Today we’d like to introduce you to Adriana Jones.
Adriana, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born in Panama City, Panama in 1980. My parents migrated to the U.S.A. when I was 8 years old. We left Panama because the president at that time, Manuel Noriega, was becoming a dictator and the city was no longer save for those who didn’t support his governing party.
My father was very outspoken about his beliefs therefore his local tire shop was vandalized and so he felt threatened. My father, mother,my sister and I left Panama to lived in Florida but after about 6 months, my father decided to move to Houston. At the time, he was working for a dry cleaner but had no days off and was getting paid $4/hour. My father couldn’t afford the rent in Florida so we moved to Houston to live with my father’s twin brother. When we arrived in Houston our first stop was a grocery store named FIESTA! It was heaven to us because it was the first time since we move to the US that we heard others speaking Spanish.
I’ve lived in Houston for the past 29 years. My parents eventually divorced and so my mother became a single mom of three girls. I’m the oldest. I became the first in my family to graduate high school and then went on to graduate with an undergraduate degree in Finance and then earned a Master’s degree in Counseling. I enjoyed helping people and listening to their life stories, and so I worked for a community college for 10 years. I held different positions such as a college and career counselor and then became an instructor. I enjoyed helping those in low-income communities and bringing awareness and hope to others by sharing my life story. I would relate to many and share how I also had to learn English but was able to do it and finish school. I enjoyed inspiring others to seek their goals no matter how hard it got.
In 2006, I got married and then decided to go to graduate school. My husband, Jeremy, and I enrolled together and graduated together 2 years later. I then became a mother in 2010. I truly enjoyed raising my son. In 2011, I faced one of the most difficult time in my life. My father committed suicide and it devastated my entire family. A suicide death is a very painful death to grief. During my grief, I did a lot of investigation to learn more about my father’s childhood and his last years of life. Even though my parents weren’t together, I kept communication with my father but our relationship was never the same after he left my mother during my teenage years. After some research, I found out my father had been abused as a child and never received counseling.
Also, my father was diagnosed with several mental health disorders before his death but was not treated appropriately. I became very eager to turn my pain into a positive action and decided to help those in need. I wanted to help children with trauma and help those with mental health disorders and be a resource to those who didn’t understand mental health. In 2014, I helped Unaccompanied minors caught in the border and then worked as a bilingual child therapist for a foster care and adoption agency. In 2015, I decided to pursue one of my life goals and filed documentation to start a 501 c3 nonprofit organization, The Counted Child (aka- TCC). I enjoy serving children and youth in disadvantaged communities. Our mission is to offer mental health services to low-income children and youth and prevent suicide. I’ve learned that our mess can truly become our message. My father’s death gave me pain but it also birthed something beautiful, TCC. I love working with children and youth and teaching them evidence-based techniques to manage emotions and express feelings. Today, I’m a mother of two and work as the co-founder/ managing director for The Counted Child. I also help my husband with our family business, The Wellness Advocates Group.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. Growing up was difficult because I didn’t know English. Once I stopped feeling like a victim and started to realize that we were not moving back to Panama, I decided to pay attention to the teachers and seek help when I didn’t understand. In middle school, my mother became a single mom of three girls and my father was not paying any child support and so we struggled a lot financially. My mother then had to ask for government assistance and I hated been on welfare. I felt embarrassed but it was the only way to get groceries and have a place to live. I remember my mother always telling us to study and do well in school so that we didn’t have to struggle like she did. She always blamed her financial struggles on her lack of education. I then decided to do well in school and applied to attend a college prep school, The Chinquapin School, and got in.
