We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jermeisha Blue a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jermeisha, we are so appreciative of you taking the time to open up about the extremely important, albeit personal, topic of mental health. Can you talk to us about your journey and how you were able to overcome the challenges related to mental issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
Your mental health began the moment you are born. Your environment, the food you consume, life experiences, and many factors throughout life affect your brain and how you will function throughout life.
Like many young black girls from my hometown, I experienced sexual abuse, neglect, and poverty before the age of 10. It changed the way I dealt with everyone including the people close to me. Believing in a vision and a promise I made to myself kept me fighting for a better life and outcome. Also, I had to avoid making my healing journey about anyone but myself. I made the decision to care about myself by doing the hard work no matter how hard it got for me. I’ve been in therapy off and on since high school, tried medications and even spent a few weeks in a mental health hospital. There were many times I quit, failed, took breaks and broke down mentally but I always knew my life was meant for something great!
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am Jermeisha Blue, mother of two children, entrepreneur and student currently studying business. Motherhood, improving my mental health and being an effective student are my top priorities. My small business THEMWAPROJECT formally known as Mom With Attitude is focused on building our community and fulfilling our new mission of helping mom pay for mental health services. We post powerful daily affirmations to our instagram (@THEMWAPROJECT) account. Affirmations is a tool I use in my everyday life to build a more positive mindset. We plan to have some merch drop this fall.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Being resilient, creative and introspective were so important and impacted my outcome in all areas of my life greatly. I had to be resilient enough to stay disciplined, be creative about solving my problems due to limited resources and I had to constantly look within to remain true to myself along the way. Advice I would give anyone is to be humble but aware, be a student and a leader and keep in mind why you started in the first place.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
Reading “A Life Worth Living by Marsha M. Linehan was a pivotal moment in my mental health journey. She dissected her mental health experience in a way mine made sense. Also, to see her create such a profound tool DBT after all she endured was inspiring. DBT stands for Dialectical Behavior Therapy was created by Linehan. She later became an American psychologist that changed the game for highly suicidal people. DBT helped severely depressed people gain tools to help them live life again. Her story inspired me to want to learn more psychology and how I can help myself and others.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Instagram.com/allthingsjcb
instagram.com/themwaproject - Facebook: Facebook.com/JermeishaBlue
