Making Mavens

Hey Mavens, happy Monday — I hope everyone had a great weekend! 🩵

I’m so excited to announce that I’m accepting new clients for individual and group therapy out of Newton, MA! 🎉

My services are offered in-person and virtually for residents of Massachusetts ages 6-75 years old. Services can be paid via insurance coverage (insurances accepted are listed on slide 1) or via self-pay. I unfortunately cannot and will not provide counseling services to anyone I know personally, including those I have on my personal social media accounts. If this applies to you, please do not schedule a consultation or an appointment, it presents a conflict of interest and violates the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics. However, I am available to those I know personally as a resource to assist with finding the best services for you. If you need some assistance finding a mental health provider in MA, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Feel free to swipe to learn more about me, my specializations, expertise, treatment approaches, and the best ways to find me to book an intake appointment. You can find my booking information via Psychology Today or directly through the Newton Ellie Mental Health clinic’s website.

I appreciate all of the support I have received from y’all so far and I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me! If there’s any questions you about my services and my professional background, feel free to leave a comment with your question below! Also please feel free to like, comment, & share this post 🫶🏾

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/ajaycia-jackson-newton-ma/1216661

Happy Friday Mavens, I hope y’all are doing well and celebrating the fact that we’ve made it through another week!! 🥳

When life gets hectic or when times feel stressful, it’s important to celebrate wins, no matter how small they may be! And if you’re someone like me who feels like life has been “life-ing” lately, then I may have something helpful for you in this post!

Here are two great skills we can all use whether we are experiencing minor or major stress.
The first skill is radical acceptance which refers to accepting things out of our control. Accepting our feelings and our stressful situations helps us to welcome and normalize our feelings and validate the challenges we go through. This skill also allows us to shift our focus away from the things out of our control and into our control. That way, we can direct our thoughts, feelings and energy to working through the situation, instead of making ourselves feel worse. Radical acceptance is a great tool, but it’s not always the best tool to use depending on your specific situation. Check out slide 7 to see when radical acceptance is a good tool to use! ✅

And lastly, the second skill to help when in distress is self-soothing with our five senses. Self-soothing is really important no matter what age you are or what point you’re at in life. Using your five senses at any given point in time can help you release, and reset back to your baseline so that you’re able to keep pushing forward in your day. Finding fun ways to engage your five senses helps a lot more than we imagine! Take deep breaths, listen to music, eat a snack, squeeze a stress ball, look at your surroundings. Get creative and find some ideas that work for you! The options are endless!

Do you think you could benefit from using these skills? Which skill sticks out to you the most? Comment 1 for radical acceptance and 2 for self soothing! 💛

Do you know someone who may need these skills? If so, please like and share with them! Have a great and safe weekend Mavens 🩵

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads and father figures out there! let this be a reminder to take care of yourself 🩵

Imposter syndrome is something that so many people experience but very few openly express and share with others. This phenomenon refers to the negative ways in which we view ourselves, our performance, and our self-worth.
Often times when people experience imposter feelings, they feel like they are a ‘fraud’ and do not deserve recognition for their achievements. People often experience this in a work or school setting, but it is liable for you to encounter these feelings across many different areas of life.

Imposter feelings can be caused by many different things, but some common contributors are the ways in which we were raised, some of our personality traits, if we experience anxiety, and often times when we are starting something new.

It’s really important to become more aware of these thoughts and feelings because they can have harmful effects on our wellbeing, performance, and relationships with others. Once we become more aware of these thoughts and feelings, this awareness provides us with more opportunities to challenge our negative thoughts and feelings and work towards identifying more true, rational and positive ones!

The American Psychological Association (APA) recommends the following seven strategies to help address these feelings of imposter syndrome. You can find these strategies on slides
6 & 7 of this post!

All in all, us over here at Making Mavens want you to know that you are not alone in this experience. Please give yourself grace and praise because you do truly deserve it. Regardless of your shortcomings or your accomplishments, you are someone who is deserving of success, love, and happiness. Do not get caught up in how others may view you, start to shift your focus on how you view yourself, your strengths, and all of the reasons why you ARE worthy. Because you are!

Are you someone who struggles with imposter syndrome? Do you know someone who struggles with imposter syndrome? Share this post with them or tag in them in the comments below. If you needed and/or enjoyed this information leave a ‘🩵’ below!

Hey everyone, I hope y’all are doing well 💖
I just wanted to drop by and share a little bit about self talk aka our inner voice. Some of us don’t recognize our inner voice and how much impact it can have on us. Becoming more aware of how we think and speak to ourselves is huge and a really important step in supporting and improving our mental health. If we tend to think of and speak to ourselves in a negative way, that’ll become a habit and the story we create about ourselves. It can make us feel low, unworthy, and even stuck if we’re unable to break from these negative ways of thinking. If we become more aware of how think/feel about ourselves and put in some effort to challenge and correct the negative ones over time, you may begin to feel and even act differently. This could help you have a better mood, feel more motivated, and even more prepared to maneuver through your everyday life.

Are you someone who struggles with positive self talk? Sound off below! You are not alone 🤍

Hey y’all!! 🧡
I know it’s been a little while, life has been a little hectic lately but I have some good news! 🤗
I was asked to be apart of another community conversation on how food affects our mental health. If you’re interested in joining and learning more, please join us in person or on Zoom this Saturday March 4th at 10:00 AM. If you’re not interested but know someone who might be, please share and repost! If you have any questions please feel free to reach out ☺️

We made it through the first month of the new year 🙌🏾 which affirmations are you bringing with you into February?

✨take these with you into the new week✨

Share to help someone who may struggle with negative thinking 🤕

Follow .mavens on Instagram for more information!

From my own personal experience, understanding the connection between your nervous system & your mental health is so important! Once you’re able to understand how it works and how it impacts you, you can then take the steps you need to feel more grounded in mind, body & spirit. Here’s some information on the nervous system, how it impacts our mental health, & the steps we can take to feel more balanced. A nervous system that is constantly dysregulated can lead to many issues for us now and in the future that ultimately affects how we see ourselves, the people around us, & our world. Personally, deep breathing and listening to music are my go tos and work really well for me! What are some things you like to do when you realize you’re feeling a bit dysregulated? Comment down below!

Empathy is something we ALL need 🤍 Being able to feel, understand & connect with others is what makes us human. It doesn’t make us “dumb”, “naive” or “weak”. Expressing genuine empathy is a superpower & don’t let anyone tell you differently! However, with showing empathy though, you have to be mindful about creating and maintaining some space so that you don’t absorb & become consumed by other people’s struggles, feelings & emotions. It’s okay to be there for people, but we do not have to carry that weight on our shoulders. Let this be a reminder to be kinder to yourself & the people around you. A little compassion & empathy goes a LONG way! 💙