Jams Markovics (they/them)

My Approach to Helping

I believe mental illness or mental health challenges are due to both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, or nature AND nurture. The intrinsic factors are related to genetics and the function of the nervous system, while the extrinsic factors are related to the impact of environment (including family-of-origin and society at large). Therefore, I believe that treating mental health challenges requires treating both of these factors. Since everything we do affects the brain, there are many different ways to treat the brain, including top-down processes such as talk therapy using aspects of narrative, feminist, and acceptance and commitment therapy [ACT], mindfulness and/or spiritual practices, physical exercise, and positive social interactions, as well as bottom-up processes such as self-calming strategies including self-havening, tapping/EFT, and breathing exercises, as well as mindful eating of a personalized diet, typically anti-inflammatory.

Social Justice Issues I Care About

Since I can remember, but particularly since middle school, I have wanted to fight for the underdog. I fought to bring awareness to climate change back in the 1990s which has now become a climate emergency; I remember playing John Lennon's Imagine in a piano recital in 1991 when Bush senior decided to invade Kuwait in project Desert Storm (or the first Iraq war). Later in high school I came out as a lesbian, (and now more recently I have transitioned to become a trans-masculine, non-binary individual), and, ever since, I have been very active in the LGBTQIA+ community and activism. In more recent years, I was involved in the "No on 8" campaign in California, then I was active in the federal push for marriage equality and I have also participated in Black Lives Matter and anti-ICE protests. I carry these values into my work as a counselor, as well. I believe that societal discrimination based on who you are or what you believe is inherently traumatizing.