about jen
-
Seattle University
M.A. Clinical Psychology, Existential Phenomenology (2023)University of Washington
Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (2009)Lewis and Clark College
M.A.T. Multicultural Education (1994)University of Michigan
B.A. History (1990)I completed my clinical internship in a community mental health setting on Capitol Hill in Seattle, working with adults from diverse cultural backgrounds and life contexts — including those navigating food, housing, and care insecurity, substance dependence, mental illness, and incarceration. Alongside an interdisciplinary team, I trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Motivational Interviewing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Solution-Focused Therapy, and collaborative, harm-reduction approaches to substance use.
My training spans contemplative and somatic practices informed by recent research and theoretical work in relational neurobiology, Buddhist and Existential-Phenomenological Psychologies, and Narrative and sociocultural and systems theories and therapies. Above all, my approach is integrative, practical, and strengths-based, drawing upon these currents of thought as well as the practices and tools informed by them. Learn more about my approach to therapy here.
A commitment to freedom, democracy, and social justice runs throughout my career as an educator and therapist. I directed teaching programs and taught interdisciplinary courses on education as a liberatory practice at Brown University and the University of Washington, and continue to design curricula that foster critical thinking, empathetic dialogue, and creative expression in my current role at Seattle University in the psychology department.
Alongside my therapy practice, I teach undergraduate psychology at Seattle University — courses in writing and research methods, Theoretical Foundations of Family Systems, Relationships and Intimacy, and a senior seminar on embodied approaches to healing, drawing on psychological lineages beyond the Western European frame.
-
Licensed by the State of Washington, License #MC61437685
MA in Existential and Phenomenological Psychology, Seattle University
Narrative Therapy Training, Vancouver School for Narrative Therapy
Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate
Certificate: Buddhist Psychology — Integrating Mindfulness, Science, and Clinical Practice, with Matthew Brensilver, MSW, PhD, Spirit Rock
Internal Family Systems from the Inside Out Certificate
Attachment Theory Trainings: Emotionally Focused Therapy, Lifespan Integration, and Decolonized Attachment Theory with Linda Thai
Additional training: Polyvagal Theory, Embodied Beyond Inclusion, Motivational Interviewing, Suicide and Trauma-Focused CBT
Certificate: Missing Pieces of Attachment Theory: A Decolonized Approach
-
a bit about me
I came to psychotherapy after three decades of teaching and learning alongside young children, youth, families, and educators — in environmental education centers in Maine and Colorado, and in schools, universities, and community settings across in San Francisco, Rhode Island, and the Pacific Northwest.
That work, rooted in a passion for what helps whole, complex humans thrive, laid the foundation for how I practice therapy today. My approach to therapy, a continuation and a deepening commitment to supporting human dignity through being witnessed, is shaped by an anti-oppression lens, and a gender-affirming, non-binary view of human connection.
Coming into fuller self-expression allows us to access more of ourselves for ourselves, our relationships, and in our wider world. In my view this process is our most courageous work and I believe this is why we are here. In my own life, in times of crisis, grief, or struggle, therapy has been all of these things and more.
I see therapist and client alike as bringing expertise to the room — each of us the expert on our own life. My role is to support your listening to your own inner wisdom, expand your story, and reconnect with the values that matter most to you. It’s also my work to attend to how power operates in the therapy space — my interest and commitment is to support your agency and voice, aligned in your values, to live a life rooted in what matters most to you.
I'm a parent, partner, daughter, sister, runner, and gardener. I'm happiest outdoors — gathered around a fire, in the mountains, or with my hands in the dirt.
I love learning and am always engaged in it in some way — I enjoy getting to know others and bring curiosity to my place in the wider world. I bring and receive immense joy from stewarding and sharing a garden-farm with my family of humans, dog, two cats, chickens, and others, human and non-human alike, who currently reside on one-acre of land.
Ethical Commitments
I hold myself accountable for all aspects of my ethical commitments, including how my identities show up in our work together and my understanding of how privilege and power move through me, whether or not I recognize it in the moment. I work hard to create a safe and trusting therapeutic relationship with my clients that welcomes and invites ongoing conversation and feedback about any aspect of our work, including difference, power, and privilege.
Taking a sociocultural systems approach to my work means that I view all beings as “nested” within familial, historical, cultural, and sociopolitical contexts (e.g. intergenerational trauma, politics, race and ethnicity, religion, social class, sexual orientation, gender, generation, disability). Along these lines, some aspects of my identities include walking through the world in a white body, born and raised as a middle-class cis-gendered woman in the midwestern United States with access to a high level of formal education.
I believe working across race and other social differences can be healing — while recognizing that the way we relate to each other can also reinforce oppressions. I hold this tension with humility, accountability, ongoing inner work and self-inquiry as well as learning in consultation with licensed colleagues who share my overarching commitments and values.
I also engage in regular professional development to deepen my professional values and the ethics established by APA Code of Ethics and Washington State licensing standards (RCW 18.83, 18.130, and WAC 308-122). I am an active member in two local, in person professional communities, the Shelterwood Collective and Generative Healing Arts, which support my growth in the multidisciplinary field mental health.
I'm bound by law and professional ethics to protect your right to confidential communication about your involvement in counseling. Everything discussed in our sessions is strictly confidential. You, however, have no obligation to keep anything confidential — you're free to discuss your therapy with anyone you choose. Your participation in therapy, the content of our sessions, and any information you provide to me is protected by legal confidentiality, subject to certain legal limits — including my role as a mandated reporter in cases of suspected child abuse or neglect (RCW 26.44) or suspected abuse or neglect of vulnerable adults (RCW 74.34).
We'll review all rights and responsibilities together when we first meet, outlined in the Disclosure form we both sign.
If you have any concerns about your treatment, please talk with me directly. If I don't resolve them to your satisfaction, you may file a complaint with the Department of Health, Washington State Examining Board of Psychology, PO Box 47868, Olympia, WA 98504, (253) 753-2147, or with the Ethics Committee of the Washington State Psychological Association at (206) 363-9772.
"Our relationships live in the space between us, which is sacred.
— Martin Buber