About Jessica

I believe that every individual has basic goodness and the ability to grow. My goal as a therapist and somatic experiencing practitioner is to help clients create a better conceptualization of self, others, and life circumstances and to facilitate clients’ cultivation of a deep and lasting friendship with themselves. I do this by offering empathy, unconditional positive regard, being my authentic self, and gently inviting clients to create change in their lives that will result in increased joy and vitality. I aim to improve clients’ attunement to their bodies by offering tools such as relaxation, mindfulness, and breathwork training, as well as welcoming the physical expression of emotion through sound and movement. My work is trauma-informed and seen through the lens of Somatic Experiencing® and polyvagal theory.

I work with women and non-binary folx. My main area of specialization involves working with individuals who are interested in deep personal growth and connecting more fully to their bodies. I believe that the main reason we experience symptoms such as extreme stress, anxiety, and depression is that we have become distracted and/or disconnected from our deepest longings, our spiritual reason for existing. Reconnecting to both our perfect and inherently flawed humanity with gentleness and a sense of humor is the way that the true self can be revealed. I am passionate about providing a gateway for clients to experience this reconnection.

I received my undergraduate training from the University of Alaska in Anchorage in 1996 and obtained my doctorate in clinical psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in Chicago in 2002. I have been in private practice since obtaining my license in 2004.  I lived and worked for nearly a decade in lush, green Pacific Northwest Washington on Semiahmoo land until relocating to the beauty and healing heat of the Arizona desert in 2013, where I presently work and reside on Tohono O’odham land. I remain licensed as a psychologist in both states, providing in-person/online services to clients in Arizona, and online services for those in Washington state. I provide Somatic Experiencing® sessions for clients worldwide. I also use Kathy Kain’s touch work in my practice.

I am deeply committed to living fully in an embodied way. I hold this work so dear because it is responsible for a large part of my own personal and spiritual journey. As I continue to work with and shed my own worn-out stories and life patterns, I hold a strong intention to reside more fully in my body and listen to the soft voice that speaks of my soul’s deep longings.

One of these soul longings is for the liberation of all people. Until all forms of oppression are eradicated, such as racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, queer/transphobia, ableism, classism, misogyny, anti-fatness, and any cruelty coming from a place of our projected shadows, trauma to all sentient beings and harm to our planet will reign. While I have experienced maltreatment based on my gender and ethnic identification, I am also a cis-gendered, able-bodied person who has been offered unfair advantages because of how I appear in this world. I humbly continue to do the ever-imperfect work of unlearning and relearning, with great hope that a better way can be made through an unwavering commitment to do better. No one is free until we are all free.

Warmth,