When I was 28 years old, I was asked to leave my church.
It was a story that shaped a lot of my adult life. It wasn’t just this terrible thing that happened to me and then I moved on. It affected every area of my life, career, how I chose friends, how I related to others, the way I engaged conflict, and how I cared for myself.
It was a life changing story.
I went to school and earned my Master’s in Counseling Psychology, and from there I started a private practice helping individuals heal from the effects of religious trauma. I wanted to help those who had been hurt like me.
And maybe, it was to heal myself too.
About 9 years into my career, I participated in a workshop around public speaking and something wild happened. I realized that this life-changing story that led me to being a religious trauma therapist really wasn’t the work I was doing with my clients.
I’m actually doing identity work.
In therapy, I was helping people remember that they already know who they are. Their true identity has always been there. Life happens and we start living out of stories that come to define us. My job was to help them disentangle from those stories and become their authentic self.
This is when Jacqui Nelson Wellness was born. I want to help leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals, non-profits, and individuals examine the stories they’re carrying, and reconstruct a new way of knowing themselves.
Through workshops, retreats, and identity coaching — I can help you in your reinvention process.
