Today we’d like to introduce you to Candra Jackson.
Candra, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Upon completing grad school in 2018, I felt invincible. I was so proud of the accomplishment that I could barely believe it had happened! However, as the joy began to fade, I recognized that I no longer felt the same at my core. See in grad school I was commuting from Baltimore to DC 5 days a week, one to work as a middle school counselor for 8 hours and immediately transitioning to a full-time grad student for an additional 5-6, just to commute an hour back home. So, one could imagine the lack of self-care and personal development that occurred.
As I began to get my time back post-graduation, I no longer recognized myself. Various things about my daily life became questionable & in my youthful confusion, google became my best friend. After spending countless hours diagnosing myself and ruminating in my head, I poured my time into my career. While servicing children and families on a diverse clinical continuum, I found my niche as a trauma therapist. While thriving professionally, I found myself in my production as the world turns. During such a snowballing period of adversity, I recognized I needed more support navigating life, so back to Google I went and started attending groups that were supposed to aid me in problem-solving & healthy living yet instead served as forced, remixed, spaces that ultimately made me feel nonexistent.
As I continued my quest, I identified a pattern within the healthcare system that negated culturally grounded and affordable care for black women. As a result, my frustration led me to begin researching “women’s Issues”: & ASSEMBLY|706 was born. An LLC, dedicated to bringing | Clarity | Confidence| & Community| to young black women in Baltimore in hopes of encouraging self-exploration with great fortitude, in the absence of judgment. For a year, I facilitated two contactless platforms in hopes of modeling the dual importance of candidness and privacy. “Womens·ISH” was our first leg of business, a blog, which aimed to amplify the voices and lived experiences of women through candid literature!
“Candid’s with Candra” was our second launch, it was a FREE text-to-talk chatline that allowed people to anonymously connect. Whether they were in distress, while trying to handle the ebbs and flows of young adulthood, had a question about mental health, or were just seeking an unbiased opinion. As a result of our growth and impact during that time, “Bloom Book Club” was born in 2019. Serving as a closed group platform for self-help & skill building, we met weekly in person and concluded with a successful completion of three cohorts until the onset of the pandemic.
With ample time for reflection during a halted programming season, we decided to address the over-saturation of specific social groups, including our very own audience which was black & brown women. Grateful for the community we built, we put out a request for feedback to inform our return to the community. Our results explicitly revealed the societal absence of affordable and culturally grounded care for middle-class adults ages 25-35.
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?
NO! One of my biggest struggles has been forgiveness, for myself and others – as a one-woman show, I have entrusted my ideas to people I thought were better than me, simply because they were bigger, and I quickly learned that I failed myself by playing into that cliché.
As a result of mistrust, asking for help felt so complicated to do.
Continuing to offer vulnerability to people, places, and things that are algorithm-driven has caused heavy levels of frustration, & trying to find my balance and boundaries with marketing; wanting to appeal to people on social media without losing sight of my vision has been a hard code to crack. Its been exhausting!
However, one of my favorite lessons I have learned is to never allow the vision God gives you to lay dormant! My second favorite is that the EGO is bigger than the devil himself.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As a full-time mental health consultant, I specialize in trauma systems integration, education, and policy. However, through ASSEMBLY|706 I am most known for curating innovative spaces and pop-ups that hone in advocacy, awareness, and action surrounding mental health.
The one thing I am proudest of is being a poster girl for showing others the humanity in therapy. I pride myself by showing others, that even as the “expert” I have moments where I too am unwell. Days, hell weeks even, where my thoughts become dark, my friendships & relationships fail. Days I dance with depression, and two step with toxicity. That I too, have good days and bad days. That I endure harmful things, but I also play my part in causing it, because I am too am human, but most importantly I am rewiring myself to be well.
What sets me apart from others is my vulnerability, it is my superpower! It has always been my opening to life no matter the season I am in.
What’s next?
We were recently able to host our first annual Black & Well Community Mental Health Fair where over thirty black mental health providers and wellness entrepreneurs, including herbalists, came together to intimately lobby at Baltimore Unity Hall.
We had experts of all disciplines, providing psychoeducation, streamlining system navigation, and therapy enrollment processes, all while elevating the conversation around preventive care for black professionals and entrepreneurs ages 25-35. In addition to attending the mental health fair attendees were able to attend a mental health panel with six licensed clinicians where they were able to have questions answered and seek guidance, for FREE through facilitated discussion.
We are currently looking forward to our website relaunch, the return of our therapeutic book club, and releasing our programming and pop-up calendar for the remainder of 2024. We are excited to announce local collaborations as the year continues!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/assembly706/
Image Credits
Keaunte’ J and Trance Visuals
