Rising Star Kiaundra Jackson: “If I could inspire a movement, it would be around prioritizing mental health; No one can afford to ignore their mental health”
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If I could inspire a movement, it would be around prioritizing mental health and reducing the stigma around getting professional help. No one can afford to ignore their mental health. There isn’t one group of people who need it more than another. If we all do our part to maintain our own mental health daily, the world would be a better place.
As a part of my series about pop culture’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Kiaundra Jackson. Kiaundra is known as one of America’s leading Relationship Therapists. She has been seen on the Emmy-Award Winning TV Show, The Doctors. She has been recently featured in Oprah’s Magazine, The New York Times, FOX, The CW, CBS, Vice, BET and The Huffington Post as one of the ’10 Black Female Therapists You Should Know.’ She is an international speaker, best-selling author and a trusted Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist that gets results. She is a noted expert on healthy relationships and mental health. Visit KiaundraJackson.com; Follow @KiaundraJackson on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
Born and raised in Compton, California, I come from a city where poverty, drugs, and senseless gang violence was the norm. My parents attempted to protect me from as much as possible, but was unable to hide the negativity that was manifesting in our own household. At the tender age of 10, I witnessed domestic violence amongst my parents and had the words “I will kill you!” etched into my brain by my biological father. The familial and financial shift of seeing my parents divorced, living in a single-parent home with my mother, and my older sister expecting her first child at 16-year old caused me to wonder if there was more to life. I just knew there had to be more than living from paycheck to paycheck, eating the same meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner…
