Hi! I'm Jan, a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist with over 13 years of experience as a therapist. I specialize in helping people work through issues like anxiety and depression in order to better handle their high-stress lives. The issues I treat include anxiety, depression, relationship issues, life transitions, career, and childhood trauma. As with many therapists, I help people with issues that I have also struggled with at some point, so I have some idea what you're going through. I'm here to be the person you can talk to who empathizes with what you're going through, validates your feelings and experiences, and can help you find solutions, all in a nurturing, safe space. Don't think you have time for therapy? I offer telehealth and office hours in the afternoon and evening.
In our first session, we will go over the Intake paperwork you completed and take time to get to know each other. We will also discuss ways you can begin feeling better and the goals you hope to accomplish in therapy. I will use a whole-self approach because many aspects of our lives influence our mental health. I use client-centered therapy techniques because I believe my clients can decide which areas to explore. In other words, you are the expert of your life. I will listen to your story and then help guide you through the areas of your life with which you struggle most. We will use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help with thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, as well as emotionally focused therapy (EFT) to understand emotions and our connections to others. I also utilize solution-focused, attachment, experiential, interpersonal, mind-body, and trauma-informed techniques as needed.
My passion is working with women, young adults, and those in the LGBTQIA+ community because they are often struggling in ways that society fails to understand, and I can relate to those struggles. (As a note to that, I tend not to work with cis-gender, heterosexual men.) My clients are often those who feel alone, sad, or struggling to find their "people." Maybe you feel unhappy but aren't sure what your next steps should be. Or maybe you aren't where you'd hoped to be in life and are ready to figure out what's holding you back. Have you been in a relationship with someone who has degraded your self-esteem or made you feel small or worthless? Another area of expertise I have is helping you understand how you got there and how you can recover from problematic relationships so you can be your strong, confident, self, and feel able to enjoy healthy relationships. I usually see my clients every other week, but we can start with weekly sessions if you prefer. I can serve clients in person in Louisville, Kentucky. I also serve clients throughout Kentucky and Indiana via telehealth, as I am licensed in both states. I adhere to the therapist's mission of having unconditional positive regard for my clients. Your story is your own, and I will validate your feelings, helping you feel heard and appreciated. My clients often tell me they value my ability to connect with them, both with who they are and where they are in their journey. I can be a supportive guide as you go through life, and I can lead you on a path to discover yourself and find your unique purpose.
Working on our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors is often the backbone of many of the ways I help clients.
How you were raised and how your emotional needs were met has a huge impact on how you feel about yourself and how you relate to those closest to you.
I have worked with many people over the years who are working on how their gender identity affects views of themselves and their relationships.
Trauma is different for everyone, and being able to label past experiences as traumatic can help a person figure out how it has affected them and what they can do to move forward in their lives. I believe most people don't give enough credit to how their experiences have affected them, and processing these experiences with a professional therapist can be very liberating.