Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeneifer Threadcraft.
Hi Jeneifer, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Oh WOW!! So, I am actually from South Georgia born and raised in Albany, GA. I moved to Atlanta in 2004 in order to work in corporate America. Never in a million years did I every anticipate that I would own a non-profit as well as having my own counseling agency. When I moved to Atlanta, I did it in order to not just better myself but also my kids. At the time, I had four kids and I was a single mom as well as a teenage mom. I had my daughter when I was 14 years old and it was a struggle. Being mom and teenage daughter at the same was crazy. As I grew, I knew that I wanted more. I did not want to get stuck in a blue-collar. When I moved to Atlanta on section 8 in 2004, I knew that there was more for me. I went back to school and obtained my associate degree in medical assistance and business office assistance in 2006.
When I graduated, I ended up working with Dr. Donna-Marie Brown at Stonecrest Pediatrician. Dr. Brown is a woman of color as well as a single mom. I was her first office manager and she taught me a lot about running a business. During my time working with Dr. Brown she was always encouraging me to go back to school. One day Dr. Brown was talking with me and at that time she said something so interesting; “I can keep living from day to day and paycheck to paycheck, or you can go to school and live without worries.” One day she realized that the kids that came into the office would look for me. They actually called me the “funny lady”. I was the one that would be able to encourage the children to take their shots, medication, swab, or any other procedure. She encouraged me to start having groups with the youth that were coming into the practice. I started having groups in 2007/2008 and as I continue to have groups, I realized that I needed to do something that would work with Positive Peering, Inc. I went to school to become a counselor. When people ask me how I became a therapist, I often tell them by mishap because I was just trying to do what would help me with Positive Peering, Inc and the youth in our community. Now we are 12 plus years in and Positive Peering, Inc is in full effect. We are a community center that offers groups, sliding-scale counseling, as well as food and clothing. I am now a Master’s level psychologist that specializes in trauma and suicide prevention.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Lol, now that is a question to ask. I have been through so many challenges over time. Being a teen mom and then stepping out on faith is always a struggle. I moved to Atlanta in May 2004 and it was hard. I ended up separated from my four kids while sleeping on my sister’s couch for three months because my ex-husband ended up in jail and he did not have his part of the money for us to move. I had to start over from scratch. With nowhere to live, no job and no money. It was one of the hardest times in my life. I eventually got a place to move into, I started working and I went back to school. Going back to waiting on tables and school was the one thing that I knew would work and help me get out of the rut that I was in. In 2011 Stonecrest Pediatrics closed and I was at a lost again, I lost everything that year. I had a major challenge in January 2013 when my brother committed suicide at the age of 40, he was a pastor.
During that year, I lost my two oldest boys to the prison system, it was one crazy year. I lost everything during that time. My knee baby (the next to the youngest) ended up doing 6 1/2 years and my oldest son ended up doing two years in prison. From 2013 to 2019, I prayed and meditated every morning and day. Learning how to trust in God and lean on him no matter what was going on in my life. Then COVID-19 hit, Positive Peering became more and more needed in the community. It’s crazy because over the past year, since the beginning of the epidemic, I didn’t lose anything, until I lost my 25-year-old to murder on October 21, 2020. I have really had to learn how to practice what I preach and trust God.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Positive Peering?
Positive Peering, Inc is a non-profit organization that offers sliding scale counseling, group and we have a food and clothing pantry for those in need. I am a master-level psychologist that specializes in trauma and suicide prevention. I work with families in our community to educate them and expose them to things outside of their environment. We are known to work in the community giving back. Positive Peering, Inc provides comfort to the community helping them to grow and work toward becoming productive citizens within our community, helping those that are in need because I was a teen mom as well as a single mom. We provide a mobile food pantry for the community twice a week and groups throughout the week.
Every year Positive Peering, Inc host Couch Conversations, Annual Back to School Drive, Thanksgiving Box Giveaway, Cozy Coats and Comforters, and Positive Peering, Inc Annual Christmas Giveaway. My life experiences from child abuse, rape and being a teen mom makes Positive Peering different and sets us apart from others. We work in the community to bring awareness to mental health, domestic violence, trauma, and suicide just to name a few of the issues. In our community, no one wants to identify with the issues that our youth are being faced with on the daily basis. So yes, we are an outlet for those in need of an outlet. I thank God that he has allowed me to be a vessel within our community to provide for those that who are in need and to be a servant for him. Learning who you are means loving who you are from the inside out.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I see Positive Peering, Inc expanding tremendously. I plan on continuing to expand in a way that will help our youth. I am working on opening a girls group home, a boys group home, a teen mom group home, and a transitional home for youth coming out of DFACS. I do not see us slowing down at all but expanding into more ways of helping to develop our community and the youth who are coming up. Our youth are our future and the parents that we are working with have often been faced with life issues that have hindered them as well. So, my focus is to keep going and to keep being consistent so that we can help open doors that have been closed in our community.
Contact Info:
- Email: positive.peeringinc@gmail.com
- Website: positivepeering.org
- Instagram: Positive Peering, Inc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009345424959