At this school, all the teachers and staff encouraged all the students to seek a college degree for a better life. I had no idea what college was like since neither of my parents graduated high school but I wanted a different lifestyle than the one we were living so I decided college was going to be my way out of poverty. Going to college was scary. I felt as if I didn’t fit in and was scared to be away from home. It was a very difficult time for me but I didn’t have any other choice. Dropping out of college was not an option. I didn’t want to be on welfare anymore. I remember once overhearing a conversation between two strangers and this truly was the motivation to my diligence and persistence to not give up when it got hard. They stated that Hispanic women were only good for bearing children and being on welfare. This stuck in my head and I wanted to prove them wrong (I didn’t even know them).
As life got hard, I kept going. I’ve learned that it’s ok to fail as long as you get back up and try again. I’ve learned that when we face barriers and challenges that seem impossible to overcome, it’s a sign we are getting closer and closer to the promise land/ our dream. My faith has been a big part in my life. I believe God creates us all with a purpose in mind and so our journey to figure out that purpose and then He will help us along the way. I’ve also learned that when someone tells me no, it’s not now so keep trying and pursuing what we’re meant to do. I also believe in being responsible with our finances. I know many young women who don’t save. My mother didn’t have that option because she was always in the red. I saw her living pay check to pay check and using credit cards a lot to make ends meet. I also struggled to pay my bills during my college years. I remember moving almost every semester because I couldn’t make the rent.
Once I graduated and starting working, I was earning way more than I had made so I started to shop and shop and shop. I got everything I never had. I bought new clothes, new shoes, and more. I then realized all the new stuff wasn’t making me any happier. I then started to save and it was freeing to see that I wasn’t a pay check to pay check person. I strongly encourage young women to save at least 10% of their monthly earnings. I wish someone would have told me that when I graduated from undergraduate. Also, invest in yourself. When I started the 501 c3, I didn’t want to spend too much money on it because I wasn’t sure it was going to work out. Then, my husband reminded me that I was investing in myself and in others. Invest in your dreams. Create your happy place and never stop dreaming.
We’d love to hear more about The Counted Child.
My mission is to provide mental health services and support to parents low-income families. I want to help children become healthy, and future responsible leaders who accomplish their unique purpose and contribute to society. I use a holistic approach to mental health. I use art, dance, journaling, and yoga to promote emotional, mental, and physical well-being with school-aged children. I work hard to provide a safe place for children to gain self-awareness, develop self-confidence, express their feelings, build communication skills, improve self-esteem, manage emotions, and work through trauma. My goal is to prevent suicide in children and adults. I am helping my community by creating healthy, and responsible leaders who accomplish their unique purpose and contribute to society.
Which women have inspired you in your life?
My mother is one of the women I admire and has inspired me. She has such a servant’s heart. She serves others with love. She is dependable, punctual, critical thinker, and a great problem solver. She is also the best grandmother I know!
When my parent divorced, my mother had a choice to move back to Panama and become a burden to my grandparents or stay in a foreign country and work hard. She had to learn the language, learn to drive, get a job and learn to survive so she can provide a better future for her children. I am now a mother of two and I’m married to an amazing husband and there are days that I feel overwhelmed and tired. I know my mother had many difficult years, months and days but she kept going. She went to night school to learn English, got a job at a nursing home as a housekeeper to make ends meet and soon moved up to a caretaker. She also learned to drive! These were all obstacles that she overcame. She doesn’t have a high school diploma or college degree but has tenacity, perseverance, and a lot of determination. She wanted to provide her children with a better future and she did. Both of my sisters and I are college graduates and have accomplished many of our life goals. My mother continues to inspire me as she helps care for the elderly at a local nursing home and won employee of the month in December 2017! She currently also helps take care of my 21-month-old girl when I’m at work. She continues to amaze me with her determination to serve others and share love to this world in her own community.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2261 Northpark Drive, Suite 126, Kingwood, TX 77339
- Website: www.thecountedchild.org
- Phone: 832-277-0139
- Email: thecountedchild@gmail.com
- Instagram: thecountedchild
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecountedchild/
Image Credit:
Jeremy Jones, Marlen Mendoza, Aby Cisneros
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