Jasmine Thatcher is a mental health counselor and graduate student whose academic and professional path has been guided by a strong commitment to understanding people within the systems that shape their lives. After graduating from Millbrook, Jasmine earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in criminal justice from Drexel University. Early in her training, she worked in a range of settings, including refugee resettlement, youth residential treatment, peer crisis support, and mood and anxiety research. While enrolled in Widener University’s PsyD program, Jasmine completed a practicum in a correctional facility, working with both juvenile and adult populations. In that setting, she provided care to individuals navigating trauma histories, loss, isolation, and significant emotional distress.

Working in a correctional facility highlighted the inequities built into the systems surrounding mental health care, which pushed her to slow down, immerse herself more fully in the work and the population, and eventually recognize a growing desire to step back and explore these issues through research. This led her to transition into a counseling program with plans to continue on to a PhD. She is currently completing her M.A. in clinical mental health counseling at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology while working as a counselor at The Healing Way. There, she provides individual therapy and facilitates group therapy for adults navigating addiction, trauma, anger, domestic violence, and reentry into the community, frequently working with individuals involved in the criminal justice system. Upon graduation, Jasmine plans to pursue a PhD in forensic psychology, with the goal of conducting research that informs ethical practice and contributes to more thoughtful, humane systems of care.