Stephen Javaruski (Mental Health Coach)

Stephen Javaruski is the owner of Mastery Mindset, a mental health coaching business for high-level executives and entrepreneurs.

The son of parents who were originally from Staten Island, Javaruski grew up in a middle-class home in Clearwater, Florida.

As a kid, Javaruski played a lot of sports, but when he got to high school, things changed.

“I was a late bloomer physically, so while everyone else was getting bigger and stronger, I wasn’t,” Javaruski mentions.

Considering that his father was 6-3, many assumed Javaruski would also be tall, and eventually his growth spurt did indeed happen, but by then Javaruski wasn’t interested in playing organized sports.

Instead, he had developed an affinity for video games, and he didn’t venture outside as often as he once did.

Consequently, his social skills didn’t fully mature.

“If I was in a space where I knew a lot of people, then I was very outgoing, but otherwise there were times where I felt anxious and self-conscious if I wasn’t in a comfortable environment,” Javaruski contextualizes.

Entranced by the allure of the NFL-endorsed Madden franchise, Javaruski may not have evolved into a social butterfly, and even though he logged many hours online learning the nuances of virtual professional football, his time was not wasted.

Over time, he became very skilled in the Madden video game series, to the point where his name graced the top of national online leaderboards.

He was even invited by EA Sports, the company who created Madden, to participate in national tournaments.

“I got really good at Madden because I played online a lot, but then I also supplemented that by consuming a lot of streams and content online,” Javaruski says.  

“In many ways, I fully immersed myself in the world of Madden because it just kept paying dividends, and I felt like I was part of a community. I really loved that aspect of playing video games.”

In a span of roughly eight years, Javaruski cultivated relationships with fellow gamers both online and in person.

In that sense, Javaruski’s life was fulfilling, but like a running back stuffed at the line of scrimmage, one day his life was upended.

In August of 2018, Javaruski was attending a Madden tournament in nearby Jacksonville, when suddenly a harrowing sequence of events transpired.

After steamrolling an opponent and advancing to the round of 32, Javaruski’s joy quickly turned to panic when he, along with many other guests, heard consecutive gunshots blare through the venue.

“As soon as the shots went off, everyone scattered like cockroaches under a flashlight,” Javaruski recalls.

“It was pure pandemonium.”

Javaruski and thirty other attendees scampered to a nearby bathroom and waited for help to arrive.

“I was calling 911. I texted my girlfriend and my parents and told them that I loved them because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Javaruski says.

Fortunately for Javaruski and the other people hidden in the bathroom, eventually the sound of ringing gunshots dissipated and the police arrived to secure the scene, but by then an armed gunman, who reportedly was afflicted with mental health issues, had killed several individuals before ultimately taking his own life.

Two of Javaruski’s friends were caught in the malaise and did not survive, and another was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

“I just remember hugging one of my fellow competitors, but I, like many other people, struggled to process what was going on,” Javaruski shares.

Complicating matters, everyone in Javaruski’s network was inundating him with calls and texts, frantically trying to make sure that the Clearwater native was okay.

“It was like everyone from my entire life was calling and texting me at the exact same time,” Javaruski says.  

“They all knew me as the Madden guy, and whenever there was an event, they just naturally assumed I was there, so I’m sure them seeing what was happening on TV made them worried.”

After the tragedy, Javaruski slowly began to reengage with reality.

At the time of the incident, he was enrolled in graduate school at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where he was pursuing a Master’s Degree in Counselor Education.

Weeks and then months passed, but understandably so, Javaruski had a difficult time moving on from the catastrophe.

“It’s ironic because I was going to school to learn how to be a counselor, but soon I became the person who needed heavy, intensive counseling,” Javaruski notes.

“I was learning how to be a patient as well as how to be a counselor, and so, even though my life was kind of derailed for the next few years, it taught me some valuable lessons and enabled me to experience counseling, both from the perspective of the patient, as well as the person sitting across from them.”

Over time, Javaruski completed his schooling before later procuring employment in the Orlando public school system as a counselor, a role he has maintained for the last four years.

Javaruski says he still enjoys helping students navigate the inherent challenges that come with getting older, but awhile back, Javaruski also wanted to use his counseling skills and knowledge to have a larger impact on society.  

“I felt like there was more that I could offer people beyond the work that I was doing in the public school system,” explains Javaruski, who shortly after feeling beckoned by a higher calling, created a mental health coaching business, Mastery Mindset, to help professionals and entrepreneurs effectively manage their emotions.

For context, Javaruski is not a licensed therapist, nor does he advertise himself as one.

Rather, his goal with his mental health coaching business is to be a source of emotional relief and fulfillment for those who may not feel they have an outlet to discuss their issues.

“I have a Master’s Degree in Counselor Education from UCF, as well as knowledge as it relates to mental health, but I want to emphasize that I’m not acting as a licensed therapist,” Javaruski states.

“For people who have been through severe trauma that would warrant licensed medical evaluations and treatments, I’m not the ideal fit. My focus is more on helping men, especially high-level executives and professionals.”

According to Javaruski, he assists his clients with maximizing their productivity, finding clarity that leads to decreased levels of anxiety and stress, as well as identity development.

“In short, I help people deal with their issues in a healthy manner,” Javaruski says.

Perhaps more importantly, he is not just a sounding board for his clients.

Every day, Javaruski equips his clients with uniquely tailored advice that, once implemented, can produce tangible results.

“With the clients I have now, I’m proactively working with them to deliver strategies that will help them achieve their desired outcome,” the Orlando resident says.

Unlike other forms of coaching or mentorship, Javaruski proactively accompanies his clients through a 12-week program designed to help them find clarity quickly.

With this program, Javaruski insists that he doesn’t want to keep clients in-house in perpetuity.

In fact, he wants his clients to get better and become self-sustainable much quicker than traditional methods typically allow.

“My work serves a litany of purposes. It’s obviously a less clinical form of counseling, and that’s by design,” Javaruski says.

“I think too often in mental health there is an emphasis placed on keeping people in treatment for long periods of time, and so what I want to do is expedite that process, but also offer the same amount of value, because that’s how I believe my clients will actually get better, and then be able to thrive.”

As for the future, ideally in the next five years Javaruski will have established a solid client base so that his business can become a self-sufficient entity.

Accomplishing this would also allow him to no longer need to work in the public school system.

“Right now, I’m only able to fully commit myself to 5-10 clients, but if I can get to the point where I have more than 10 consistent clients, then I could devote more of my efforts to the business,” he explains.  

“That being said, ultimately the goal is to help as many guys as possible and become a trusted resource for professionals who are stuck and don’t know how to properly contextualize where they are at in their life, and where they want to be.” QS

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