Meet Joseline Mejia | Licensed Marriage and family therapist, founder of Konnect Counseling and Stream Konnections Academy

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joseline Mejia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joseline, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
One of the things that people outside my field are mostly unaware of is the mental and emotional labor that we carry during and after sessions.

The average career life cycle of a therapist is about 6-7 years before getting burnt out, getting emotionally fatigued, and/or moving to something else within the field such as supervision, education, or training.

I’m told sometimes. “How hard can it be to sit down in your chair, listen to someone talk for an hour, nod your head a few times, and maybe check in on how whatever it is they are talking about makes them feel every once in a while?” But it’s not quite that simple. Unless you’re just not a very involved or helpful therapist, but for a therapist who really wants to help, it’s not as simple as just listening. It’s about actively listening. It’s about trying to get a deep understanding of what’s going on. It’s about helping people untangle their thoughts and understand the complexity of themselves. It’s about continuing to learn and to grow, it’s about helping people “connect dots” with a deep level of curiosity and trying to figure out what it is that will help someone really heal.
That type of mental and emotional presence takes about every ounce of energy and attention available. Also, outside of that sacred 50 minutes, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that many people who are not therapists aren’t aware of. The time you reserve and pay for often extends far beyond the hour we spend together, such as administrative paperwork (That almost every therapist doesn’t enjoy), continuing education, research along with running a business.
I remember when I used to work for a community mental health agency (Which is another added layer of stress) feeling that I did not have any mental capacity to do anything else about my personal life such as navigating parenting, a house, and even dealing with my own emotional state. I also remember how hard it was to explain to other people my mental fatigue if my job seemed “easy” to sit down and just listen to people.
It has been a journey to manage and address my needs as a therapist even if other people may not fully understand. Still in the process, still learning, and still growing.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Konnect counseling was created as a way for me to find a work-life balance and still do something I’m passionate about. I started focusing on helping people heal and being with them through their pain and journey of finding themselves and creating the life they had envisioned and deserve. Then, other things started coming up such as the lack and limitation of resources, stigma, and lack of awareness in the Latinx community that led me to expand services and create Stream Konnections Academy with the purpose of providing resources, education, and training to our community, small businesses, schools, and corporations. What set us apart from the rest? Even though there weren’t as many people focusing on mental health awareness we wanted to make sure we were different from the rest. We have developed our methodology called the N.E.T. method to give people the tools to address and navigate daily life and work-related situations, we have developed a system where we can have fun and learn at the same time as we know life is already complex and difficult as it is and we want to make sure we enjoy learning, growing and healing. We have created a community of people with deep connections as we firmly believe that the connections we have in life are vital for the quality of life, and our community.
I am very proud to be able to provide services to my community. being a female first gen immigrant hasn’t been easy and want to make sure to give back to my community and help people that are going through the same struggles I underwent as a teen.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
As part of my self-care, I try to be out in nature as much as I can. When my best friend visits from out of state we usually go to the beach, our favorite one is La Jolla (is not that close and local but we don’t mind the drive), we also have one of our favorite chicken dinners at Dino’s in Santa Fe Springs, go to recreational parks to read and meditated and just to talk and catch up. If we are talking about comfort food for us is “Tacos” We’ve had the mission to find the best tacos and even though we like them ALL once again don’t mind the drive to “Tacos El Gordo”. One of our favorite spots to sit and chill is the “Tempo” restaurant in Brea and a Peruvian Restaurant “Sol Inka” in La Mirada. “Luck Thai” in La Mirada as well for Thai Food and “Hiro Ramen and Undon” in Buena Park.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
It’s difficult to choose one person to dedicate this shoutout to as I’ve been blessed to have many people around me that have influenced me and are worthy of recognition. Whether people are still in my life or not I have to say that I have been blessed to have had the right people at the right time, from supervisors. mentors, encouraging and supporting colleagues, family, friends, and people believing in me and helping me see things that I didn’t see at the moment. But if I have to pick one that has marked my life that would be God. I’m not a religious person but I did grow up with this utter belief that there is a higher power. Some call it the Universe, life, and heavenly father, or energy, but I call it God and his son Jesus. I developed a relationship with him very early on in my life and can say that he has been with me through every difficult moment in life and through every success. I want to believe that every person that has been in my life whether to teach me a lesson and help me grow or encourage me, guide me, and support me has been a plan from above and this shoutout is to him my creator and refuge.

Website: www.streamkonnections.com

Instagram: @streamkonnections

Facebook: @streamkonnections