N. VANESSA JACKSON, LMSW

Vanessa Vaughn-Jackson, LMSW is the founder and co-owner of Behavioral Health Consultants, LLC. She is a graduate of Tuskegee University where she received her Bachelors of Social Work as well as the University of Michigan, School of Social Work where she received her Masters of Social Work. Vanessa has well over 10 years of clinical practice experience working with children, youth, young adults and families around varying issues, hardships and illnesses. Vanessa employs a compassionate, patient centered and clinically sound therapeutic approach designed to foster an open and nonjudgmental therapeutic relationship. Vanessa utilizes several treatment modalities based on patient symptomology to bring about the best outcomes as it relates to patient functioning, quality of life and self-acceptance. Vanessa has years of experience providing specialty clinical assessment and treatment recommendations in community and residential settings. Her organizational experience has involved group crisis intervention, professional & personnel development as well as employee engagement. She has facilitated love and logic groups with families across all socioeconomic backgrounds. Vanessa is skilled at sensory based interventions for patients with severe trauma histories, ADHD and or Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She has worked extensively with high risk youth as well as youth who have experienced significant abuse, neglect and trauma. She understands the impact of childhood trauma on development, social interactions, coping and relationship building. Vanessa’s career has been about empowering patients to realize their aspirations, big and small, pursuing and achieving those goals through clinical intervention and utilizing their strengths. She is skilled at making patients feel comfortable, capable and motivated in the therapeutic relationship.

Vanessa has actively worked in the community to assist families and organizations with managing crisis. Vanessa believes family skill building is essential to the success and productivity of individual members. Her organization philosophy involves galvanizing the common value to bring about a sustainable process or change meeting the expectations of those involved. Vanessa believes that getting to the heart of the matter involves a unique and skilled approach that critically assesses the problem and desired outcome. She is an advocate for youth empowerment, survivors of trauma and persons impacted by poverty. She has received training from the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children where she holds credentials as a certified trauma specialist. She has also received the spirit of Detroit award in 2013 for volunteer and youth engagement efforts. Vanessa has received crisis support training from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. She is a Darkness to Light, Stewards of Children, facilitator of a prevention curriculum designed to teach adults how to keep children safe from childhood sexual abuse.

Vanessa is also an impactful motivational speaker who seeks to give voice to vulnerable populations and address woefully inept practices and systems that perpetuate cycles of abuse. She created a preventive initiative addressing childhood sexual abuse due to the demand for unorthodox treatment interventions that address the needs of a population that often goes unnoticed.