ABOUT

I'M JEN

 

I am a licensed professional counselor, personal excellence coach, mom, entrepreneur, and lover of all things big and possible. My passion is to empower you to live the life you most wish to live.

 

I believe that the human story is absolutely spectacular.

 

Our journeys have the potential to inspire us to find our purpose while evolving toward wholeness. Today, humanity is living a new narrative as we find our world a bit messy a lot of the time. Living life now is requiring a whole lot of resilience, acceptance and grit.

Despite all of the uncertainty and challenges of these times, life beautifully finds ways to simply continue. Join me as we continue the quest of living this messy and beautiful life, together.

MY STORY

 

I firmly believe that right now, in this moment, you are exactly where you need to be. ❤️

My mission is simple: Empowering you to THINK BIG, even when hope seems small. My whole heart is in this work. 

I learned very early in my counseling career that for me to empower my clients to transform, I must be willing to do the same type of action to support my own health and wellbeing. Therefore, for me to support you on your journey, it’s helpful for you to learn more of my story. We all have a story of how we got where we are today, and this is a part of mine.

 

The day life became fragile…

Several years ago, I clung to  life. A few short hours after giving birth to my first son, the room fell dark and I began to swirl. I guess I never quite found the words to describe such an existential (and strange!) experience. I typically use hand motions and refer to it as the swirling, pulsing force of life pulling me away, but I fought to stay.

I remember feeling scared. But I also remember hearing my own voice. It was bold, determined and unstoppable, and said “I am not leaving my baby.” Without pause, I simply stopped swirling and found myself in a hospital bed with a throbbing headache and feeling intensely nauseous, and most importantly, alive. 

While your body is letting modern medicine do its magic, your mind can take you on the most phenomenal adventures. Pictures hold more memories than my mind of those next few days. I am a survivor of Preeclampsia and HELLP Syndrome, maternal illnesses that may be experienced during pregnancy and postpartum. The physical recovery took time, the emotional recovery of Postpartum Anxiety & Depression and PTSD was daunting.

As I pieced myself back together, I changed the trajectory of my life, beliefs and ultimately, my career (which is probably how you stumbled upon my site!). Originally a graphic designer in the healthcare industry, I leapt into counseling, both personally and professionally.

Living a life in the making while EMPOWERING others

 

I am so excited to be living this dream of empowering you to THINK BIG. Each day, I combine my life experiences and formal training to provide you with a unique blend of acceptance, knowledge and compassion which I believe to be vital to healing and leaping into the unknown spaces of living life abundantly.  I mindfully combine several passions and create an eclectic way to reach you wherever you are on the path of life.  

I am the owner and creator of JM Wellness, LLC and Malama LLC.  I see clients both in person and via virtual platforms, offering counseling, personal excellence coaching and courses creatively designed to honor the journey within and inspire abundance. In 2012, I completed my Masters of Education in Counseling from the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Shortly before that, I completed a graduate certificate in Prenatal and Perinatal (Birth) Psychology from the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute (now The Chicago School). Home is wherever my family is; my family and I live in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. I am honored to be a mom to the most amazing two boys, and we have two dogs (our house is busy!).  Purple and blue are my favorite colors, I think the coolest number is 7 and I am an Aquarius. My favorite candy is peanut-butter cups and on nearly every clear night, I sneak out to make a wish on the first star I see. I think very big thinks on a daily basis, and I am truly honored you have taken time out of your day to learn more about me. I am genuinely hoping to meet you soon in whatever way we can make possible!