Jason Dotson, Founder of Wellness with Jason Dotson
Wellness with Jason Dotson Emerges as Compassionate Mental Health Practice Empowering Youth and Marginalized Communities
Therapist and social change advocate Jason M. Dotson has launched Wellness with Jason Dotson, a mental health practice exemplifying compassion, cultural responsiveness, and innovative therapeutic care. This new venture intends to redefine what therapy looks like and who it’s for by offering an accessible and empowering model for healing.
Dotson founded the practice around the belief that everyone deserves to thrive. Wellness with Jason Dotson, therefore, provides therapy in a manner that defies the cold, impersonal norms of traditional mental health settings. Dotson and his team meet people where they are instead of asking them to enter sterile offices that usually feel disconnected. Creating an environment of safety, trust, and familiarity, services are brought into homes, backyards, local parks, or community spaces.
Wellness with Jason Dotson offers Intensive In-Community Therapy for youth ages five to 21 navigating trauma, systemic barriers, or urban isolation, delivering bilingual, culturally sensitive care in real-life settings. Clinicians are trained to guide their clients through emotional healing as well as through experiential growth, sometimes simply by stepping outside the boundaries of a familiar neighborhood and discovering a world beyond. The practice also offers Outpatient Therapy, Couples Counseling, and Family Therapy, each reflecting the same commitment to warmth, inclusivity, and individualized care.
This commitment was shaped by the founder’s journey of hardship and healing. Dotson has over 20 years of experience serving marginalized and at-risk communities across New Jersey and New York, focusing on adolescent and LGBTQIA+ populations of color. He has led community-based research organizations, coordinated statewide retreats, and spoken at numerous events, reflecting his dedication to championing health equity and social justice. His journey of making a difference has been hard-won.
Early in his career, Dotson faced repeated abuse by those in supervisory positions. Some used their authority to intimidate, demean, and harass while working in a field ostensibly centered on care. Adding to this was a professional culture that discouraged reporting and enabled retaliation.
When Dotson became a licensed clinician, he realized how many others shared similar stories of abuse and fear. This realization inspired him to develop a model illustrating how a therapy practice could operate. Shifting away from the traditional top-down hierarchy, the Dotson Model is based on empathy, support, and mutual respect.
Clinicians are provided with free, high-quality training, allowing for constant growth without gatekeeping. In addition, instead of dreaded staff meetings, the team gathers for Wellness Days, enjoying gourmet meals, calm energy, and genuine conversations. Dotson calls his clinicians his team, not his staff, because collaboration, not control, defines the model. “If you make a mistake, we’re not yelling. We’re learning,” he explains.
This supportive environment also benefits the people Wellness with Jason Dotson serves, especially the youth. The founder believes that therapists must first have their own basic needs met to show up for clients. Dotson argues that only when clinicians feel secure, respected, and resourced can they help others climb toward self-actualization. “If you take care of a clinician, they’ll take care of their clients. And that takes care of the community,” he says. “It’s not a trickle-down effect. It’s a trickle-up effect.” To make this possible, Dotson endeavours to pay clinicians higher salaries than may be expected.
The impact of the Dotson Model is evident from the practice’s growth. Though only a year old, Wellness with Jason Dotson has grown to a team of 40 clinicians. Therapists who joined are staying, thriving, and inviting others. Dotson shares that the goal is to expand the model to other states, with the long-term vision of creating a national (and eventually international) standard for community-based mental healthcare.
Dotson’s motivation to do this stems from his commitment to justice, service, and community. Raised with a sense of social responsibility, he was the only child in his family regularly sent to volunteer at events like the Special Olympics and HIV support kitchens. Moreover, even when he was the only Black student in a Kansas classroom, he was inspired by his teachers who challenged the system, talked politics, and pushed for equity.
Dotson internalized the belief that true progress is communal and not individual. Wellness with Jason Dotson reflects this philosophy, practicing and advocating for radical care, collective healing, and the belief that everyone, especially the youth, deserves a chance to thrive. For those in doubt, he says: “I always tell my kids: it gets better. I tell parents: it gets better. When life feels like its crashing down, I ask them to think back to another hard time they overcame. I remind them that they did it before, and they can do it again. It gets better. It truly does.”
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