Today we’d like to introduce you to Daja Jones.
Daja Jones is a mental health clinician originally from Newark, NJ. She attended Clark Atlanta University and graduated with a Bachelors’s degree in Psychology. She earned her Master’s in Clinical Counseling from Brenau University. Ms. Jones began her career in the mental health field at Grady Behavioral health – Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR) in Atlanta, GA. Ms. Jones’ experience includes working as an individual and group therapist catering to patients with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Depression, ADHD, PTSD, and Anxiety disorders. Ms. Jones has had the pleasure of leading multiple grief and trauma-focused groups.
Along with being a mother of two, Ms. Jones currently expands her mental health experience while working as a Multi-systemic therapist, providing therapy to juvenile youth and their families in Hall and Dekalb County, Georgia. Ms. Jones had an idea to develop a nonprofit in order to help bridge the gap between marginalized populations and access to mental health resources. With her thoughts and ideas, Ms. Jones invited a fellow therapist and dear friend, Mrs. SaPhenixx Adams, to join this journey with her as a co-founder. With the help of Mrs. Adams, Ms. Jones then officially established Sisters, Healing, & Evolving, Inc. (also known as S.H.E, Inc.) in early 2020. Ms. Jones’ goal is to provide services, programs, and events to help elevate, empower, and enhance the overall mental health of fellow Black women.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Though I would say I had a pleasant childhood, I faced multiple challenges during my adult life. I lost my mother at the age of 24 due to lung cancer while in graduate school. There were multiple obstacles attached to the graduate program itself; therefore, the loss of my mother added an extremely heavy burden on me. Nonetheless, I pushed forward and continued in my graduate program despite challenged with grief and being in another state away from my family. During the later end of my graduate program, I became pregnant with my first child. I was under an extreme amount of stress from school, writing a thesis, trying to graduate on time, grieving, as well as preparing to start my own family and to be a mother without my mother. The loss of my mother continues to be a struggle for me because she was my guiding light. There is so much I have accomplished and experienced that I would love for her to be a part of. Fortunately, I had and continue to have my father here to help support me through challenges.
We’d love to hear more about S.H.E.
S.H.E, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization who’s mission is to help enhance the mental health and overall well being of women in marginalized population. S.H.E, Inc. promotes resilience and support amongst women within various stages of womanhood. Our goal is to empower women with the linkage of struggles and successes through healing and mental health. S.H.E, Inc. encourages the process of finding and maintaining self-worth from within while assisting in defining the role of women in modern society. We recognize that women have common challenged in each stage of life; therefore, our intention is to help each other navigate and evolve into the best “SHE” that she can be.
I am most proud of our Woman to Woman initiative that we are currently in the process of launching. Our Woman to Woman initiative provides free therapy services to women in various women’s shelters. As this initiative continues to develop, our objective is to expand and provide free individual and group therapy to women throughout the city of Atlanta. We have also conducted food drives and given back to domestic violence shelters within our Woman to Woman initiative. We hope to help de-stigmatize mental illness and make mental health care more accessible to marginalized populations. This initiative are funded solely through donations. I am truly grateful for the efforts and dedication of the S.H.E team; co-founder, Mrs. SaPhenixx Adams, and board member, Ms. Natalie Rennie.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The qualities of being open-minded, resilient, patient, empathic, passionate, and driven are most important to my success. As previously stated, the road has not always been smooth for me, but through challenges and struggles, I have learned to be resilient and humble. I’ve also learned that everything will not always happen in the way that I think it should happen, nor will things always happen in the time in which I deem appropriate. I have so much more I would like to accomplish that would contribute to what I deem as successful, but I am humbly grateful for everything that I have earned thus far. I would be remised if I didn’t mention my upbringing and the values and morals instilled in me by my parents. I would say my parents gave me a strong foundation to build on. My hope is to never stop learning, never stop evolving, and to continue to possess the drive for success no matter the challenge.
Contact Info:
- Website: theSHEinc.com
- Phone: 973-380-7715
- Email: info@thesheinc.com
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