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About Jess

I’m a licensed clinical social worker with expertise in trauma-informed and evidence-based psychotherapies for adults, families and children. I've also trained in several legal psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy models and I'm currently working as a study therapist in research using MDMA, psilocybin, and LSD.

I believe authentic relationships can be good medicine and that intergenerational cycles of trauma can be interrupted and healed. Issues of power, privilege, and systemic oppression are important and welcome in the therapy room. I aspire to anti-racist and culturally curious practice as a therapist. I identify as white, female, queer, Latina, spiritually-oriented, and able-bodied. I was raised Catholic and as a native speaker of Spanish and English.

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I graduated from Wesleyan University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and concentration in Latin-American Studies and from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017 with a Master’s in Social Work.

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From 2017-2022, I worked at a community mental health center within PennMedicine as a clinician and eventually a supervisor and program manager in the PHIICAPS program. PHIICAPS provides community-based, intensive, and brief attachment-oriented and trauma-focused family therapy, crisis support, and case management services to families where a child/youth has experienced psychiatric hospitalization or other out-of-home placement. 

I'm certified in TF-CBT (trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy), EMDR (eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy), and priCARE (Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement). I've also taken intro courses in IFS (Internal Family Systems), MI (motivational interviewing), ABFT (attachment-based family therapy), CBT (cognitive-behavioral therapy), exposure therapy for anxiety disorders (based on CBT Unified Protocol), Hakomi mindfulness based somatic therapy, and SE (somatic experiencing). I trained in KAP (ketamine-assisted psychotherapy) with Polaris Insight Center and am certified in the EMBARK psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy model with Cybin. I've completed training, supervision, and certification as an MDMA-assisted therapist with MAPS. I'm licensed in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland.

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Daily meditation and yoga practices have shaped my life for over a decade. I completed a yoga teacher training (RYT-200) with Three Sisters Yoga in 2011 as well as a variety of certifications in teaching yoga in schools, with adolescents and adults experiencing homelessness, and incarcerated individuals. I have also completed several meditation retreats (vipassana in S.E. Goenka lineage 10-day and 3-day; tantric yoga meditation in Ananda Seva lineage at Dharmalaya in Eugene, Oregon, and others) but my main practice is the Shambhala Tibetan buddhist approach for Westerners taught by Pema Chödrön.

I'm looking forward to meeting you.

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