At Ascend, we like to give potential clients and their families insight into what happens behind the scenes at our facilities. With our Day in the Life spotlights, you get an inside look at various roles in our organization, including mentors, therapists, operations, and even the directors of various houses. In this month’s spotlight, we’ve chosen to highlight Jahmario and his work as the Arts Program Coordinator for CAP at Ascend. Discover how he brightens up life for our clients with creative experiential therapy and other unique group sessions.
What Is CAP?
CAP stands for our creative arts program, including photography and film lessons. Jahmario manages the arts options in this program and visits every house at Ascend to teach his individual groups. With these types of experiential therapy sessions, clients can continue confronting their issues and learning essential life skills without feeling like they’re actually in therapy. Many times, our experiential therapy groups allow clients to relax and lower their defenses.
Getting Jahmario on the Team
Before joining Ascend, Jahmario was working in the entertainment industry as a production assistant. While working on commercial and movie sets for various well-known organizations was a ton of fun, it wasn’t as fulfilling as it could have been. When one of our lead mentors reached out to Jahmario about a position with us, Jahmario saw this as an opportunity to give back to the community and make positive changes for the future.
We Love Jahmario
Jahmario has been an amazing addition to the Ascend team because he has a magical ability: he can make anyone smile. No matter how tough their day has been, Jahmario can lighten the energy in a room for both staff and clients!
We’ve also enjoyed watching Jahmario grow into his role and develop new skills that enhance life for our entire community. His intuition in handling tough scenarios with clients helps them regulate themselves and teaches them so much about how they can approach tough situations in the future. Jahmario takes the challenge of working in the mental health field head-on, speaking up when he sees situations that need better solutions and inspiring change within others.
Jahmario Loves Us Too!
When Jahmario made the transition to Ascend, he quickly realized that his role was critical to our clients. He can see and experience what it means to make a positive change in someone’s life, watching their evolution and growth due to his hard work. He also appreciates how we integrate the entire family system into our clinical approach, and meeting the respective families that come to us for help is so rewarding.
A Day in Jahmario’s Life
Jahmario’s day starts with arriving at one of our houses and taking a minute to greet everyone and make the rounds. If he’s running a group session that day, he checks in with the kids before starting to see how they’re feeling and address any issues that may come up in the group. He may also need to prepare for the days ahead, sending off artwork, brainstorming new group ideas, and scheduling various sessions for the week.
He frequently collaborates with Destiny, our lead mentor and the person who brought Jahmario to Ascend, as well as Daniel Ahearn, the supervisor of the entire CAP program.
Off the Job
While Jahmario is incredibly dedicated to his work at Ascend, he also takes some time off from the job to focus on himself and recharge his passions. One of his upcoming passion projects is actually his second full video production and a project he’s got going on for his first short film. We can’t wait to see how it turns out, and we hope to share it with our clients once it’s done to provide them with additional inspiration for their own passion projects!
More From Our Team
If you’re interested in learning more about Ascend, we encourage you to explore our blog for past Day in the Life posts and keep an eye out for each monthly addition! You can also visit our team page to digitally meet some of our most critical staff members, like our executive leadership, clinical team, and specialty providers.
Considering introducing your child to residential or outpatient mental health care? Fill out our contact form to learn more about how we can help.
Have questions about joining our team? Find a career with us when you apply today.
