“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

-Carl Jung

Hi, I’m Jen.

I’m really glad you found your way here.

By the time you found me, you’ve probably tried numerous books, courses, and tips from experts on Instagram to shift things with your child. While it’s wonderful that resources are so accessible these days, what I see happen most often is that parents feel even more defeated when those popular but generic resources don’t work for their kid and their family. The popular resources don’t work because they’re not individualized recommendations designed to fit your child, your family, and you as a parent.

I specialize in providing therapy for parents who want to shift challenges with their children. Overall, our goal is to reduce stress and create more joy and connection so that it’s easier to weather the storms of parenting when they do come up. How we go about accomplishing that goal is dependent upon you, your child, your family, and the challenges you’d like to work on. You can read more under How I Can Help to learn about some of the specific challenges I support parents with.

My approach is simple:

  • We explore your experiences as a parent and how you were parented when you were little.

  • We seek to understand what need your child is communicating because all behavior is communication.

  • Using what we learn about you and your child, we find strategies that work for both of you to fill your child’s emotional cup around the expressed need so the challenging behavior becomes unnecessary and you know how to support you child when you see the behavior again in the future.

It’s also important to know that an essential part of my practice is grounded in honoring diversity and prioritizing social justice. I value working with people from all races and ethnicities, abilities, genders, sexualities, and beliefs regarding religion. I strive to have the eyes and ears to see and hear the inequalities of the world, and the heart to make change. My intention is for you to walk away from each encounter knowing that you are welcome here, and you are valued here.

Approach

While our work is tailored to meet your strengths and needs, and the strengths and needs of your family, my work is grounded in a few approaches.

  • I have over 20 years of experience working with children, including a degree in education. I offer parents clear information on what is developmentally appropriate. Through play therapy training, I'm able to offer insight into a child's perspective and how they may be making sense of the world, making it easier for us to know where to start when addressing a challenge.

  • Attachment theory is a theory that explores the impact of our earliest relationships with our caregivers. In attachment theory, we're concerned with the quality of attachment and we're working for secure attachment, meaning that a person feels safe, seen, and soothed most of the time. Attachment theory is an essential part of how we understand what you bring to parenting and what your child's experience might be with you as a parent.

  • I know that's a mouthful to say- it's actually quite fun to say out loud truthfully, but what it means is the study of how the brain grows and changes based on our relationships and interactions with others. This concept is the answer to how therapy works, so I'm always focused on how I'm present with you as much as I'm focused on what we're working on, because how I show up with you has an impact on your brain. We use this concept to not only reshape your child's brain for more safety, joy, and connection, but also to restructure your brain, too.

  • We all have an autonomic nervous system (ANS) and it connects the brain to many of the major organs in the body. It's the system that sends us into fight, flight, freeze when we don't feel safe, and the system that helps us relax when we do feel safe.

    What we know about the nervous system is that the more we feel safe, the easier and more enjoyable life is, so we will certainly work on increasing the regulation of your ANS and your child's!

My clients describe me as…

warm, present, validating, effusive, straightforward and clear, creative, and genuine. I often use imagery and metaphor to bring theoretical concepts to life in therapy, and I am skilled at taking big, nebulous concepts and turning them into concrete action steps. If this sounds like a good fit for what you’re looking for in therapy, let’s connect!

Background & Training

  • Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Vermont

  • Master’s degree in Social Work, clinical concentration

  • Bachelor’s degree in Music Education

  • Former Elementary General Music Teacher in Fairfax County, Virginia

  • Former United States Navy musician

  • Various play therapy trainings

  • Somatic Experiencing Practitioner certification in progress

  • Theraplay Level I

  • Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Level I

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