Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Smith.
Jessica, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am a mental health advocate and community builder, who uses my online and in-person platforms to fight against the stigma of mental illness. Writing is my first love, and I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Communication and Philosophy, manga cum laude, from George Mason University. For as long as I can remember, I have been a critical thinker and problem solver. I have a big heart for community service and for bringing healing to the world. What life showed me is that I would need to focus on healing my inner world so I could be most effective in the outer world at large.
At the end of 2018, I quit my full-time job as a business coach at the age of 26 due to burnout and took a mental health sabbatical for 14 months. Fortunately, I had been aggressively building my savings account in case a job transition was coming my way and it indeed was.
I used my emergency fund to finance this sabbatical. I was diagnosed with PTSD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and I needed to take some time to really heal and focus on myself instead of tending to everyone else around me. Using the wisdom I gleaned from my time off work, I wrote an E-book entitled “How to Stretch Your Emergency Fund during a Crisis.” This ended up being right on time for the global crisis the world found itself in: the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once I was in a better place mentally, I knew I wanted to give back and share resources for people who might have found themselves in a similar situation. That’s why I decided to launch my organization, The Mental Health Emergency Fund.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In terms of finding my voice and footing in the professional world, no, it has not been a smooth road at all. I was a liberal arts major who landed her first “big girl job” as a business coach. How does that happen?!? (I say this in a tongue-in-cheek manner, but I’m also kind of serious.) Outside of my mental health struggles, my biggest challenge was battling Imposter Syndrome and its cousin, Superwoman Syndrome. Those are some of the main reasons I felt like I had to step down from my job in 2018. On the one hand, I didn’t feel good enough for the role and, on the other hand, I didn’t feel like I had a safe space to voice those insecurities. That exacerbated my anxiety and took a toll on my self-esteem.
Meanwhile, I really was thriving from the outside looking in. I was serving in my church community, doing missions trips, landing speaking engagements, and TV appearances. But life was moving too fast for me and I needed to slow down.
During my sabbatical, I thought I would have time to just rest and recover, but my symptoms went through the roof, and I had an incredibly hard transition. This was the fertilizer that helped me grow the most, though. It’s how I could empathize with people I would come across in the future with my business. I know the language. I know the terror. I know the sleepless nights.
I made it to the other side for the most part, but I still have my struggles.
As you know, we’re big fans of The Mental Health Emergency Fund. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
The name of my organization is The Mental Health Emergency Fund (MHEF). Currently, our target market is marginalized people groups in the Baltimore area that are on the verge of or experiencing a mental health crisis, who have access to less than $1000 in an emergency fund. We provide stipends for them to access therapy and other mental health services. There is an application process and depending on how much funding we have to give, we have awarded mental health stipends in the amounts of $1000, $500, and $250 to individual applicants. We are also building out a therapy directory of mostly BIPOC therapists that serve clients in the Greater Baltimore area.
Fortunately, the process of starting the organization has been incredibly smooth!
I think that’s because I had spent the past six or so years telling my story on social media and to my community. I grew my audience steadily, blogged when I was on my sabbatical, and created a newsletter to keep them abreast with my journey. When it was time to get their support for my grant competitions, I had an overwhelming amount of voters! In just one year, I multiplied my first grant winnings of $500 sevenfold via community donations and then won a second grant of $25,000, which was a 50-fold increase of the initial seed money. I’m incredibly grateful! This is a huge accomplishment that I’m proud of.
Another proud moment was a partnership we forged with Halcyon Clinical Services, where the founder, Dr. Orlando Wright, LCSW-C, donated 12 free therapy sessions to a black man who applied through our website. That particular application period had the greatest number of applicants to date.
Currently, we’re partnering with a couple of youth organizations in the city and providing microgrants for their participants to access therapy as well.
Because of my financial stewardship knowledge, I will be offering financial literacy content along with the stipends so recipients can learn how to build their own emergency funds.
I think the biggest thing I want readers to know is that a resource like ours exists and we want to continue to grow the fund to help as many people as possible.
What are your plans for the future?
I am currently one of 11 fellows at Open Society Institute-Baltimore, where I am working on an 18-month project in partnership with The Mental Health Emergency Fund. This project, Mindful Ministries Collective, equips youth-serving organization leaders with mindfulness meditation training to use as preventative, maintenance, and restorative mental health care for the youth they serve.
I hadn’t specifically marketed the Emergency Fund to young people, so I wanted to create a program that would be able to provide them with tools and resources that would last longer than the length of a $500 therapy stipend. Learning a skillset like meditation is something that can be accessed for the rest of a person’s life if they choose to do it regularly. I do hope to reach faith-based communities because there is a gap in knowledge around mental illness and pastoral care. Unfortunately, these gaps in knowledge can stigmatize mental illness and perpetuate harmful theology and pedagogy. I want to play a part in changing that in the communities around me.
As part of my professional development for the fellowship, I will take classes to become a Mental Health First Aid instructor this year. I hope to provide trainings to churches so their staff is better equipped in identifying signs of mental illness and suicidal behavior.
I’m also one of 10 members in the 7th cohort of Elevation Awardees at Baltimore Corps. My project will focus on building a technology platform to house the trainings and content I’ll be facilitating, so more organizations can access it.
Pricing:
- Sponsorship of a mindfulness workshop for the youth: $800
- Sponsorship of an individual mental health stipend: $500
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mentalhealthemergencyfund.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/mentalhealthemergencyfund
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087591990830
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/JessicaAshleySmith
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/jesssmithmedia
Image Credits
Colby Ware
