Meet Jennifer

I have a deep passion for empowering the women I work with to find their inner strength and resilience, and to lead happier and more fulfilling lives. I believe that mental health is a fundamental aspect of overall well-being, and that with the right support and guidance, anyone can achieve it.

I work exclusively with adult women ages 21+ in the state of Oregon or North Carolina via telehealth. I focus on women’s issues including: Depression, anxiety/panic, illness, grief, boundaries, caregiver burn-out, sleep health, self-esteem challenges, self-care/self-love, and mindfulness skills. I have a specialty focus on working with women with higher weight, binge eating, chronic overeating, emotional eating, and body dysmorphia. I also work with pre and post bariatric patients and am a member of the International Association for Eating Disorders Professionals.

I utilize different therapeutic techniques depending on individual needs and best evidence-based practices. I tend to use modalities such as cognitive behavioral, compassion-focused, dialectical behavioral, mindfulness-based, strength-based, solution-focused, motivational, trauma-informed, psychoeducational, and somatic therapies.

Each therapist has a different style of therapy. Just like there are billions of stars in the universe, there are billions of people in the world with different personality types. It is important that you work with a therapist that you “click” with and that you feel you are making progress with. My style of therapy is more directive, meaning we will engage in back and forth conversation, explore your challenges and what is keeping you stuck, and together we will create an action plan for desired change. I do not own the answers to the universe, nor is it my job to tell you how to live your life (if a therapist is currently doing this for you, run away!). Rather, a good directive therapist explores the problem, barriers to fixing the problem, and helps you to find your own answer to the problem by implementing steps you can do outside of a 50 minute therapy session.

Over the years, it has not been unusual for me to see women who have been in therapy for some time who have complaints of, “my therapist never talked, and I never felt that I made any progress except to just talk about my problems”. Listening is a key element of therapy, but so is a conversation. My aim is to help you achieve tangible goals and to see real improvements in your life. This means that at times, I will ask you to do some work outside of our session (whether a worksheet, an activity, a reflection exercise, etc..). That way, we can discuss it in the next session and you can practice the skills you are learning in a real-world setting.

Research suggests that therapeutic activities outside of mental health sessions can be a valuable complement to traditional weekly therapy sessions. While weekly therapy sessions can be an important source of support, guidance, and insight, engaging in therapeutic activities between sessions can help reinforce and extend the progress made in therapy. Additionally, research has also shown that therapeutic activities that are meaningful and enjoyable to you can increase motivation and engagement in therapy, leading to better outcomes. If you are ready to actively work towards resolving the challenges in your life, I just might be the therapist for you!

If you would like to meet for a brief conversation to see how I might be able to support you, please schedule a free 15 minute video consultation to see if we are a good fit. There is no commitment and I will never sell or disclose your personal contact information, nor what we discussed in the consultation. If I feel that we might not be a good fit for each other due to either my expertise not matching your needs, or that another therapist might be more beneficial for you, I will be happy to send you a guide on how to find another therapist.

Please note that I do not work with certain diagnoses that are either outside of my scope of practice, or that I feel require an in-person (versus telehealth) therapeutic approach.

Some diagnoses are challenging to treat via telehealth and deserve an in-person therapeutic setting for optimal outcomes. In my experience, these include Neurodevelopmental Disorders (such as Autism), Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Dissociative Disorders, Impulse-Control Disorders (such as ODD or IED), Neurocognitive Disorders, and certain personality disorders (such as BPD). If you are seeking support related to these mental health diagnoses I would recommend working with a therapist who specializes in theses areas and who might be able to offer you in-person appointments.