Meet Joyce Miles Jacquote

We recently connected with Joyce Miles Jacquote and have shared our conversation below.

Joyce, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I get my work ethic from the women who raised me. My mother and my great-aunt (Grannie) are the two primary women who raised me. Both of them stressed the importance of working hard to accomplish what I want to accomplish in life. It was because of them that I knew at a young age that I whatever I wanted would need to be worked for. I have never hesitated at the amount of hard work that has been needed to accomplish what is important to me. I have worked hard for everything that I have accomplished in life, but I haven’t accomplished these things on my own. I say that because if it wasn’t for the work ethic instilled in me by the both of them then I don’t believe I would have accomplished even half of what I have accomplished.

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 am the owner of Overcoming Miles Counseling, PLLC. At Overcoming Miles Counseling we focus on providing therapy to the Black and Brown communities and the LGBTQIA+ communities, but all are welcome. I am the practice’s only permanent therapist at this time. It can be lonely sometimes being the practice’s only permanent therapist, but the relationships I have built with other therapists in private helps to stem the loneliness when it arises.

Now, notice I did say it gets lonely sometimes, that’s because there are usually 1-2 MFT graduate interns that are completing their internship at the practice. MFT graduate interns are people in a master’s program for Marriage and Family Therapy who have to complete a set amount of therapy hours, typically 300 – 500 hours, prior to graduation. I have had MFT graduate interns from a multitude of different universities including ACU, Lamar, and National University to name a few.

I enjoy having MFT graduate interns at the practice for multiple reasons. One of the primary reasons that I enjoy having MFT graduate interns is that they allow the practice to be able to offer low-cost, quality therapy to individuals, couples, and families. We are going to start offering groups both virtually and in-person come the summer of 2023. I am excited as the groups will allow us to serve a greater amount of people in a new way for the practice.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Looking back, three qualities that have been most impactful in my journey are determination, patience, and endurance. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines determination as “the act of deciding definitely and firmly.” It was when I decided, determined, that I was going to become a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) that my path forward was set. With the setting of my past through that determination I have not wavered in my professional journey.

Patience has been defined as “the capacity, habit, or fact of being patient” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Without patience I wouldn’t have made it this far in my career. Becoming a LMFT requires an extraordinary amount of patience as it takes 2 – 3 years to complete a master’s degree, 2 or more years to become fully licensed, and additional time to earn certifications for specializations. That is only a representation of the patience that is required to become a highly skilled LMFT, additional patience is needed in the therapeutic space as well. Patience is a quality I have learned well as a LMFT.

Lastly endurance, it has been a quality that perhaps is the most important one in my journey to becoming an LMFT. Endurance can be defined as “the ability to withstand hardship or adversity” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). The path to becoming an LMFT has not been an easy one, there were times when I was worried about not passing the national exam or I wasn’t sure that I was going to become fully licensed due to not getting enough relational client hours. It was because of endurance that I am now a LMFT Supervisor and it is because of endurance that I continue to grow as an LMFT.

Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
First, let me say that all are who are seeking to grow through therapy are welcomed at Overcoming Miles Counseling. With that in mind, the ideal client for the practice are people who are seeking therapists who are knowledgable in serving the Black and Brown communities. As well as people who are knowledgable in serving the LGBTQIA+ community and the overlap amongst the communities.

As a person who identifies as a member of the Black and Brown communities and the LGBTQIA+ community it was important to me to create a practice where I could serve my communities. Myself and the MFT graduate interns at the practice all are trained both formally and informally to work with these communities. We seek training so that we might practice from a knowledgeable, humble, compassionate way.

As marriage and family therapists we are systemically trained. What does it mean to be systemically trained? It means we are trained to work with systems (i.e. relationships). Due to that, we focus on providing on therapy to relational units such as couples, triads, families, et cetera. Yet, we also offer individual therapy to those seeking it. In addition, as previously mentioned we plan to offer groups starting this summer.

So, what does the ideal client look like for the practice? The ideal client is a relational unit of two or more people where at least one of the people identify as a member of the Black and/or Brown community, or the LGBTQIA+ community.

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Image Credits
Loi Studios for the two additional photos

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