My name is Jasmine Jones, a current sophomore student at Dallas Baptist University. My mental health journey is just that… a journey.

As a pageant competitor, student, and loved one, I have always found it hard to balance preparing for my future while enjoying the present. 

My story starts as a first-grade girl in elementary school where I was sexually abused by a student going to third grade. I have been sexually assaulted, abused, and raped from a first-grade student to college. I have attempted or contemplated suicide more than three times due to the trauma that keeps resurfacing. I don’t say that for sympathy or empathy but to show how bound the enemy is to hold us back in every way possible. With that being said, I suffer from PTSD and high functioning anxiety. It keeps me from getting outside of my comfort zone or simply doing things I normally am capable of. So the fact that I am even participating in this alone is me trying to combat my anxiety in a healthy way. I’m trying and that’s what I want other people to see and notice about themselves too. Sometimes all it takes is consistency and to give yourself some credit because that is not selfish. Once, very suicidal and went through so much depression I’ve found the necessary steps to improve who I am as a person. 

As a pageant competitor, I have started my platform “Mental health matters” to bring a face to the issue. Most people don’t think it affects them until they know someone around them who undergoes all the trauma. This platform has allowed me to prove that your past doesn’t define your future. I publicly share my journey from counseling, therapy, diet, and more to show how real this really is.

If we’re quiet about the things that are silently killing us then we will never have the opportunity to be an answered prayer for someone else.

Whether a crown is on my head or not, I show people that I am human first and a queen at heart. As you’re healing, I am healing with you because hope is having the faith that things are better than they look right now. What we can’t see in the physical realm is already being changed for us in the midst of adversity. My faith in Jesus Christ is the anchor of my hope, strength, and joy. How else would I be putting myself out there in such a way as this or even living?! He has saved my life more times than I can count because He sees something greater than I can. If He sees I’m worthy then I will expect his grace and walk in it abundantly while pursuing the life He has for me. Healing is a journey and one that I am forever grateful for.