The Story Behind Kuhltuhveyting Kantshes Kors

I am Dr. Jhanel Davis, CEO, and founder of Kuhltuhveyting Kantshes Kors. I am an Educator, Author, Counselor, and Growth Specialist. It’s been said that experience is the best teacher, and the worse experiences teach the best lessons. While my life has been filled with many lessons my earliest memory of what I considered to be my worse experience at the time came from my childhood. The experience would be getting my hair combed and the title of the lesson…

“Pain is Beauty, & Beauty is Pain”. ~Unknown

My mother taught this saying to me as a coping technique to use while getting my hair brushed, combed, straightened, braided, and the most upsetting of them all washed.  As I would sit down to begin getting my weekly hairdo the tears would begin to fall down my face simply because I knew the process that lied ahead would be a rough one, one that would most likely cause me a lot of pain. I knew combing through those as we used to call it “PEAS” in the kitchen would cause me more pain than I thought I could endure.

In the beginning, I hated saying it because it seemed as though we were never going to get to the ending, and the pain would never stop, but when she made that final part, and greased that final section of my scalp my heart rejoiced knowing that the pain would soon be over.  The saying helped me to realize that even though getting my hair combed was often very painful if I could just make it through the process, find a useful strategy/technique for dealing with the pain, then the ending result could possibly be a beautiful thing. I repeated the saying so frequently, that without even knowing it the phrase became my life purpose affirmation. The English American Dictionary describes the word “affirm” as:  to state that something is true. When applied to the spiritual life, an affirmation is a statement of truth which one aspires to absorb into his life.

Growing up in a Caribbean household with love, strict rules, discipline, and a strong value/belief system there was only one job my mother and father ever sent my siblings and I to apply for, and that was a “good education”. After graduating high school, I pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from none other than Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University better known as FAMU. Attending an HBCU gave me the opportunity to become a part of a much bigger FAMULY.  A FAMULY that consisted of individuals from a variety of racially and ethnically diverse groups around the world all on the same mission “to become successful”. This experience was absolutely mind-blowing. Despite the pain, adversity, trauma, tragedies, sources of stress and traumatic life experiences that many of these individuals experienced they manage to find hope, and believe that beauty still lied ahead.

I later spent about 5 years as a classroom teacher in predominantly inner-city schools as well as internationally in the Middle East. After realizing that my calling was much greater than teaching I went on to peruse a Master’s degree in Guidance & Counseling, from St. Thomas University and my latest but not greatest accomplishments a Doctoral degree in Organizational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. For many years my dream was only to impact the lives of children, however as Fredrick Douglas once said: “it is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”. This statement spoke volumes as most of the issues and problems that these children encountered seemed to stem from the broken women and men that raised them. It was at this time that I realized my calling was much greater.

As an individual who has worked with educating, and counseling ethnically diverse families for the past 10 years, the one thing I find consistent in many of my cases is the lack of knowledge among children, women, and men of color. I’ve encountered so many individuals who simply believe that the unaddressed and unresolved traumatic life events that have hurt them, harmed them, and caused them pain has no effect on their daily functioning and behaviors. Some individuals even harbor this pain for so long that it becomes rooted and grounded in their core. And due to the stigmas regarding counseling, therapy, and healing these individuals have even gone as far as passing on the hurt, and pain to loved ones as well as their offspring’s. While some individuals may have experienced many more life-changing/ traumatic events than others, the experience of pain seemed to be a present element in many of their lives. As I listen to so many people deflect their true feelings and the effects that trauma has caused in their lives, an old scripture comes to mind

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge”

 ~ Hosea 4:6.

While I always knew that I was created with great purpose it wasn’t until about a year ago that I realized my purpose was to spread knowledge to my people, fight the stigma, and provide individuals the opportunity to learn, heal, and grow. Kuhltuhveyting Kantshes Kors is that opportunity.

” PAIN BECAME MY PLATFORM “

~Dr. Davis

It’s time we stop allowing pain and hurt to lie just below our awareness. It is my belief that what happens to us externally; will affect us internally if not addressed Kantshesly (consciously). Therefore, I Dr. Jhanel A. Davis commit to helping women, children, & men dealing with PAIN turn it into BEAUTY, by creating a community of individuals that are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and opportunity needed to heal.