Name: Jami Glenn
Graduation Year: 2018
Major: Masters in School Counseling
Current Position: Emotional Wellness Coach
City and State: Springfield, MO
Tell us about your career and what you do now.
I am the Emotional Wellness Coach at DC Academy, the after-school Learning Academy at the Springfield Dream Center. I am also the founder and owner of an Emotional Wellness Coaching business for families called Sacred Ground Coaching.
At DC Academy, we teach Preschool through Middle School students social and emotional skills through games and hands-on learning. These skills range from: how to make and keep friends, conflict resolution, labeling emotions and using healthy coping tools to calm the brain and body.
We have seen the positive impact these skills have in the lives of our kids and families. Their emotional literacy, empathy, kindness and confidence all increase when they learn the tools we focus on at DC Academy. We have become a blueprint that other Dream Centers have begun to implement in their own after school programs. It’s such an honor to work with the families at the Springfield Dream Center.
Sacred Ground Coaching exists to provide families with the tools they deserve to move through behaviors and emotions with ease, calm and connection. When I am working with families, I offer individual coaching, group workshops and online classes. I absolutely love working with my coaching clients because I get to witness and be a part of true healing and growth when families come together to learn new emotional wellness skills.
Whether I am working with the kids and parents at DC Academy or with my private coaching clients, I absolutely love the work that I get to do as I guide kids and parents with the tools, tips and scripts to move through big behaviors and big emotions with ease.
What is your favorite memory from Evangel?
When I reflect on my time at Evangel, I am reminded of the meaningful relationships I created with my professors.
While earning my Master’s degree at Evangel, I was also in the throes of raising babies. We had two daughters under the age of 3 when I started the program, so juggling motherhood and being a student made it stressful sometimes. My professors were so encouraging and kind during that season of my life.
They were always available to talk, understanding when I had to miss a class due to a sick kiddo, and encouraged me to keep a healthy balance between family and school.
Now, looking back on my time at Evangel, I am so thankful for that encouragement, especially from my female professors, who were further ahead of me in the journey of career and motherhood.
How did Evangel help you identify/develop your calling?
When I enrolled in the School Counseling program, I knew that I wanted to help kids with their social, emotional and mental health.
Each class allowed me to narrow my focus on who I wanted to serve and how I wanted to serve them. I quickly realized that I enjoyed working with elementary aged students and that if I could also find ways to support their parents, then the positive impact would be greater.
Now, I serve kids and parents who are struggling with big behaviors and emotions and help them discover coping skills that work for their brain, body and beliefs so that they can live with calm and confidence.
How did your experience at Evangel prepare you for life after graduation?
My biggest takeaway from Evangel is the systems-approach to counseling, which means that humans are not an island, but we are all deeply interconnected.
This systems-approach has guided my career choices every step of the way, driving me in the direction of working with the family system instead of simply looking at the individual in my office.
When I help a child learn a new way to use her words during a disagreement, she can maintain healthy friendships and her circle of friends is healthier. When I work with a mom who is learning tools to calm her body, she brings those same tools to work with her and can provide better customer service and a more positive experience at work. When a family can learn to build connections through life’s hardships, that family can break generational cycles of trauma and poverty, causing a ripple effect that far reaches their own individual family and home.
I might be working with one child, one parent or one family, but keeping the lens that those individuals live in a system of relationships at the forefront of my coaching, I know that the healing work that we are doing in my office will bring healing to many other people, too.
What advice would you give a current student preparing for the workforce?
I love the quote, “Clear is kind” from Brene Brown. Any time you can clearly state your needs, desires, expectations and boundaries, you are ultimately providing a kind gesture to yourself and those around you.
Most problems or arguments can be solved (and usually easily), if someone can clearly state their expectations, feelings and boundaries.
This advice carries over into every facet of life: work, home, marriage, friendships. When life requires a difficult conversation, remember that “clear is kind.”
What would you look for if you were in a position to hire new graduates from Evangel?
I have 3 questions I always ask in interviews:
1. What is your self-care regimen? If you aren’t taking care of yourself mentally, emotionally and physically, your overall health will suffer and the risk of burnout exponentially increases. I want to make sure that every hire has a solid self-care routine (or is willing to implement one) before accepting a position.
2. What books are you reading, or podcasts are you listening to? I want to know that you are eager to learn and humble enough to do so.
3. What’s a healthy way and an unhealthy way that you handle conflict? Working and collaborating with other team members is a requirement for most jobs. I want to know if you are self-aware enough to identify when you react in an unhealthy way (because we all have our unhealthy defaults) and I want to hear what language you use when discussing work relationships. Specifically- I’m looking for words like: team, collaborate, problem-solve and “we” vs. “I” language.