JenniSue Jessen Story

On the last group Zoom call that we did, you shared your story. It touched me. It really touched me. And I think your story is so inspirational that I wanted to capture it so we could share it with the community. And who knows what might come from that. So I don't want to take up take up too much of your time because I know you have a meeting. So for people who are watching this, it might be worthwhile starting off a little bit about your story leading up to, you know, like how things were before you came across what I share with my community, of which you're now part of, and how things are now, sort of that journey. Okay, and, um, we'll see how that— see how that lands.

Okay, um, well, I grew up in the US, in the Midwest, right smack in the middle of the Bible Belt in the US. And at the age of 4, I was sold into the sex trade. So I spent the next 14 years of my life in all the trauma, the, the blood, sweat, and tears of what you might imagine exists for a child in rape for profit. Um, it was a really hard way to grow up, and obviously a lot of, um, challenges with that. In kindergarten, I started praying every night that God would just let me die. So that was my first suicidal ideation, was 5 years old. Um, in second grade, I sat one Sunday morning on a wooden pew behind the man who paid to rape me the night before. So, um, a challenging way to grow up. Not funny, just, uh, gosh, it's hard to summarize briefly. But then the— when I was 17, the day after a failed suicide attempt, I found out that I was pregnant. And I believe God used that as the impetus for me to come to a place of freedom. And so I did. I did come to freedom after that and spent a lot of years in and out of therapy. I mean, I, I learned all the tools, the techniques. I, you know, EMDR and EFT and all the timeline therapy, all the things, and they all provided structure and help in my journey. But every time I came out of therapy, I felt like I got hit by a truck. You know, I just spent an hour and a half recounting this horrendous thing, and surprise, surprise, my body and emotions responded to, to the story I was recounting. And so I believed in therapy. Therapy was good for a season. Teaching me some important skills. Um, went on to found my own international nonprofit that fights human trafficking, and we'll talk more about that later. Um, but in our restoration program, working with teenage girls who had experienced exploitation, I came across your reactivation program. That was my first introduction to David Key, and you kind of flipped my world upside down in the best possible way.

That reactivation program, I really enjoyed creating that because there was nothing to do. We were in lockdown at the time. So I think I brought it out in 2021, 2020, 2021. So just a couple of years ago. Okay.

Yeah.

So when you say it flipped your world, tell me more.

Um, well, I had had a situation in my work that created quite a bit of drama and devastation within my, within my work, within my organization. And I found that I just kept spinning. Like I would go to sleep and I was arguing my mind and I wake up and I'm still trying to defend my position. And I was just in a state of perpetual fight, trying to right this wrong that had happened in my organization. And at the same time, I came across your understanding, or the understanding that you, you share in your groups. Very similar to you with your tea kettle, I was standing in my kitchen one day making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which is my comfort food. That is my love language.

Me too. I love peanut butter and jam.

Oh my goodness. Um, so making a peanut butter sandwich and just stomping mad, furious at this betrayal that I had endured from this employee. And, um, realized in that moment, like, wait, she's not even here. I'm not winning this argument because she's not hearing the argument, and I haven't seen her for like 6 months, and still And David, I knew like all these therapy techniques. I knew all these strategies, um, therapeutically wise. But in that moment, I was like, wait, if she's not here and it's just me arguing with just me, why? What am I doing? I am not winning this fight. Um, and in that moment, I was like, wait a minute, my feelings, my emotions, me being stomping mad has very little to do with her. That primary pain that happened several months ago, yes, was valid, it was real, but the secondary pain was me keep reliving it, trying to fix it.

Yeah.

And when I recognized that, I was able to— you know, this was part of your reactivation program, so this is just one little, like, one insight I received. Um, I recognized that my emotional state was linked to my thoughts. Not what she, this employee, had done.

That's so cool.

