Jessica Wilkerson, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #104464
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Jessica is Inspired Life Counseling's owner and clinical supervisor. She is fully trained in EMDR for trauma and EFT (Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy).
Hello! It's a big step to start looking up therapists, and I'm honored to potentially get to work together. I am constantly finding a new niche and specialty so I can continue to grow as a therapist and provide deeper and more well-rounded healing experiences for my clients. Here's a little about where I've been professionally so you can determine if we'd be a good fit. "Fit" is just as important as skill and intellect. In the early days of my career I specialized in early childhood behaviors and parenting. I was trained through the University of Queensland (remotely, in Redding, I didn't travel to Australia) in the modality called Triple P or The Positive Parenting Program. I worked only with families in their homes for three years and was able to help initiate some really amazing changes for children and parents. Then, in 2014 I was trained through EMDRIA for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprossessing (EMDR). I've been providing several sessions a day, most days of the week ever since. I knew this was effective, but I had no idea how incredibly powerful EMDR would be for my clients! It's so effective on big traumas, but it's equally as beautiful on current daily stressors like marriage conflict, work drama, and issues with your kids. EMDR is a game-changer for most people who try it (not everyone, but a good percentage). More recently, in 2019 I began my journey with ICEEFT learning and implementing EFT & EFIT. Emotionally Focused Therapy is often known by people who have read the book "Hold Me Tight" by Sue Johnson. It's an attachment based model in which each member of the relationship heals wounds from before and during their time together through trust, communication, and taking big risks with vulnerability. There's a lot of crying in these sessions, but most people feel safer to cry in the therapist's office than they do at home, so it's to be expected. EFIT is the newest branch of Emotionally Focused Therapy in which I use many of the same tenets as EFT, but it's one-on-one between my client and me rather than in a couples setting. My client processes their pain through experiencial exercises in which they go within themselves to their implicit pain and memories, and bring that pain forward into the present moment becoming explicit in the room and opened up for healing. Within and between all those different trainings and types of therapy I've grown skills that fit well with teenagers and young adults. I've taken classes and gone to workshops on such a variety of topics that I bring a well-rounded perspective along with my warm demeanor. I genuinely embody the phrase: "human first, therapist second." You get me as me, but you also get all the years I've thrown myself passionately into the field of psychotherapy. Casual dress and speech, but with my mind always whirring in the background to help you move through what brought you into my room in the first place. On a personal note: I love my little blended family! I have an adult son who attends Cal Maritime Academy studing international business and marine logistics (he's a smartie!) and two little ones who are still in daycare. My hobbies are trying to squeeze in naps, constantly keeping up on housework, and taking my family on little adventures in the North State. We love to take daytrips to the Bay Area to see big brother, or drive up to Redding to visit friends and have a change of scene for the playground options. We keep thinking we're done camping and we'll become hotel or cabin people, but then every summer we whip out the ol' tent that's obrusively too large and spend a week at the coast or Lake Siskiyou. I feel pretty lucky to help people sort through what's heavy on their hearts during the day and then go home to my husband and kids. It wasn't always this way... that's why I have the blended family and second run at parenting. I truly understand heartache, stress, hope and healing. I have a unique perspective from working in the corporate arena with a business degree as a single parent over to juggling owning my own business while navigating marriage and children. I bring those perspectives with me while helping to understand what my client has been experiencing and what's holding them back. The easist way to set an appointment with me is calling the general office line - I'm hard to reach for that first appointment because I take so much time with my existing clients. It's a flaw I have that's not great for business, but bare with me, because when you are my client you truly have my full focus and first priority. (530) 809-1702 jwilkerson@inspiredlifechico.com |