Shawnti Refuge Cover Model Contest Finalist

My name is Shawnti Refuge. I am an entrepreneur and work a full-time job, along with being a wife & guardian of a toddler. I was born and raised in Beaumont, TX and now reside in Houston, TX.

I began creating guided journals after I was diagnosed with Severe Depression and Anxiety in 2018.

Before I started using guided journals, I was living life, but not the life I wanted. I was busy taking care of family & work, but not myself. I was mentally & physically tired all the time but felt I had to keep pushing because that’s what a wife & mother was supposed to do, right?

In the meantime, while “living life”, my inner child started acting out. She was demanding attention, but at the time I didn’t know that. All the issues that I buried needed to be addressed and I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I became sad, angry, mean, irritable, and crying continuously.

I eventually sought professional help but was provided drugs. I didn’t want to be medicated, I wanted to heal. My therapist encouraged me to start journaling to deal with the issues I had buried and forgotten about that had started to resurface.

I tried regular journaling where I would just write in a notebook, but that didn’t work for me. I needed guidance in my writing to stick to the issues and work through them, one at a time. This is where I found guided journaling. Guided journaling helps you commit to mindfulness and can help you improve mental health through structured, reflective writing prompts, guided questions, and affirmations.

Since guided journaling helped me, I had to bring mental health awareness to the forefront and encourage others to begin their healing process through guided journaling.