And when I recognized that, I could, I could, you know, the movie projector, the bubble machine, there's a lot of metaphors that go into that. But I recognized I can get up and walk out of this movie theater anytime I want. Just because I bought the ticket doesn't mean I have to stay for a movie that sucks. I can get up, I can walk out. And, um, dove really deep into that reactivation program and then joined your innate wellness because my desire is to transmit that information, those insights, into all— to the survivors that I work with. I work extensively with survivors of human trafficking and teach them that PTSD isn't a life sentence.

No, it's just a proof that you're alive, that your body's working. Exactly. You're feeling your thinking.

Yeah.

And it's an extremely intense thought.

And yeah, rightfully so.

Yeah, absolutely.

Acknowledge it. And the thing I think, I don't know if I do it a little bit differently than you or not, but it seems to work with my, my tribe, my people, is that when we recognize our thoughts, they're producing our feeling, then we can choose, like, if I need to sit with this feeling for a while, if I need to feel the grief, if I need to rage at the pain of it, then I recognize and I give my, myself permission to do that. And also permission to walk out of the theater anytime I'm ready.

So you have choice.

You have choice.

You have the ability to use your free will any way you like.

Any way you want. Any way that's gonna bring you healing.

I hear you saying you don't do it like me, but that's the good news for everybody because there isn't a right way to do this. As long as you are sharing from your heart, and you've seen something that's true and you had obviously a defining moment. Right. Some people will listen to this and they go, what, she was having an argument in her head, you know, what's so profound about that? The profundity for me when I had my first experience and went, oh my word, my wife can't be annoying me because she's out shopping.

Right.

People might hear that and go, well, that's obvious.

Right.

But it isn't when you're in it.

It isn't when you're in it. And especially for people— well, I think it's true across humanity, um, but for individuals that have profound and complex trauma, you know, I have years and years of memory, um, and, and it's good to give space to honor that experience. And yet I don't have to live there. So anytime triggers— is a really common word in trauma Um, and I consider every trigger an invitation. Like, something pokes me— a memory, a thought pokes me— and I start feeling the feel, and then I recognize I have the power to sit in this feeling or to move towards a good feeling. And, and it's that power then that starts, especially for survivors of profound trauma, empowering them to move towards healing in a systematic way.

I love that. And so you joined the Innate Wellbeing Program, which I'm— I think you must have joined, what, 6 months ago?

Yes, sir. Mm-hmm.

So how are things panning out in your life and in your work with the survivors, these people who've obviously been through similar experience to you? How has things changed now, if they have at all?

That is a great question. You know, when I meet somebody out, you know, at an event or something, and they say, how are you? Just a traditional greeting. Hey, Jenny Sue, how are you? I say from the bottom of my heart, truly, I am living happily ever after. This is it. I am in the midst of happily ever after. And it's not that my life is easy. I mean, I work in the field of counter-trafficking. I'm confronted with dark. Hour after hour, day after day. And in the midst of that, I'm living happily ever after. So that's my, my personal how it's, how it's impacted me. But professionally, I have the opportunity to teach all the time. I think in the, the call you referred to, I had just come from Greece where I was teaching a group of university students who are studying for their master's degree in forensic psychology. Wow. And what I taught over a 2-hour seminar, and then we had an hour Q&A, was that we are designed to heal. Like, our, our understanding of physiology hasn't caught up to our psychology, that every wound our body is driven to heal, and that we're only feeling our thoughts. And the response in that class of, you know, highly academic professional students were— was just incredible. It was the highlight of my time in Greece, was the interaction with these students who were just leaning in, and I was watching them have insights and them shift in the moment, and it had nothing to do with me. That's one of the things I love about the concept of innate wellness, because I think when somebody has an insight, it's very much like you recognize something you always knew Yes, but didn't know that you knew, or you didn't have words for it. And, um, that's what I got to watch in this classroom, and that's what I do globally. Our organization's working in several countries, but teaching people who are either working with people who have experienced trauma or survivors that are coming out of exploitation, and all of them teaching the exact same lessons that you are made to heal And your feelings and your, your emotions are proof that you are healing, that you're responding appropriately.

