I believe that Strong Moms raise healthy families and I want for the women we serve to feel their strongest at any age they come to us.
Kelly Jacobson, owner, Stronger Therapeutic Counseling Services
Kelly Jacobson is the owner of Stronger Therapeutic Counseling Services, where she works to “promote personal growth, mental wellness, and improved happiness for millennial women and teens.” Stronger is located in Batavia, Illinois.
I’ve been working with Kelly on her website for a little over a year and I love everything that she’s doing. She’s helping all women be the best version of themselves. She’s making sure our teen girls have the support they need to thrive. She’s hiring other women to work with her.
In the interview below, Kelly talks about her journey toward becoming a social worker, what she loves most about her job, and new products she recently launched.
When did you realize you were interested in becoming a social worker?
Growing up my dad often worked a couple of part-time jobs outside of his full-time job with the county and my mom was a waitress at night a couple of days a week. One of the part-time jobs he had was doing security for a local teen center and he would bring my sisters and I with on nights that my mom worked. I remember seeing first hand the reactions of some of the teens as they’d show up and see my dad working for the night, and the excitement and genuine enthusiasm in their faces to see him! It was weird as a kid that these kids were excited to see MY dad. They’d ask him to join in a game of basketball, they’d go back and forth exchanging sarcasm and jokes and I could see then that these kids didn’t have something like this at home and my dad was offering something to them they didn’t have- a relationship, trust, and genuine care for them and their future. It was then that I knew that I wanted to work with teens like this in some way.
I didn’t find out what a social worker was until high school and it was then that I could accurately describe that school social work was the profession I wanted to be apart of. After over a decade of working in schools, I decided I wanted to expand my work experiences and that is when I opened Stronger.
I believe in families. I know that families are their strongest when they have the skills to be healthy, communicate, and cope. That was my initial vision about building my business – to create a practice that would support families, from the clients we serve to the women I hire.
What is your specific area of expertise? What is it that drew you to working with this group of people?
My specific area of expertise is the connection. I know that is not a clinical term, but truly I feel that I am able to connect with people in a way that allows them to trust me and the perspective I have that can improve the areas they are looking for feedback and the areas that might be most difficult to hear.
I am most passionate about serving moms, young women and teens that are looking for support in coping with relationships they are apart of, symptoms of anxiety and depression they experience, and professional goals they have for themselves.
The clinical work that I use with my clients includes CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) which is a lot of thought work and allows them to work through thoughts that lead to feelings and responses/reactions they want to change or improve. This type of therapy is most effective in treating anxiety and depression. I also love pairing this treatment with the practices of mindfulness as it is a nice compliment that can help ground my clients to the present moment they are apart of and can be called on to use anytime and anywhere.
There is something really empowering knowing that you can control your own reactions and outlook, I want my clients to feel that they have the power to control and change gears in a moment and begin feeling better.
I am a mom, I was a young woman, and a teen. I believe that Strong Moms raise healthy families and I want for the women we serve to feel their strongest at any age they come to us.
What is it you love about your profession?
I truly love being a guide to women that I work with in the most intimate ways. I am so humbled that women feel safe to share honestly with me and allow me to walk alongside them in the most sensitive, painful, or shameful parts of their lives. Getting to celebrate and root them on from the sidelines truly brings so much joy for the work that I see them do, to achieve the results they are working towards.
What do you love about owning your own business?
I love the fact that if I have a new idea, I can just do it and try it! I love that I have the opportunity to make an impact on mental health, and I love that it is a way to model for my children that anything really is within your reach. I truly believe that we only live once and we need to make it everything that we want it to be. I want my kids to see me doing what I love, supporting our family, and helping others in the process
What is difficult about owning your own business?
I would say the most difficult part about owning your own business is doing the part of the job that you like the least because you still have to muscle through it and get it done. This motivates me though to continue to grow so that I can eventually outsource these pieces of my business (like billing) and focus more of my time and energy on the work that brings me the most joy (serving our clients and being creative)
What advice do you have for others who want to own their own businesses?
DO IT. Seriously, do it! Owning your own business there is so much you don’t know but you can totally figure it out. It has really felt like a journey of getting to know myself, trust myself, and grow in this process. A lot of mental toughness is required and it feels amazing getting stronger as you grow. It’s also important for others to know that for growth to happen it doesn’t have to happen on their own and that sometimes it feels super slow or even overwhelming. Reaching out and connecting with others to learn, ask questions, and relate is essential.
In retrospect, is there anything you wish you would have known earlier that would have made your entrepreneurial path easier?
I would have reached out and built more relationships in the community earlier. I feel like that could have made things a little easier to know what is available, better understand the community that I’m apart of, and feel more connected.
What do you love about being your own boss?
I love that I get to choose what I do each day, how I want to grow, what I want to do next. I love getting to choose the brand and service that our community can expect from us!
Is there anything exciting on the horizon for Stronger Therapeutic Counseling Services?
Yes, part of the way that I am working to grow is finding ways to offer services to those that may not be in our direct area for service. (Despite all of our work including telehealth services at this time-it still limits the work I do with clients in IL only that is what is allowed by our license). I have recently finished a Guided Workbook, Strong Mama. I created this workbook to be an extension of service and support for all of the moms in our practice to best support their daughters and the anxiety they experience.
It is also my goal for Strong Mama to be a resource for women that are not local to the Batavia area. The workbook is something that women anywhere can use that will allow them to process how they feel when it comes to their daughter’s anxiety while learning more about anxiety, therapeutic approaches that best treat anxiety, create a game plan to best support their daughter, and consider creative ways to involve the entire family in the healing process.
Note from Lisa: I’ve been holding on to this interview for awhile, and Kelly has expanded her practice even more since she first answered these questions! She recently launched a line of essential oil sprays.
“Our essential oil blends can provide an opportunity to activate your brain allowing it to accept and receive a greater sense of calmness, peace, and courage that will complement the inner work and healthy lifestyle you practice- to maintain feeling your stronger self!”
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