Meet Jessica Leighton

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessica Leighton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Jessica, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

This may possibly be a cliche answer since I get my work ethic from my parents, but I do and each for different reasons! My Dad is an entrepreneur, making his work work for him. He’s creative and hardworking, a “people person” and does right by his employees and clients. As a business owner myself, I have consulted my Dad on numerous issues and he has always had a solid suggestion; not just “the answer” as to what I should do, but an answer that helped me figure out what to do and truly learn from each situation. He is dedicated, hardworking and always supportive. I also get my work ethic from my Mom. She isn’t a business owner or health professional like I am, but she was essentially a single Mom, working her ass off while getting her degree and raising my sister and I. She is resilient, dedicated and tenacious. As a mother now myself, I cannot begin to imagine working, raising babies and going to school without the support of a spouse. Whenever I have hit a roadblock during graduate school, or in my practice, thinking that I can’t do or pursue something, I remember that my Mom has done much harder things and accomplished so much.

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?

During my associate ship after graduating chiropractic school, my boss encouraged me pursue postgraduate training in areas that truly interested me, not those that I thought would simply make the clinic more profitable. He said to me “your passion is what will make you profitable.” And so I started to pursue additional coursework and training in prenatal and pediatric chiropractic care. Fast forward a few years and I was pregnant with my first baby. My pregnancy was great but breastfeeding absolutely was not. In working with one of the best lactation consultants in our area, we navigated a very rocky road and reached our feeding goals. My lactation consultant and I were essentially co-treating my daughter, just as I have done for so many other families. However, experiencing and stumbling through all of these issues as a mother myself made me realize how little trustworthy information and support was available to most families with infant feeding issues. I was fortunate to already be “in the know” and have the resources available to get the support that we needed. That’s when I shifted my practice to only support women in the preconception to postpartum stages, and their babies. I wanted to help mothers and their babies have the best start with their health. I attended numerous training and certification programs outside of my specific profession to have a more comprehensive approach to care, I completed the coursework and clinical hours to become a lactation consultant myself, and have begun teaching courses to other chiropractors so that they can do the same. My own challenges with motherhood have truly shaped the type of practice that I have and the care that I provide.

Recently, my husband and I made the decision to move back to our home state to be closer to our familyies. You can now find me in the SW Michigan area providing home care to new mothers and their babies.

www.drjessicaleighton.com

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and be honest about what you don’t know.

I knew that as a chiropractor, I did a good job working with the women and babies referred to me. When I was unsure about a certain treatment or therapy being provided by someone else, I called the referring providers and asked questions about their practice and treatments. Sometimes, patients would ask me my opinion on various treatments or choices they needed to make in regards to their health, and sometimes I had absolutely no personal or professional experience with the topic. People respect honesty, even if that means you tell them you have no clue how to answer or help them.

2. Know that you don’t have to do it all. Know your own strengths and weaknesses, and delegate or refer to others when appropriate.

When we don’t have the answers or the skills necessary for the best patient outcomes, it is so important to know when a referral is needed. All healthcare providers, regardless of their credentials, have a scope of practice. It’s our responsibility to know when something is or isn’t in our scope, is or isn’t in our area of expertise, and to make appropriate referrals.

3. Be open to criticism and make changes as necessary.

This one is huge! I have been humbled many times after receiving honest feedback from clients. It’s important to use that feedback to be better and make changes to your practice or business to better serve clients in the future.

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 truly feel that collaboration amongst professionals is almost always in the best interest of mutual clients. As a chiropractor and lactation consultant, I have worked alongside midwives, OBs, PTs, other lactation consultants, dentists, speech therapists and pediatricians.

Utilizing the strengths of multiple providers offers a more well-rounded approach to a client’s care, provides varying perspectives and oftentimes results in better client/patient outcomes.

Building a community of trusted referral providers in the Chicagoland area was important to me, and I had an amazing team of other providers that I could rely on and refer to when needed. I am hopeful to build that community again in the SW Michigan area. Other providers that wish to collaborate can check out my website, reach out on social media, send an email or simply call!

www.drjessicaleighton.com
Instagram: @drjessicaleighton
(630)995-3189
[email protected]

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.drjessicaleighton.com
• Instagram: @drjessicaleighton
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/drjessicaleighton