I feel so proud to be associated with you and the fact that created in this office on a hot sunny day, cuz we couldn't go out, you know, we're a while away from COVID creating that course, which was a really short course. It was a few hours, but yet you've now taken out to forensic psychology department and you have them leaning in. Something that's so simple. Are you qualified in psychology? Are you a psychologist yourself?

I am not, no sir. I have, I have lots of different certificates and training in, in different trauma modalities, um, but I am not a doctor. I'm not a licensed counselor. I'm just somebody who's lived and lived through profound trauma and then come to a place of healing and reconciliation and now able to watch other people empower other people to rise to their purpose.

So who knows what the future holds, right?

Right.

But the fact that you've now shared this with people in the academic world, with your clients, with your tribe, your community, um, can you see how this could snowball for you in terms of the more people you touch, the more candles you light, the more light you bring to the world? Can you see?

Oh my gosh, it is absolutely a global, a global thing. I found, um, so far I've had the honor and privilege of traveling, working in 36 countries, um, and I have not found a culture or language that people cannot or do not grasp these insights.

Yeah.

Um, and I mean, full disclosure, I'm a person of faith. I believe in, in the Bible and all of that. And but these insights for me are very much aligned with my faith that I'm made in the image of God, that you're made in the image of God. And all over the world, all different people, all different socioeconomic status, all different education, can grasp these insights, and in a moment you can see them go, oh, and suddenly they're, they're empowered to walk in freedom that they were not before.

Yeah. Yeah. You wake them up.

Yeah.

Their true power.

Absolutely.

Their true, their true self, which is not the body suit.

Right.

Not the flesh and bones that were beaten, abused, but the spiritual essence of who everybody on planet Earth is.

Yeah, that core soul identity, that, well, what Sydney Banks called mind, right? That innate truth, capital T truth. Capital T truth.

Wow. Well, I mean, your story is profound. I love that you're taking this out there. You're, you're obviously what I call a straight liner. Because there's people that circle, gotta learn more, learn more, keep going round and round. Then there's the zigzags. But you took this and you went with it.

Yeah.

So it must have spoken to you in, at a soul level, in your heart. You saw with your insight, you had your defining moment. So what's the, what, what's on the horizon in the short term? What, what plans do you have for your NGO, um, your charity? And, um, how, because this is going out to like, I don't know, 60, 70,000 people might watch this. Well, they might not all watch it, but hopefully a lot of people will.

Cool.

Like me, I got involved for a couple of years in, in a program from one of my students where she set up a charity to go and help this, uh, help the homeless community. In fact, I met one of them, one of the people, one of the first people who was in that program. I met her today, first time in 4 years.

Very cool.

And she showed me a picture of all her medication— antipsychotics, antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication, stuff to help her sleep. She was smoking, alcoholic, taking other recreational drugs, fear of heights. And within a space of 1 hour of hearing, you're perfectly okay.

Yeah.

You can't be damaged. Your mental health is innate and you're just feeling your thinking at the moment, was so profound for her because she went and left the first day had this amazing, amazing insight. And within a week, she didn't even realize she'd stopped taking her medication. And then she went, I haven't taken my medication, but I feel great. So went to her doctor and they went, well, you're going to have bipolar disorder for the rest of your life, but she hasn't got it. Oh, it must be in remission. It was never there.

Right.

It was never there. She was perfect. And I love these stories. And you were sharing about Cherise before we came live. Did that, that touched you as well, Sharice's story?

It did. It did. Her story, just the fact that, I mean, she had endured this really challenging, scary situation. Her, her child had been attacked at school, I think, and then there's medical bills and bankruptcy and homelessness and, and all of these things, and how just these few insights brought her and her family, her and her son, a level of freedom. Yes. Um, that now they're carrying on and impacting other kids with depression and suicidal ideation and school violence. And, and that's the thing, that's the thing that I tell the, the— I call them program participants— the girls and boys that come into our program that have been exploited is you didn't come to freedom, you didn't come out of exploitation to live the rest of your life captive to the nightmares and the memories and the triggers and the thoughts.

So you don't want to rape yourself, right?

