Today we’d like to introduce you to Jade Henderson.
Hi Jade, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Growing up in different countries has made my childhood unlike others. Living overseas (Thailand, Japan, and England) for the first half of my life, I was able to help and connect with a diverse array of people. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always had the desire to help people. I can still remember piling up the toys that my brother and I no longer wanted, packing them all up in suitcases, and traveling to the Hill Tribe villages of Thailand to hand them out. The children there were so grateful for the new toys they had to play with. The enormous smiles on their faces and the essence of joy in the air is what made me remember that moment until this day. Being born overseas and living around the world is what awakened my urge to travel and my desire to help others outside of the United States. I have always been good at adapting, whether it is adapting to the new culture around me from moving all around the world, or simply coming up with a more efficient way of doing something. Being able to adapt is definitely a strength of mine, so it is easy for me to help others learn to adapt and excel in their environment. Growing up, I have also always been an athlete – I played every sport I could, even a season of flag football with my older brother. In high school, weekends were spent training for beach volleyball. My mother would drive me from San Antonio to Austin just to train. If I wasn’t training, I was traveling to go play all around Texas, in Florida, Virginia Beach, or California for Junior Olympics. Weekend after weekend was spent playing volleyball, but I wouldn’t change a thing – I was dedicated to the sport and still love it to this day. I took various college visits to play beach volleyball but after I toured Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, I didn’t want to go anywhere else. Fast forward a couple of years, I ended up having shoulder subluxation after shoulder subluxation in addition to having panic attacks during practice because I was so set on trying to be perfect. I found so much more joy playing at the sand courts with my friends than I did playing at a Division 1 level. Beach volleyball continues to be an outlet of mine as I train with my friends and compete in tournaments when I am not in class or coaching my own volleyball team.
I earned my Bachelor’s in Science in Kinesiology – Health and Fitness, from Texas Christian University in 2019 and managed to earn various honors and awards along the way. From earning Academic All-Big 12 Team, Dean’s Honor List, Certificate of Excellence for Outstanding Academic Achievement, to receiving the Leadership Scholars Program Medallion at graduation, it was a lot of hard work and dedication to my academic studies. In addition to these honors and awards, I held leadership positions where I was President of the TCU Student Kinesiology Association, Secretary for the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and a mentor for four kinesiology students. The person I am today is a direct result of positive influences from my professors, coaches, peers, bosses and members of the Horned Frog community.
I am currently in my last year of graduate school to earn my doctorate in Occupational Therapy from UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Occupational therapy as a profession, instinctively reaps rewarding opportunities to serve and lead others to a better quality of life – and that fits me perfectly since it is essentially my life’s mission statement. As an athlete, world traveler, and having experiences with people of different even social classes, I obtain a broad perspective on life and have the ability to connect with all different sorts of people. Connection with people has the power to heal. A therapist that can connect with their patients can provide them with endless support and never-ending hope.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
On April 20th of this year, I ruptured my Achilles tendon running after a volleyball while coaching. I had been juggling a full-time class schedule with exams and group projects, coaching indoor and beach volleyball, all while trying to maintain my physique for fitness modeling – it is safe to say I was running on very little sleep and my body just snapped. On May 4th, I had to take 2 final exams and had my Achilles surgery directly after. Not to mention I also had to take a final exam the day after my surgery. Just 3 days after my surgery, I fell directly onto my splint and stretched out the freshly done tendon repair. Instead of having to wear a cast for only 2 weeks after surgery, I was told I had to wear it for at least 6 weeks. Despite being in a leg cast, I found ways to workout and ended up only having to wear my cast for a month – proof that movement is medicine. A little over a week later, I had my first seizure due to an unknown cause. I woke up to paramedics asking me simple questions that I couldn’t even remember the answer to and in that moment, I felt trapped inside my own body. 2 weeks later I then had to move to Austin to start my fieldwork rotation for school while I was in my walking boot, which caused me to develop severe heel pain that I am still trying to fight off to this day. I had to make the decision to stop my fieldwork semester early so I wouldn’t mess up my foot in the long run. After weeks of self-care, physical therapy at the best gym in Austin, Texas called Kollective, and relearning how to walk, I managed to come completely off of antidepressants. With the Achilles being the largest tendon in the human body, none of this recovery process has been easy but I have learned so much more during this journey than I would have ever imagined. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that you can’t always control the way your life plays out, but you can control your response to it. I am having to graduate 3 months later than the rest of my cohort, but I am still determined to finish nonetheless. This experience is making me a better therapist, coach, and athlete. Most importantly, it has made me have a stronger mindset and more positive outlook on life. This is just a reminder that setbacks are normal – remember how strong you are and use them as opportunities to bounce back even higher.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am known for being an athlete, occupational therapy student, fitness model, volleyball coach/trainer, health and fitness enthusiast, aspiring sports photographer, and Paragon fit wear ambassador. I am signed as a fitness model with Naturally Fit Agency with offices located in Austin, Texas and Los Angeles, California. Once I finish graduate school and have healed from my Achilles repair, I will see how far modeling will take me as I have not been able to attend many casting calls due to school. But until then, I will keep my daily focus on the present moment – doing what I can right now to create the best possible future for myself and finish my education.
I am currently striving to make the world a better place. I try to help my patients, players, friends, family, social media followers, or whoever I may encounter, find a reason to smile each day. Using my passion for health and fitness and my soon-to-be earned doctoral degree in occupational therapy, I have the tools and drive to improve the lives of individuals by helping them become the healthiest versions of themselves both mentally and physically. Lately, I’ve been using my Instagram (@jadehendersonn) to share workouts, life fitness tips, mental health tips, all in a way in which I attempt to be “real”. This may sound cliche, but I try not to create the fake persona of someone who never struggles, never has cheat meals, and never has to deal with the realities of life. I believe this better connects me with my audience and is a more genuine reflection of real life. While any social media has a larger reach, I’ve found working with people one on one provides more depth. One to two times a week I take my Goldendoodle and we meet up with a woman named Mariah who has Cerebral Palsy. I help her get up and walk, assist her with some strengthening exercises, and let her get some puppy therapy in. The impact this has on her is phenomenal and reminds me why I started down this path in the first place. I love to help people, plain and simple. That is a big reason why I chose the field of occupational therapy. My career goals are to become the best occupational therapist I can be, genuinely connect with my patients and increase the value they see in themselves as well as that for which they bring to the world. Helping people become the best version of themselves is something I strive for every day. I want to spread the message that no matter what someone is going through, at the end of the day, there is still something to smile about. Since I tore my Achilles, I have been living by the quote, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore to decide to be happy.” Falling onto my splint after surgery and re-tearing my repair has hindered my rehab progression with my Achilles. I still have heel pain with every step I take and was recently told to add 2-3 months onto my healing timeline, but I know I still have the ability to return to the high level of beach volleyball I was previously at before my injury. I am doing my best to stay positive and make the most out of the situation I am in. We all have ups and down and I certainly have mine, but I truly believe we all have an opportunity to make the world a better and more positive place. I have realized that happiness really is a choice. Changing your mindset from, “I have to do something” to “I get to do something,” can make a huge change in your day to day perspective.
I am in the works of starting my own online health and fitness business where I plan to provide multiple services from fitness coaching and individualized programming (disabled or not) to various therapeutic services. Until then, feel free to reach out to me through social media if you or someone you know could benefit from volleyball training, sports pictures, therapy dog services, health and fitness tips, or just hearing more about my story and the experiences I’ve been through!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.naturallyfitagency.com/talent/jade-henderson-35092
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jadehendersonn/
Image Credits
Jade Henderson
Kendall Graboff
Lance Pulliam
