, gastritis, bladder tension, and more).
– being easily distracted, which can increase one’s risk of accidents (yep had one of those).
– loss of a sense of meaning in life and/or feeling hopeless about the future (“there’s no hope for making a difference”).
– relationship problems (e.g., withdrawing from friends and family, increased interpersonal conflicts, avoiding intimacy) (no connection).
– feeling vulnerable or worrying excessively about potential dangers in the world and loved ones’ safety (perseverating about death).
– increased irritability; aggressive, explosive, or violent outbursts and behavior (edginess).
– destructive coping or addictive behaviors (e.g., over/under eating, substance abuse, gambling, taking undue risks in sports or driving) (real bad food, dissociation, workaholism, and more).
– lack of or decreased participation in activities that used to be enjoyable (“do I even like to do things anymore”).
– avoiding work and interactions with clients or constituents (paralyzed).
– and a combination of symptoms that comprise a diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (intrusive thoughts and images, nightmares, and more).
It as painful to recognize, and the journey has been challenging. With all addictions, including addiction to the art of helping, requires root cause healing. I had trauma layers I needed to address underneath to change addictive patterns. I endeavored, sought therapy, got back to my roots in nature, healed with horses, said NO to overwork. Do I have slip ups? Yeah. Am I leaps and bounds more free – oh heck yeah!! Some of you may not be convinced that slowing down bears more fruit than speeding up, but I am here to tell you that it does. When we trust God enough to want us to live, thrive, and work, than we can serve others at great heights. There’s a way to successfully serve others at great heights without killing yourself in the process.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Training and knowledge are vital to succeeding in the field of mental health, however knowledge is not the same as wisdom. Knowledge = facts. Wisdom, on the other hand = application in real time. Wisdom in my life has been gained through personal reflection, prayer, seeking honest feedback from those that know me, and delving into the Word. My time with God on my knees reflecting on who I am, what I’m doing, what I ought to do, and how to serve has shown me wisdom far beyond what I could’ve dreamed.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) over 1,400 lives were lost to suicide in one year alone in Arizona alone. How can this change we ask? Many would say to be on the spiritual front lines battling the suicide, drug abuse, and mental health epidemics in the United States doesn’t require a firm worldview. I disagree. To look in the face of a man who had his close friends gunned down next to him, or a mother who’s son murdered her daughter, or a child who only knew abuse the first 20 years of her life – you need a rock solid foundation. Without that, a therapist or mental health advocate will be constantly reconciling what it means to be human in a fallen world.
James 1:5 teaches us “if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” I ask for wisdom every day. I ask for divine guidance by God every day. I ask that my flawed human mind gets out of the way of a big, beautiful, good God. And that my friends, has made all the difference.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://azbrokenarrow.com/shineHislight
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shinehislight_llc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095490103156
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-kaleigh-rogers-lcsw-mpa-bc-tmh-cctp-76365b7a/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/shinehislightllc
Image Credits
Kaitlyn Bundy Photo