Addressing mental health, financial health pays dividends

July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, also widely known as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) Mental Health Month. During this time each year, I recognize an individual or organization serving communities of color.

This year I am spotlighting Jacent Wamala, a licensed marriage and family therapist and wealth and wellness coach. She is a self-published author and an award-winning podcast host. Born in Uganda, she now lives in Las Vegas. With over 10 years of experience, she has been featured by the “Today” show, “Good Morning America,” The New York Times, Shondaland, People, Fast Company, Bloomberg and more.

Wamala encountered many life changes and challenges at an early age. After going through a divorce and losing her father months later, she found herself in a mountain of debt. She did not grow up learning much about money, but she paid off over $94,000 in student loans and credit cards in three years, before the age of 30.

Along that journey, she discovered the connection between mental health and money.

Wamala educates, encourages and empowers women of color to transform their money mindset and create financial freedom faster. She has helped hundreds of professional women of color around the world manage their money strategically, pay down debt, save thousands and create peaceful, prosperous, purposeful lives with their health as a priority.

I recently talked with Wamala to learn more about the life-changing work she is doing. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sheldon Jacobs: Why are mental health and financial health important to you and how do the two intersect?

Jacenta Wamala: Money touches every aspect of a woman’s life. As a marriage and family therapist and a financial coach, these two areas have never been separate for me. Money is not a spreadsheet problem. It is a behavior problem rooted in psychology. I watched it in my own life. I went through a divorce, lost my father and was sitting on debt while training to become a therapist. My financial avoidance was not about not knowing what to do. It was all of that, compounded by shame, anxiety and a nervous system response to stress that made me want to look away from my bank account instead of toward it.

That is the exact pattern I see in my clients: high-earning, accomplished women of color who avoid their banking app because looking at the numbers creates real anxiety.

You can’t create lasting financial change in someone without addressing the emotional and behavioral patterns underneath it. Treat the behavior, not just the budget, and the money follows.

What is Wealth and Wellness University?

It is the community I built to help high-achieving women of color install a financial system they actually follow. It is not a course in the traditional sense. It is the umbrella for a financial operating system, my book, in-person events and the ongoing community and education I provide to help women move from financial avoidance to financial clarity and control.

How has your work affected others?

The clearest proof is in the dollar amounts. Mary Lou, a clinical psychologist, paid off $20,000 in debt and saved $22,000 in less than 12 months after years of knowing what to do but failing to act. Jaques had $200,000 in student loans forgiven and $44,000 in IRS debt cleared. Jorelle went from analysis paralysis to executing a real financial system within her first 90 days. Overall, our community has made a significant financial impact through debt payoff, savings, investing, income increases and cash-flowing purchases.

But the impact goes beyond the numbers. These are women who felt like frauds, privately stressed about their own money while helping others succeed in their own careers. What changes is not just their bank account. It is their relationship to looking at their own finances without shame. That ripple effect reaches their children, who now grow up watching a different financial pattern than the one their mothers inherited.

What life-changing words of wisdom can you share?

There is a lot of excitement on the other side of the embarrassment, shame and guilt.

The hardest part is not the debt or the disorganization. It is facing it. Every client I have worked with has had to walk through embarrassment before reaching freedom. But what is waiting on the other side is not just financial impact. It is peace. It is opening your banking app without your stomach dropping. It is no longer feeling like a fraud. That shift is available to anyone willing to stop avoiding and start looking.

Go to wamalawellness.com to learn more.

Sheldon Jacobs, Psy.D., LMFT, is a licensed mental health professional based in Las Vegas. Contact him at drjacobs10@hotmail.com.