Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamiee Imbrogno.
Hi Jamiee, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Oh boy, the journey has been an interesting one to say the least. I grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio, surrounded by strong, loving women who taught me what true resilience looks like. My mom played both mom and dad, and my grandmother stepped in as a second mother figure. Together, they did everything they could to give my sister and me a sense of stability and love, even when life wasn’t easy.
My biological father wasn’t around. He struggled with addiction and had several children, some of whom I’ve stayed connected with over the years. My mom raised us with so much strength and determination, even as we faced financial hardship and instability. Looking back, I can see how hard she worked to protect us from the reality of her own struggles.
But the truth is, my childhood wasn’t always safe. My mom was in an abusive relationship, and my sister and I endured multiple types of abuse. It’s not easy to share, but it’s part of my story and part of why I do what I do. Those experiences gave me empathy, courage, and a deep desire to help others find healing and safety. They were painful years, but they also planted the seeds of strength that would carry me through every storm that followed.
When I turned 18, I knew I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, even if I didn’t yet know how. At first, I thought teaching was the path, so I went to Bowling Green State University. After a year, I realized my mental health needed attention, so I transferred to Kent State to regroup and rediscover my direction.
During that time, I entered into a relationship with someone that became controlling and abusive. I completely lost myself in that relationship, and it took the unwavering support of my family to help me leave and rebuild my life. That experience, though incredibly painful, became the foundation of my purpose.
I’ll never forget the class that changed everything for me, a sociology course with Dr. Leveto in 2012. She talked about why people do what they do, nature versus nurture, and something inside me just lit up. I changed my major to Sociology and Criminal Justice, and for the first time, I felt like I was stepping into who I was meant to be. I wrote a paper called “Why Women Stay in Abusive Relationships,” which opened the door to my first job at Homesafe, a domestic violence shelter in Ashtabula.
At Homesafe, I started doing intake and later became a legal advocate. I worked with survivors of domestic violence, women whose stories mirrored pieces of my own. It opened my eyes to how much stigma still surrounds trauma and abuse, and it solidified my passion for helping others heal.
After graduating in 2015, I decided to go to law school, thinking I could fight for survivors in the courtroom. But once I was there, I realized my heart wanted something different. I didn’t want to just fight cases, I wanted to help people heal. So, I came back home, regrouped, and chose to pursue social work, where I felt I could truly make an impact.
Grad school was a whole new challenge, balancing my education, my own healing, and life as an adult trying to rebuild her purpose. And then, during that time, life surprised me in the best possible way: I found out I was pregnant with my first daughter. My partner, who has been by my side for over 11 years now and I were overjoyed and terrified all at once. I was chasing a dream while growing a family, and somehow, through the chaos, it all worked out.
Becoming a mom during grad school shaped me in ways I can’t even describe. It taught me grace, patience, and a deeper kind of strength. I learned how to juggle classes, internships, and pregnancy and later, motherhood all while staying true to the vision I had for my future. It wasn’t easy, but it gave everything I was doing a deeper sense of meaning.
After graduation, I worked in hospice care, which gave me a profound appreciation for life and the human spirit. Sitting with people in their most vulnerable moments taught me about grace, compassion, and what it truly means to be present with someone in pain. But I missed the therapy side of things, the deep connection and transformation that happen in the healing process.
Then, just as my career was starting to take off, I was diagnosed with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. Everything stopped. I went from helping others heal to having to fight for my own life. Chemotherapy tested me in every way, mentally, physically, and emotionally, but I came out stronger. I’m now approaching three years in remission, and that experience forever changed the way I see life.
It gave me clarity. It reminded me that life is precious and unpredictable and that I still had more to do. That’s when Cloudbreak Counseling was born. The name symbolizes that moment when the clouds begin to part after a long storm when the light starts breaking through again. That’s what I wanted to bring to others: hope, healing, and the belief that even after the darkest moments, there is always a way forward.
Today, through Cloudbreak Counseling, I specialize in trauma, EMDR therapy, grief and loss, and somatic experiencing. My approach is compassionate and client-centered because I know what it’s like to sit in pain and to slowly rebuild. I want people to know that healing is possible, no matter how broken or lost they feel.
I’m now a proud mom of three beautiful daughters who inspire me every single day. They are my greatest motivation, the reason I strive to model resilience, strength, and self-compassion. I want them to grow up knowing that even when life gets hard, they are capable of incredible things.
My journey hasn’t been easy, but every storm, every loss, every heartbreak, every diagnosis has led me here. Healing isn’t about pretending the storm never happened. It’s about finding the courage to rebuild while the skies are still gray. That’s where true transformation begins
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not a smooth road, but I don’t think it was ever meant to be. Every challenge I’ve faced has shaped who I am, both personally and professionally.
