New to Grow
My name is Jennifer and I've been a therapist for 15 years. I specialize in working with relationship and family issues, parenting, narcissistic abuse recovery, codependency, trauma, and complex PTSD. As a veteran with 15 years of military service I have a special passion for working with active military, veterans, and their families. In my free time, I am an avid traveler, hiker, and backpacker. I have a German Shepard who loves to join me in my adventures.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
In our first session, I will greet you with a warm welcome and we will spend some time getting to know each other. I will ask you about your history and we can formulate a plan together to get you on the right track. We will collaboratively create therapy goals to help us both stay accountable for your progress. We will discuss the various therapy modalities I use and explore which might be the best fit for you. By the end of the first session we will have a solid plan that you can feel good about moving forward. I will also leave you with a few skills and strategies to practice before our next session. You may also walk away with some homework, which is always optional.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
I use a combination of somatic therapy, brainspotting, and Internal Family Systems. These approaches are primarily body based and help use understand your inner worlds while simultaneously regulating your nervous system. These approaches often bring more effective results than traditional talk therapy. Because the work we do can be heavy and intense, I enjoy bringing some humor and levity into the therapy space when appropriate to do so. My primary goal for each session is that you leave feeling better than when you came in and have some confidence in the tools I will provide.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
If you are experiencing symptoms of trauma or PTSD and traditional talk therapy has not been effective for you, you're in the right place. I use somatic and neurobiologically based interventions to regulate the nervous system and effectively reduce the impact of symptoms such as anxiety, flashbacks, anger, and hypervigilance. If you struggle in your relationship with your partner/spouse due to childhood trauma and attachment wounds we can work individually or in couples therapy to help improve your relationship. If you are in an emotionally and psychologically abusive relationship or you are unsure about your relationship, I have many years of experience and expertise in helping clients understand what they are experiencing and how to recover from these abusive relationships.
Somatic
I use somatic therapies to help clients connect with their internal resources and regulate their nervous systems as a means of reducing trauma triggers, reducing anxiety and depression, and create a greater sense of well being
Brainspotting
Brainspotting is a means of identifying, processing and releasing core neurophysiological sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, dissociation and a variety of other challenging symptoms. Brainspotting works particularly well with military and first responders.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
I use IFS in combination with somatic work to help clients heal deeply held wounds, often stemming from childhood. IFS helps heal wounded childhood parts while also helping extreme parts that want to act out in ways that are harmful to the client heal and take on more helpful, functional roles in the client's system.
Family Therapy
I use family therapy to help families navigate challenges in their family systems and relationships. We work on healthy communication, effective conflict management, healthy boundaries and clear expectations in family relationships.
Gottman method
I use the Gottman method as the foundation for couples work. This method helps couples overcome destructive habits to their relationships while building new, healthy communication and intimacy.