Around Town

By Christopher Miller
What started as a blog to write about one local teacher’s experiences during the pandemic has morphed into a small business and a beacon of hope for educators struggling in the field.

“I was writing about everything, really,” said Jess Madenford, founder of The Journey To Here, LLC. “I was writing about all of the experiences that landed me here, to this exact moment in time and I have a firm belief that everything happens for us on our journey, rather than everything happening to us.

Jess started by writing about all of “the inner stuff” that was beginning to come out. “It made more sense to explain “I am this way because this happened,” and “I do these things because this happened,” Jess explained, “and I help others now.”

The main struggle that teachers face, sometimes multiple times during a school year, is teacher burnout.

“I first blogged about burnout a few years ago, but I dubbed 2022 the Year of Teacher Burnout,” Jess said. Jess Madenford, an art teacher for almost two decades, was feeling the familiar stressors of teacher burnout again.

“This time it was not only what was going on in my position at school but from different areas in my life,” she explained. “There were things happening in school, things being dredged up from my childhood, and from all over, that made for the perfect storm…I actually started to have a lot of anxiety and depression, and anxiety attacks in school in front of my students.”

What Jess did not have at the time were the tools to know how to help navigate the feelings and she felt out of control emotionally with the inside and outside world.

“I sought the help from a professional therapist and received medication to help and was doing pretty well, but all along I was having the same emotions coming up and I did not know how to handle and process it all,” Jess explained. “When my mom passed away I started a coaching program working with a coach who was certified in neurologist linguistic programming which basically helps to explain what is going on in the mind, finding patterns, and breaking free from them.”

Jess is able to coach and mentor others as she works towards completing her coursework. “My coach helped me in the program working toward my own certification, now I have those tools to help other people and my own experiences have been helpful when working with my own clients because I have been through these things like “Sunday scares,” teacher burnout, anxiety, and many other experiences with my teaching career.”

The big “buzz word” with modern educators is burnout. “People will continue burning out unless they can uncover the root cause of what is going on,” Jess explained. “When I do work with others I work with their subconscious to wake them up, raise awareness, and break patterns in order to move forward.”

“I want to break them free of the unhealthy stuff dragging them down.”

“Personally – I wanted and needed to live more authentically, and I want to help adults so the kids they are working with can be better helped in their school lives,” Jess said. “If I did not do this, I would have kept going and not taking care of my core and continuing with the depression, anxiety, and self-doubt I was feeling.”

Jess specializes in 1:1 programs, local group programs, and remote programs being able to open-up her coaching expertise to teachers not only locally, but nationwide, specifically in Idaho and Washington state.

“I went into teaching because it is my safe, emotional place,” Jess explained. “School is where I feel value and love and I want to help others find the power they had all along when not being stuck in conditioned beliefs, behaviors, and patterns.”

Jess Madenford, a seasoned educator for almost two decades with multiple college degrees, professional accolades, and development experience has been working towards her NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) certification with her mentor since November 2021. She achieved her certificate this past Fall. Jess also recently finished a year of writing for Art of Education University where she was writing for personal and professional growth for art teachers. You can connect with Jess on her social media, including LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

 

The Journey to Here, LLC
Jess Madenford
www.TheJourneyToHere.net
Jessica@TheJourneyToHere.net
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/educatorsmeantformore