Sisterhood Spotlight

You’ve dedicated much of your career to serving the Appalachian community and addressing the opioid epidemic at both clinical and community levels. What drives your passion to keep showing up for this work day after day?

Wow, what a beautiful question. Working in addiction and mental health can take an emotional toll for sure. I feel that multiple factors influence my passion. First is the lens through which I view humanity around me.  I believe that we are all formed and fashioned together by God with giftings, callings, and anointings to carry out a specific purpose and plan for our lives.  Every single person that I have the honor of coming into contact with has purpose, regardless of the battle or difficult moments they may be experiencing at that moment. If I can see them as God sees them, knowing their future is powerful and beautiful, it motivates me to encourage, push, motivate, and help them grow in that purpose. Their potential motivates me, their future motivates me, and the people that they will help in their lives in the future, when they are healthy, motivate me. The author of avolition is the thief of purpose.

During the First Lady’s visit to Bluefield University, there was a powerful discussion about mental health needs in Southwest Virginia. From your perspective, what are some of the greatest strengths — and ongoing challenges — you see among students and families in the region?

Ongoing challenges:  
Multigenerational patterns of substance abuse, poverty, and avolition. access to quality resources and support, a deficit in the workforce (disparity in income in Appalachia for licensed, certified, and qualified providers).  
 
Multigenerational patterns:
Multi-generational patterns of substance use have led to generational gaps. Grandparents and great-grandparents are raising their grand and great-grandchildren. This has led to significant ripple effects in the development of those children. 
 
Quality services and support:
We have the CSBs. In many impoverished areas such as Central Appalachia, many people seek their services from the local CSB. CSBs are very good at seeing a high case load of persons and billing multiple services per person; however, the flip side of that is that on many occasions quality of service decreases.  Community providers such as CSBs also have minimal oversight and accountability audits. With minimal accountability quality of service decreases.  
 
MAT programs need to be restructured. Research states that the highest potential for success is the combination of medication management and counseling/mental health services in coordination. However, in an effort to increase billing and the number of persons seen in a day (back-to-back), counseling is scheduled in 15-minute increments versus 1 hour.  That is not counseling, and that is not fidelity. A professional counselor cannot do quality counseling in 15-minute sessions, regardless of how often it takes place (weekly, biweekly, or monthly). Imagine stating that we are doing our due diligence, combating the opioid epidemic, providing 1 hour a month of counseling in coordination with medication management. The image of that is sad. Programs and policies servicing Appalachians' needs need to be restructured. 
 
Government at the local, state, and federal levels may be funding and trying to pour money and interventions into services that are broken, of poor quality, and prioritize the number of clients over the quality of service.    
 
You serve not only as an educator and counselor but also as a women’s ministry leader and evangelist. How do you see faith and mental health working hand-in-hand to strengthen individuals and communities in Appalachia?

God created us and knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. IF we want to figure out how something works or problem-solve, we go to the manufacturer (God). Mental /emotional wellness goes hand in hand with faith. Appalachia has been known for the difficulties and disparities when compared to the rest of the nation in so many areas: education, finances/income, and access to resources, just to name a few. A research study I completed recently identified that the most influential factor related to perseverance identified by undergraduate students in Central Appalachia is their reliance on God. Sixty percent of participants identified God as their most influential factor in persevering through challenging situations. There is a direct link between faith, hope, and perseverance.  
 
A recent research study. With nearly one in five adults experiencing mental health challenges nationwide, how can institutions like Bluefield University — and leaders like you — continue creating environments where it’s safe to talk openly about mental wellness and seek help?

We can continue to create environments where people feel safe to be authentic. Continue to work on destigmatizing mental health and push the positives of managing mental wellness. 

Continue to work on creating not just support but community. Students in Appalachia overwhelmingly identify that community is not just important but vital to success. Community creates the environment and opportunity to create bonds with persons with whom they have similar interests and goals. Within “Community”, students can develop a sense of identity and purpose. This is significant for the growth, success, and mental/emotional health of students in Appalachia.

About Jessica M. Sykes Ph.D., LSATP, LPC

Dr. Jessica M. Sykes is the Chair of the Psychology & Human Services Department at Bluefield University, in addition to her Doctoral degree in Counselor Education & Supervision. Jessica holds dual licensure in both substance use and mental health fields as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and a Licensed Substance Use Treatment Practitioner (LSATP).

Sykes has earned two master’s Degrees. The first, a Master of Education in Counseling and Guidance (M.Ed.) from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 2006, and the second, a Master of Education in Counseling and Human Development (M.Ed.) from Lindsey Wilson University in Columbia, Kentucky. Jessica completed her Doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision (Ph.D.) at Lindsey Wilson College with her research dissertation: A Study of Factors that Influence Academic Success in Undergraduate College Students in Central Appalachia.

Dr. Sykes has a wide range of clinical training and experience and has worked in private and community settings for profit and nonprofit organizations. Dr. Sykes specializes in substance use and trauma and has worked relentlessly in Appalachia alongside the community to address the opioid epidemic.

Dr. Sykes boasts experience in a host of populations, such as severe and persistent mentally ill adults, higher education students, church ministry, and corrections. Dr. Sykes began her career in the field in 2006 and has almost 20 years of experience in areas of counseling, substance abuse, trauma, crisis, clinical supervision, and executive team roles. Jessica’s psychotherapeutic special interests include student success, spirituality, addiction, sport performance, suicidality, and trauma.

Jessica also serves in ministry at her church as a women's leader and counseling pastor, providing much-needed counseling and psychoeducation in the church, bridging the gap between psychology and ministry. Dr. Sykes’s passions are to grow and develop individuals and programs so that we can walk in the fullness of healing and identity, to be and do all that God designed and created us to.