Growing up, life was far from easy. We struggled financially, and there was a lot of instability in my home environment. My mom did her best, but we lived through abuse, and that left lasting emotional scars. As I got older, I found myself repeating some of those same patterns in my own relationships. I experienced abuse again as a young adult, and it really broke me down for a while. I lost my sense of self and had to completely rebuild from the ground up.
Even as I found my footing in my career, life kept testing me. I changed majors, changed schools, and even changed careers before finding my true path in social work. There were times I questioned whether I was strong enough to keep going.
And when I met my partner , who I’ve now been with for over 11 years, that was its own kind of journey. We’ve built a family together, and I’m so grateful for the life we’ve created, but it hasn’t always been easy. We’ve faced our own share of growing pains, communication struggles, and moments when it felt like life was pulling us in different directions. Balancing two people’s healing journeys while raising children and trying to build a future together can be hard. But every challenge we’ve faced has taught us something, about love, patience, forgiveness, and what it really means to grow with someone instead of apart.
And then, just as my career was finally taking off, I was diagnosed with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. Going through chemo and facing my own mortality at a young age was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. It shook everything , my health, my confidence, my sense of stability. But it also gave me perspective. It taught me how precious life is and how important it is to live with purpose, to not take a single day for granted.
Another huge part of my journey has been motherhood. I got pregnant during grad school, and that moment changed everything. Juggling classes, internships, and pregnancy was no small task, but it was one of the most meaningful times of my life. I’m now a mom to three incredible daughters, and they are my greatest motivation. Everything I’ve endured ,the trauma, the setbacks, the rebuilding, I’ve done with them in mind. I want them to see strength, to understand resilience, and to know that even when life feels impossible, you can rise again. They’ve given my story even deeper meaning and have been the driving force behind why I keep pushing forward.
Those experiences allow me to show up authentically for my clients, to sit with them in their pain, and to remind them that healing is possible. I’ve learned that smooth roads don’t build strength, storms do. And while I wouldn’t want to relive them, I know those storms are what allowed me to create something meaningful, both in my life and through my career.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Cloudbreak Counseling Services?
Cloudbreak Counseling was truly born out of both my personal and professional journey. After everything I’ve lived through, from childhood adversity to surviving cancer, I wanted to create a space where people could come to feel seen, safe, and supported through life’s hardest seasons.
At Cloudbreak Counseling, I specialize in trauma therapy, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), grief and loss, and somatic experiencing. These approaches are designed to go beyond talk therapy and really help clients heal on a deeper, body-based level. Trauma often lives not just in our minds but in our bodies and through these modalities, I help people process, release, and rebuild in a way that feels safe and empowering.
What sets Cloudbreak apart is the genuine, human-centered connection we bring to therapy. My work is rooted in empathy and authenticity, there’s no judgment, no hierarchy, just a space where healing is possible at your own pace. I know firsthand what it feels like to sit in that vulnerable place of uncertainty, and I bring that understanding into every session. Clients often tell me they feel truly seen and understood , and that’s the biggest compliment I could ever receive.
I’m also incredibly proud of the environment we’ve built. Whether clients come to us in person or through telehealth, Cloudbreak Counseling is designed to feel warm, calm, and safe, a space where people can exhale and begin to rebuild.
Brand-wise, I’m most proud that Cloudbreak stands for resilience and realness. It’s not about pretending to be perfect; it’s about showing up authentically and doing the work to heal. My goal is that anyone who walks through our doors, or logs into a session, knows they’re not alone, no matter how dark things may feel.
At the end of the day, Cloudbreak Counseling is about guiding people back to themselves, helping them rediscover their strength, reclaim their peace.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
My biggest piece of advice is to trust the process, even when it doesn’t make sense. The path rarely unfolds in a straight line and that’s okay. Some of the hardest moments in my life ended up being the ones that shaped me the most, even though I couldn’t see it at the time. When I was just starting out, I put a lot of pressure on myself to have it all figured out. I thought success meant having a clear plan, but I’ve learned that growth often comes from the detours, the failures, and the times you feel completely lost. Every setback I faced, personally and professionally, was preparing me for what came next.
If you’re just starting out, don’t compare your journey to anyone else’s. Focus on staying authentic to who you are and what drives you. Be willing to pivot, to learn, and to evolve. You don’t have to have it all figured out, you just have to keep showing up.
I also wish I had known how important it is to take care of yourself along the way. Burnout is real, especially in helping professions. You can’t pour from an empty cup, and your own healing and boundaries matter just as much as the work you do for others.
And lastly, believe in yourself , even when it feels like no one else does. There were so many moments where I doubted myself or questioned if I was enough. Looking back now, I wish I had trusted that everything I was going through was leading me exactly where I was meant to be.
Your journey doesn’t have to look perfect to be purposeful. Sometimes the most meaningful paths are the ones that take the longest to find.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cloudbreakcs.org
