Meet Stephanie Johnson: Behavioral Health Consultant and Intuitive Mental Health Coach

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

Hi Stephanie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
When I started my company in 2015, I knew I wanted to help people navigate the mental health care system easier. I worked in psychiatric clinical research for about four years prior to starting NaviPsych, LLC. While doing this work, I realized that many of the patients and their families I encountered on psychiatric inpatient units whom I interviewed for research studies had attempted at some point to seek mental health help. However, for one reason or another, the patients ended up with worsened symptoms, families in high distress and needing answers that the healthcare system did not provide with depth and understanding. I learned the importance of listening to the patient’s stories, explaining hospital procedures and policies, explaining their diagnoses in ways they could understand and find some way to connect with internally and most importantly, I learned the value of being genuine and honest with patients about the process of receiving the diagnosis of a mental illness. When this information was provided to the patients, I found them more willing to participate in the treatment process and many of them would follow through when they were guided to the specialty of care they needed. As a result, many of the patients engaged and were retained in treatment. When they disengaged from treatment is was because they were in a better state of health to work, go to school or simply return to some sense of normalcy with their families that did not involve a mental health crisis.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am grateful to Dr. Nadine Kaslow, Chief Psychologist at Grady Memorial Hospital and Associate Professor at Emory University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, for reading my cold email and offering me a volunteer spot on her Nia Project research team without knowing me at all within 15 minutes of receiving my email. Her willingness to allow me to volunteer on her team and later hire me part-time, positioned me to do what I ultimately wanted to do at that time; work in psychiatric research full time on schizophrenia studies. I was hired full time on another research team by Dr. Michael Compton, as a Psychological Specialist; interviewing first episode psychosis patients and their families. This is the work that directly led to me starting NaviPsych, LLC. I enhanced my skills even more while working with Dr. Robert Cotes as a clinical research coordinator on psychiatric clinical trials and the Open Dialogue pilot project. I’d like to shoutout all of the families and individuals I encountered on those inpatient units who allowed me space in their lives to offer them guidance along their mental health journeys. My friends, Dr. B. Nilaja Green and Ms. Sylvia Browning who were constantly encouraging me and supporting me through the highs and lows of the transitions that came with doing this work and taking the leap of faith to bet on myself when I resigned from clinical research to focus on working for myself under NaviPsych, LLC.

Website: www.navipsych.com

Instagram: @navipsych

Linkedin: Stephanie (Gantt) Johnson

Image Credits
Stephanie Jones