Today, we’d like to introduce you to Janeé Mitchell . Janeé was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Brieanna Lightfoot Smith.
Hi Janeé , we’re so thrilled to have you sharing your story with us today. Maybe we can kick things off by having you introduce yourself to our readers? We’d love to have you go into your story and how you got to where you are today.
Whew Chile. Where do I begin? I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana and I think naturally I have always been a person that drew people near. I’ve always made it a point to make people feel safe and accepted for who they are, specifically due to my own trauma, I didn’t always feel that. I’ve always been the one that family and friends would run to with their challenges in life and relationships etc. After dealing with Hurricane Katrina, I would say that was probably my first glimpse of me supporting people through trauma and difficult situations. After returning to the city in January of 2006 I partnered with Big Brother Big Sister of Louisiana to provide mentoring services to students at a local elementary school. I was assigned a little sister who was a lot different from the other kids of that time and she was often bullied by the other students. On the surface I could tell that there were underlying things that were going on and so I spent a lot of time really building that rapport and trust with her and that looked like me just being consistent showing up every day that we went and remembering things that she said and were important to her. Over time I found out that she was being abused at home, but was very afraid to share that information and so through our relationship I was able to comfort and support her through disclosing the severity of what was happening at home and ultimately, helping her to get into a safer environment. I would say that situation changed everything for me and really gave me purpose in what I felt like my calling was in life. Fast forward to 2012 I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Spelman College in Atltanta, GA and journeyed back to New Orleans to pursue a masters degree. However, the journey didn’t go as initialy planned. In 2014 I experienced an armed robbery that resulted in the perpetrator being killed. That experience really changed my outlook on life as I knew it and utimately robbed me of my sense of safety. During that time I withdrew from school and really spiraled into a dark place. Therapy and my church really helped me to reconcile who I was and who I was called to be! It also reignited my passion and confidence in helping others. It was during that time that I felt God give me a vision about For Love. I wanted to create a safe space for women of color to just be. A place where they were not judged, a place where they were celebrated, a place where they could heal, a place that they could also heal others through their lived experiences. This vision led me back to school and I received my Master of Arts degree in Marriage and Family Counseling in 2018. Upon graduation, I began working for a community counseling agency which led me into becoming a school counselor. During that time I got married, went through a global pandemic, experienced Covid, bought a house, and had my first child. Experiencing all of those life transitions stretched me, and at times also triggered me. Once again I relied on the sacred space that is therapy to assist me in remembering who I was, but also the courage to step back into what I felt God had called me to years prior. After 3 years of being a school counselor I took a leap of faith and launched For Love Foundation, LLC, which offers counseling and coaching services for various phases of life, such as: mothers and families going through the perinatal period, job transitions, relationship challenges, multigenerational family therapy, parental wounds, trauma, etc.
Please tell us more about your practice.
For Love is grounded in Sankofa. Sankofa is a West African word that means to essentially go back and get it, and when we think about that it sheds light about the importance of going back to our roots in order to move forward, so reaching back to gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. In practice the aim is to help my clients to understand that no matter what has been lost, forgotten, forgone, or even been a stripped away from them can once again be reclaimed, revived, preserved, and perpetuated in their lives as they move forward in their lives! I make it a point in my practice to step outside of the lines of traditional therapy and destigmatize it through effectively sharing beneficial parts of my lived experiences to help encourage and empower my clients. Historically, self disclosure has been frowned upon, however, what I have found through direct feedback from my clients, is it doesn’t help clients to feel safe or willing to share their experiences. Of course, a therapist should not make a whole session about them, but if there are spaces where a client is sharing something and me sharing a part of a similar experience will help humanize me to my client, but also help reinforce that they are not alone; it’s worth it. I would say that I am most proud of the changes I see in my clients lives. To see my clients thrive after working through and overcoming experiences that they believed they never could is an unexplainable feeling!
So, as we mentioned to our audience earlier, you were introduced to us by Brieanna Lightfoot Smith and Brands by Brie and we really admire them and what they’ve built. For folks who might not be as familiar, can you tell them a bit about your experience with Brands by Brie.
So I’ve known Brieanna for a number of years. We first met in church while she was living in New Orleans. I initially didn’t know much about her professionally, but I always admired the woman that she was. We often attended the same Sunday School Class (shoutout to the Word Warriors lol) and I really enjoyed hearing her perspective and feedback on lessons that we were studying. It honestly wasn’t until she relocated to Dallas that I stumbled across her Instagram page as ‘someone you may know‘. I started following her and just secretly admired her and her work. She was newly married and a new mother, which was something that we had in common. Her page really encouraged me and normalized so many of the experiences that I was having as a believer, a woman, a wife, a mother, a business woman, etc. Most importantly, I was drawn to her heart for God.
I didn’t initially think that I was in a place where I could work with Brie, because at the time I had 0 desire to own my own practice. I was operating in fear. I was still trying to figure out where God was leading me, but in November of 2021 I went on a cruise with my family and I remember the first night we left I hadn’t fully lost service on my phone and one of her posts came across my timeline. In that moment I felt God’s presence urging me to reach out to her. I was like, “God what am I about to say to this girl? I don’t have anything about this business fleshed out, I don’t even want to run my own business!” I couldn’t shake the feeling, so I was like, “I’m going to try and send this message and if it goes through, it’s meant to be.” Of course it went through! LOL
Upon returning to the states after the cruise, I prolonged reaching out because of finances. It wasn’t until about January 2022 that I was able to start working with her. However, the start of January was really traumatic . My brother was killed and a big part of me didn’t feel like continuing on with this business, but it was Brieanna’s regard, her concern, her prayers that really reinforced the importance of moving forward with her and pouring everything that I was experiencing into birthing For Love. Brieanna’s ability to be one with her clients and really be able to step into their lived experiences and pull out the things that are difficult to articulate or to conceptualize is unmatched. Her ability to hear even the things that are unsaid is a gift and truly sets her light years apart! My Foundation of working with Brieanna has completely changed my perspective on my ability to fully be a business owner, as well as a wife, a mother, a sister, a friend, a daughter, and ultimately a child of God. The rest is history and I’ve been rolling with Brie ever since! She’s become and will forever remain a sister to me!
Website: www.forlovefoundation.com
Instagram: @forlovecounseling
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/janeecmitchell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamjaneetierra
