“The most rewarding part of my work is helping young people navigate life’s struggles with a sense of purpose and meaning–being able to help you find direction during challenging times while exploring how your thoughts, emotions and behavior patterns serve you and impact daily life and relationships. Are they working for you in creating a life worth living? If they aren’t, I want to assist in equipping you with tools to better support your long-term goals and mental wellbeing. My ultimate goal is to help you manage life’s complexities and gain new insights toward emotional growth. We may not love our emotions, but there is a reason why they’re showing up. I will work with you to understand and respect why they’re there, while finding better ways to cope through life’s discomforts.”
Jenna believes in providing a comfortable space where her adolescent and young adult clients can feel heard and understood. She is passionate about creating an environment where you can find a balance between acceptance and change, and she provides educational and therapeutic techniques to help you master skills of distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness. Jenna’s approach with her clients is honest and direct, with a good balance of humor and compassion.
Jenna incorporates a variety of evidence-based treatment modalities including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (MBCT), Motivational Interviewing, and Solution-Focused techniques. She has completed extensive training and continuing education in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), specializing in issues of Borderline Personality Disorder and self-harming behaviors.
Jenna’s hope is that her clients can gain valuable insights into their own thoughts, emotions, behaviors and experiences while developing effective coping strategies and enhancing interpersonal skills for communication and healthy boundaries in relationships. Her clinical focus is working with adolescents and young adults, treating depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, adjustment disorders, stress management, and teen issues/life transitions.
Jenna is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She earned both her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Master of Social Work degree from Grand Valley State University. She worked for several years at a hospital on an inpatient mental health unit. She has been with Pine Rest since 2015.