Success is Subjective: Helping parents of college students accept that dropping out is okay

Episode 50 — When Life Interrupts... —with Johnnie Alexander

February 23, 2021 Joanna Lilley, MA, NCC Season 1 Episode 50
Success is Subjective: Helping parents of college students accept that dropping out is okay
Episode 50 — When Life Interrupts... —with Johnnie Alexander
Show Notes

Many go through life with a set idea on how things will go, hoping that everything will go as planned but sometimes life has other plans that are unavoidable. 

Johnnie Alexander, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Therapist, Life Coach, and Therapeutic Mentor for Elevated Genius Solutions, LLC, experienced a huge life interruption his sophomore year of college. At first he thought he’d have the normal college experience with hopes to become a doctor. Though, life had other plans. After Hurricane Katrina hit, Johnnie’s college experience got majorly shifted. Even though the journey was tough, he managed to get through it with the support of others, coming out of it stronger. Through his experience he realized that he wanted to pursue social work instead and now works as a Therapeutic Mentor for Elevated Genius Solutions, LLC, a mental health practice focused on helping people elevate their genius through mental and emotional well-being.

On this episode of Success is Subjective, Johnnie joins Joanna to share his journey as he escaped poverty and homelessness and is now working to start his own private practice. Even with a huge interruption in his college journey, Johnnie managed to not give up and was able to make a new life for himself. Listen to how Johnnie’s life experiences and persistence has brought him to where he is today and the insight it all has brought him.

What You Will Learn

  • A post-secondary path was expected because of his academic career at Milton Hershey School
  • When Johnnie knew he wanted to go to school to be a doctor
  • Although he was applying to “the ivys,” he landed on Xavier University, a HBCU, for a very, specific reason
  • How Hurricane Katrina really shook up Johnnie’s college experience
  • How in hindsight, he’d wish he’d taken a break after Hurricane Katrina 
  • The fear that Johnnie had around taking a break during his academic experience
  • The importance in finding a close knit group of friends to lean on during difficult times
  • How he was bearing the burden of shame after ending up on Academic Probation
  • His persistence and life experiences are what led him to Atlanta – where he hangs his hat as a photographer, videographer and therapeutic genius.
  • It’s okay to not be okay

 Connect with Johnnie Alexander

Connect with Joanna Lilley