Daily Inspiration: Meet Janessa Neighbors

Today we’d like to introduce you to Janessa Neighbors.

Hi Janessa, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Thank you for having me!
Hey, I’m Janessa Neighbors and I’m the Founder of Nessa’s Safe Space.

About me first: I’ve been living in Georgia for almost 8 years now. I came down here on a fresh start as I’m a complex trauma survivor and dysfunctional relationship survivor but to also finish my education in an area with more opportunity, compared to my hometown in Pennsylvania. My journey in Georgia has been a mixture of growth, healing, and overall enjoyment of life. I enjoy gentle body movement like yoga, swimming, bike riding, and Pilates. I also enjoy meditating, sage cleansing while reading a book or journaling and getting creative in various arts and crafts. I also love trying new cultural cuisines and connecting with other humans.

Throughout the various stages of my post graduate careers from being in various healthcare positions, being a health coach, and so on, I wanted to create something meaningful to me but also be positively impactful to someone else. I didn’t know what initially and I honestly thought that my own personal experiences were “too much”, or “irrelevant”, but in current times, I’m seeing my own wisdom being valuable and how that could help someone else.

About my business: Nessa’s Safe Space is a virtual coaching safe space that is for people pleasers who want to build a life that’s actually theirs, women who grew up being mini adults , therapists to their own parent(s), and household managers in homes that included caregivers that lacked the emotionally/mentally capabilities to properly do that (also known as being Parentified), and for humans who are on their own growth journey but are seeking insight to further their inner happiness and peace. I created this business out of my own knowledge, wisdom, and experiences as I didn’t have an authentic safe space growing up and I know that not everyone does. The aesthetics is celestial/galaxy themed visions with a hint of neighborhood warmth, given my last name. I have single coaching sessions for those minor hurdles and coaching packages for deeper diving for the person too. I have some other offers and services that I’m working on that will be announced soon so stay tuned for those as I’m super excited!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have been some challenges along the way but still an overall smooth road! I would say for me, I have been seeing the ins and outs of my business reflect my own journey and growth. An example of this is with me recently getting confirmation of my neurodivergence, my website was very reflective of that. It was aesthetically pleasing in some ways, but it was mostly disorganized, inconsistent, lacking some clear messages, and just in some ways, all over the place. So, with me taking that time that I needed for myself to navigate those mental health shifts and then spending additional time after that revamping my website, I started to feel more confident in what I was building! I’m also in the process of creating additional items that will really make some items of my current services come to life more. I didn’t realize that not taking full care of my mental health, though completely unintentional, was actually holding me back in many ways, both professionally and personally. It has also helped me, in many ways, shed old layers of myself like being a perfectionist. I’m already a recovering people pleaser.

Aside from the personal developments, finding platforms that work can be challenging at times also. I have had to trial and error some platforms to see what works for me and what doesn’t so that has been a fun ride. I manage my business on my own, so I wanted to make changes that had to be manually done by me, as easy or at least less time-consuming as possible. It just a matter of figuring out what you want your business to look like, how you want to spend your time, and how you want to overall succeed.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a Certified Life Coach that focuses on relationship building and trauma recovery. Some examples of the services that go into this category include becoming aware of limited beliefs that have been unintentionally adopted (money being evil, thinking little of oneself, forcing familial bonds to work when they just don’t align, etc.), creating boundaries so that the relationships in a person’s environment is healthier for them to be around, growing the relationship within yourself in efforts of reconnecting with the inner child and inner teen. I also have neurodivergent services for those who need better life and time management habits.

I’m most proud of not only the creating a service of my own that is meaningful, but also the learning experiences that building these services came with. This is a virtual space that is very welcoming and also draws awareness to topics that aren’t talked about enough like the concepts of self -betrayal, chosen family, the “good” selfishness, and so on. In many ways, society still idolizes blood familial relationships in a way that masks some of the unfortunate dynamics that would classify them as unhealthy/toxic. I think that’s what sets me apart the most from others, open discussion of those uncomfortable topics that society doesn’t like shedding a light on. They’re unfortunately more common than most people think.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Yes, my ideal clients don’t have to have all the answers to the things that they come to see me for! I didn’t have all the answers when I was in the first stages of my own recovery either. But I was willing to start, I kept an open mind, and I also had a desire to seek clarity of what dynamics that I was born into. I also was seeking the truths: both the hard truths and the obvious truths that I was in denial in. My ideal client has to be at least willing to start somewhere in unraveling their own hurdles, be open minded enough to have a deep conversation about the limitations that they are facing and have a desire to seek clarity. To me, clarity is where the truth and reality of life lie. It is where the answer is, especially when we ask the correct questions. If the client isn’t fully willing to seek clarity but they still came to me to seek solutions, then I know that there is likely a conditioned belief that they are holding onto, that is creating that inner conflict or indecisiveness. I don’t judge and shame our conversations, because what’s the point in that? I’m an active listener and I focus on meeting you where you are. But I am also one that loves to see others discover their full potential so I will motivate you, keep you accountable, and help you find ways to keep your own self accountable in between the work we do together. I’m human, just like you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nessasafespace.space
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayyy1228
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562280920809
• Other: Nessa’s Healing Haven: Etsy link https://nessashealinghaven.etsy.com/

Image Credits
Professional Headshots: Stella Visuals Photography