MINNEAPOLIS — Mental health continues to be something that we need to talk openly about-- and what if becoming more self-aware could help you navigate your own world better? Well, two Minnesotans are hoping you'll take that journey.
"The goal is to help people to become happier and more effective by gaining insight into their own thoughts and feelings,” said JJ Parker, co-founder of The Self-Awareness Journey.
Parker and Melissa Albers are a tech company CEO and an executive coach who have been on their own journeys.
“We define self-awareness as the intersection of your thoughts and feelings and in real time knowing what they are,” Albers said.
Born out of what the two have learned from their own experiences, they started the Self Awareness Journey, a free resource and coaching model that helps people better understand themselves and respond to stress and anxiety in a more healthful way. It comes with a roadmap, lessons, podcasts and videos to teach you things like paying attention to your intuition and knowing what triggers you.
“A lot of people are pretty good at self-reflection, like oh that event that happened earlier today, now I understand really threw me off-balance, and they can process through that. It's much harder to realize that in real time, like nope, nope, I'm getting off-balance right now, what am I going to do about it?" Parker said.
The two believe that just like our physical health, you can practice mental health too.
“Often times we don't talk about mental health until we're in full cry over something, or something awful is happened, and then we're in a reactive state to try to make ourselves feel better, and we really believe at The Self-Awareness Journey that mental health can be practiced in a very proactive way. It isn't taboo, it isn't bad,” Albers said.
A lot of what they talk about applies to the workplace and they've even cultivated content for local corporations. Who doesn't want a more self-aware employee? And at the end of the day, who doesn't want to be more self-aware?
“We're very passionate about people operating in the world in a helpful way and we wanted this to become available to everyone,” says Albers.
Albers and Parker want to remind folks, this is a coaching effort, not a replacement for mental health care.