Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenna Najjar.
Hi Jenna, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
It all started in 2013, after graduating from a small Jesuit University in Philadelphia, I decided to commit to a year of service as part of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. A yearlong program whose participants worked full time based on the values of community living and social justice work. My fellow volunteers were mostly other recent college graduates from other Catholic and Jesuit colleges from across the country. I didn’t have a set career goal in mind, and this gave me some time and structure to soothe the uncertainty and looming task of adulthood.
I was placed in Nashville Tennessee, I city I had never been to, set to live with other eager and naïve 22-year-olds, doing a job I didn’t know existed. Assigned to work at The Oasis Center, as a street outreach case manager for unhoused young adults, I learned quickly with enthusiasm as I was emerged into a new world.
Oasis Center trained and shaped me into the social worker and therapist I am today. I learned how to sit with clients, not much older than myself at the time that were sleeping on the streets, working multiple jobs, former foster care children, rejected by their families for their gender or sexual orientation or trying to break the patterns of generation poverty and trauma. Each day I accompanied individuals experiencing unimageable pain, loss, and rejection. In the face of all of this, there was joy, in creating a small, safe sanctuary space, where young people could get their basic needs met, belong, take refugee, ask for support, and help each other.
Every day shifted my perspective and understanding of large social systems and flawed public policies that lead to lack of affordable housing, health care, education, employment, and social safety programs. The individual and direct relationships with young adults I build laid the foundation for my understanding and development as a young social worker. I was faced with making sense of how these systems failed so many people. Even when it was hard, I didn’t want to look away, my eyes were open, and I couldn’t close them or turn my back. I was just getting started.
After a year, I knew I wasn’t done, I was captivated with the relationships with young adults and the larger community who shared this common goal. I found something I was good at and thrived on the relational and communal aspects of the job as well as learning how to manage the chaos and messiness of the work. My path was set into motion.
Due to low pay and high stress, the average street outreach worker last about 2 years in the field before they burn out. After six and a half year, multiple programs, promotions, a master’s degree in clinical social work and a community of friends, it was time for my retirement at the age of 28.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t believe any road worth traveling is easy, some of my own personal challenges included moving to another state with my community of friends. All together nine of us moved from Nashville to Durham North Carolina to resettle and restart, right before the global pandemic.
Oasis Center prepared me to be adaptable and act quickly. My work as a therapist began during the emergence of a larger cultural conversation normalizing mental health care, where individuals were posting on social media and finding words for their feelings and experiences. More people were engaging in therapy- as a reaction to the pandemic as well as an increase in accessibility through telehealth.
Social media created a planform for more adults and teenagers to see themselves in the collective struggle, resulting in more visablity and acceptance around asking for help.
I do feel very fortunate to have had so many supportive and brilliant teachers and role models along the way- seasoned therapist, dedicated social workers, hardworking case managers, gracious supervisors, street psychiatrists and the list goes on.
My clients have always been my biggest teachers, from the young adults in Nashville to my clients today. They have expressed and modeled so many characteristics I admire- resilience, resourcefulness, creativity, and generosity just to name a few. I hold a deep sense of gratitude to have been able to be a small part in their journey.
As you know, we’re big fans of Crescent Moon Wellness, PLLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I started my own practice in January of 2026, Crescent Moon Wellness as the culmination of my work as a therapist and taking the next step. Opening my practice has been a fulfilling and challenges project, learning to stand up on my own, market myself, design a website, accounting, and taxes has all pushed me in new ways. I am so proud of myself and all the steps and turns in the road it took to get here.
My office, located in downtown Durham, where I see clients in person as well as anyone in the state of North Carolina virtually. I specialize in working with the LGBTQIA+ community and young adults, ages 16-25.
Working with individuals during such a unique time of development has always felt right. The transition to adulthood can be lonely and full of unique obstacles. The small addition of a supportive adult can make all the difference, I know it did for me,
Today I work with adults and teenagers around grief, self-esteem, and identity and focus on serving the unique needs of queer and trans clients. I have been working towards becoming more grief informed in my practice.
So much of what I see rooted in loss and our culture struggles with naming and holding space for loss. My philosophy around grief has shifted and I learned that grief is not a problem to be fixed, it’s a feeling to be felt, shared, and honored. My hope is that more people gain the right support to navigate life after loss and we can shift the culture towards being seen rather than silenced.
I work towards cultivating a space that is an antinode to the consent messaging and pressure we face in the outside world to perfect, produce and perform. Someone very smart once described being a therapist as being a translator- Decoding and deciphering. Taking big concepts, making them digestible. Interpreting individuals’ experiences, connecting to our shared humanity. It is not easy to be in our world today, we need community, we are not meant to journey alone.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up as the oldest daughter from an Italian and Middle Eastern family in New Jersey, I was responsible and hardworking. Academically driven, I spent a lot of time reading, learning to cook, and participating in girl scouts. Emotionally mature, I now see I had an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age, starting a babysitting business for the neighborhood. I always loved comedy, especially female comedians on SNL, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig. Making sketch shows with my friends, coming up with characters and jokes, I guess that’s why I still love taking improv classes and being on stage today, making comedy as a form or self-expression and relief.
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