We were lucky to catch up with Rachael Jamison recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Rachael thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back on your career, have you ever worked with a great leader or boss? We’d love to hear about the experience and what you think made them such a great leader.

My first job out of graduate school was with a drug treatment clinic; I had no previous experience in this area and was super nervous to launch my career as a Clinical Social Worker/Therapist. But my boss, Kimberly, took a chance on me and it completely changed my life. She has by far been one of the most significant role models I’ve ever had. Kimberly taught me the value of humor as a coping skill, which is a “must” if you work in Mental Health, especially in the Addiction/Recovery world. She showed me how important it is to always be authentically yourself, without apologies, because you have to respect yourself if you want anyone else to. Kimberly knew when and how to advocate for our patients, her staff, and herself, when necessary; this helped me learn what battles are important, and which ones to let go of. Kimberly taught me that “emergencies” are on a spectrum, and in order to implement healthy boundaries, it was important to know my limits. The years I spent working with Kimberly were the most valuable and formative for me. And while Kimberly thought she was just teaching me how to be a strong female in a professional setting, I gained the confidence and the skills to be strong in my personal life as well. I am so lucky to have had this experience–and even luckier to be able to call Kimberly one of my best friends today.

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?

By license, I am a Clinical Social Worker and an Advanced Alcohol & Drug Counselor. By career, I am a private practice Therapist with T2S Enterprises; I also moonlight as a Travel Social Worker, which has allowed me the opportunity to work in a variety of healthcare settings–from hospice, fertility, and NICU, to addictions and Emergency Room.

When I graduated from college with a degree in English Lit and a passion for live music, I dreamed of working for Pitchfork and reviewing music on NPR; but one night at a Summer party, as a stranger was sharing their life story with me, they said, “Hey, you could be a good Therapist.” And going back to school sounded appealing, so I took the suggestion and ran with it., going on to pursue graduate school to get my Masters in Social Work.

Through my *eclectic* work history and the challenges of navigating my own physical/mental health needs, I learned just how impactful it is to prioritize your Basic Needs in order to support your system in the most optimal way. When our physical health, including hormone health, nutrient deficiencies, movement, sleep, and hydration, is not stable, it will always have a major influence on our mental health. Soon after discovering this, I realized that this correlation wasn’t common knowledge–many of the people I saw for mental health needs were being treated by medication only, without any exploration of holistic strategies to support them as well. Because of this, I knew I needed to provide more education to my patients on the importance of taking care of their Basics; once I shifted into this approach, I started seeing incredible progress and healing with my caseload. And thus, my Instagram account, Back2BasicsTherapy, was born.

Through social media, I provide information on how to support mental health through holistic measures, encouraging ways to set small goals to help work toward achieving the bigger ones. Though trite sounding, I believe that movement is medicine, food supports mood, and that being out in nature brings balance to life. Many of my posts are created as a result of issues I see trending with my therapy patients. And while my videos aren’t fancy or filmed in a particularly clever way, I show up as my most authentic self to offer tips that you can apply to your life the same day.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

For me, it’s been simple: showing up consistently as my most authentic self. When meeting with patients, I work with them to process and problem-solve, which often means I ask a bunch of questions so we can brainstorm together.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

While I am satisfied with the career path I’ve chosen, if I could go back, I probably would choose a different career. Social Work is an incredibly underpaid, overworked field, which I didn’t know when I started graduate school. I would choose a field that offers compensation more appropriate to the time, energy, education, and experience involved in performing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/rachael-jamison-atlanta-ga/482795
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/back2basicstherapy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/T2SEnterprises/

Image Credits
Photos by myself/Rachael Jamison