Meet Jared Bendifallah

We were lucky to catch up with Jared Bendifallah recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jared, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I am actually working on a keynote speech and workshop about how to cultivate resilience and I will share one of the most important tools which I can say has contributed significantly to my resiliency.

That tool is knowing my WHY and finding meaning from my life. It is about finding meaning from my suffering and being connected to my own reason why I push forward no matter what.

I want to inspire others with mental health conditions that recovery is truly possible. I want to uplift others who may be going through a dark period of their life that recovery is possible and that there is hope. That is my WHY.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I wear multiple hats but my passion and purpose is in the field of mental health and communication. I lead mental health support groups for adults in recovery from a mental health condition for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). I have led over 600 groups in five years and I absolutely cherish these groups – they are a safe and sacred space for people to come together in community to share their struggles, challenges, victories, and joys.

I speak on resilience and my Five Building Blocks of Recovery which provide practical strategies for creating optimal mental health and building resilience along the mental health recovery journey.

I’m most excited right now about my podcast, the “Five Building Blocks of Recovery.” The goal is to inspire people in recovery from a mental health condition and their family members that recovery is possible and that there is hope. The podcast features interviews with people in recovery and people working in the mental health field or a related field who have something to share that could inspire and help others. The podcast is also designed to educate and give people in recovery new tools that they can use in their lives immediately.

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?

One of my passions is the Japanese language and culture. In Japanese culture there is a word “Ganbaru” which based on my non-native understanding means to persevere through hardship and to never give up. Never giving up no matter how hard things get is one of the main qualities that has been most impactful along my own healing journey.

Another skill is learning to listen to and trust my intuition. My understanding is that intuition can speak to people in different ways but the key is learning to recognize it and listen to it. Listening to my intuition led me to working as a support group facilitator for NAMI which has turned into a career and calling for me. It also led me to becoming a professional public speaker and when I speak on stage I feel the most alive. Finally, my intuition led me to starting my podcast which I find incredibly fulfilling.

The third and final skill is empathy. As a support group facilitator, I get the chance to listen to the deeply personal struggles, challenges, and successes of people who come to the support groups. Practicing empathy and creating a safe space for people in recovery is something I pride myself on.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I’m always looking for potential guests for my “Five Building Blocks of Recovery” podcast. Typical guests have been people in recovery from a mental health condition, people who work in the mental health field in some capacity, and people whose expertise can help people in recovery.

I am definitely curious to connect with others in the mental health field and to collaborate with mental health organizations and/or organizations that value mental health.

I can be contacted through my website and through my LinkedIn profile page.

Contact Info:

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