You get to be, you get to be actually free. And, and having complex trauma isn't a life sentence. Let me show you. Yeah, let me prove this to you. And, and I get to watch them like light up when they understand that they, they have their own power.

It's the most amazing feeling in the world, isn't it? I mean, Sid talked about this. He's like, just giving this understanding away, the rewards are worth more than you could ever possibly be paid.

Oh yeah, to have— that's why, you know, people ask me all the time, like, isn't what you do hard? And counter-trafficking, yeah, it's dark. And yet I'm a front row seat to watching people who have experienced unthinkable things rise to their fullest potential. Like, I get to watch it and I don't have— it's not me. I'm not, you know, a little s savior. I've got nothing except I walk alongside them and show them the insights that I've had and watch them transform.

I see you as, and all coaches, we're the catalyst.

Yeah.

And they do all the real work. We just have to share what we know to be true. And that might, for people watching, go sound too simple, but that's why I put the Innate Wellbeing Program to give people the opportunity to go through those 9 months with me. And I think we're only 6 months in, so it would be, it would be, it would be amiss of me to not ask you right now is how can people find you. Yeah, find your organization because we'll put it on the email, maybe a link. Um, yeah, as well as a charity, there might be people that might want to invest and, and be sponsors and maybe even volunteer. Like the homeless program, we had people volunteering with this understanding, and it's such rewarding. So, so tell us more about the NGO and the name.

And yeah, that's amazing. Yes, our organization is called Compass 31, Compass31.org or.com, both go to the same place. So Compass 31 is our organization. We're an international counter-trafficking organization. We work with prevention, restoration, and leadership development. So we have a prevention tool actually working in 43 countries right now. So it doesn't matter where your audience is globally, I, I might be able to plug them in.

Yeah, I think we're all over the world anyway.

I mean, right, we have restoration programs operating in 7 countries. And then leadership development is about empowering these survivors to their highest level, whether it's university, and it's certainly sharing these insights, um, but empowering them to rise to their highest capacity. So we recently had a graduate completed law school and passed their bar exam, to got their master's degree in social work. They're limitless. They're limitless. And so that's the leadership development piece. So as a nonprofit, yes, we need funding always. We need grants, we need donations, we need volunteers, and we need just people who will amplify our message, you know, who will get excited about what we're doing and share it on their platforms or within their circle. Of influence.

Well, we are gonna do that.

Yeah.

And I really do hope if you're watching this video right now and you have, if you haven't been moved by Jennice's story, then you, what, what is wrong with you? This is absolutely awesome. You're amazing.

You know what it is? Thank you for that. But it's a universal story. It's just a human story. Every human goes through devastating things, whether it's cancer or car wreck or, you know, infidelity, we go through devastation. And we all are designed to heal. We have to.

Absolutely. I'm so glad you see that now. And if you're watching this, it's the truth.

Yeah. Capital truth.

Every single human being on planet Earth, no matter what box you've been put in by somebody that's doing their best to help you and put a label on your head, you're none of that. You're perfect in every way, as I say to all my clients. And you just have to, I guess, see for yourself, like you saw, that you're 100% of your experience is coming from the inside out, not the outside in. And I love that you're changing the world that way. And I, I'm so privileged to have been part of that. And I hope I can continue to guide you. But also, if you ever want me to come and speak at one of those university, universities, I'd love to, because that would be two unqualified human beings sharing with psychologists about how simple it is to help people. Jenny Sue, I'm going to put on the email or where this video is, there'll be a link somewhere. Have a look at it, click on it, go and look up Jenny Sue. And if they want to reach out to you, I guess the website will show how to do that.

Yep. There'll be a contact link. They can email me from there and that lands directly in my personal inbox.

So that's beautiful. Well, thank you for your time today. I know you've got another meeting, but absolutely.

And thank you so much for, for educating me, sharing your insight. So that I can carry them forward. I, I, yeah, am absolutely loving life.

Good. Thank you so much, Jenny Sue. It's been awesome speaking to you, and I'll see you on the next call as well, right?

Yes, sir. May 3rd, I think, is the next one.

Thank you. Thank you.

Bye.