About Jill
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Finding the right person to support your personal growth takes time. Thank you for taking the time to read this and consider your options. I am a wellness practitioner working with the intersections of wellness, intuition, and creativity. I provide support that utilizes creative problem solving and intuition to promote balance in wellness. I listen to your narrative and support you in finding your own wisdom. I believe you already have what you need to make the changes you desire. I seek to provide a safe, comforting place for all clients and have a specialization working with grief and life transitions. Many of my clients are working through transitions of some sort or are in search of a sense of belonging or renewal. I work with a wide range of age groups and many of my clients identify as creative types, outsiders, LGBTQ2+, mixed-heritage, or immigrants with cross-cultural identities. I am not here to help you "get over" something but rather move through and beyond what isn't serving your wellness. I work with expressive arts and storytelling to empower clients by utilizing creativity to resource that which supports your wellness. The process depends on the individual and may include talking, drawing, meditation, intention setting, music, or poetry. |
Photo: Kristin Cofer
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Why Expressive Arts and Wellness?
I am trained as and Expressive Arts Therapist however my experience as an artist, curator & activist, was where I came to understand the power of creativity as an emotional AND logical asset. This understanding led to higher education in the arts and humanities, eventually discovering the field of expressive arts therapy. My goal as a wellness practitioner is to support the creative process of living, while managing the various grief responses experienced through loss of past experience, including those of our Ancestors.
My practice is continually growing and deepening. What began as a desire to support those in a grief process grew into a holistic practice where grief is part of the larger picture. This growth began from my personal healing process and expanded upon working clinically with death and dying. For me, grief comes from loss of any type (interpersonal, existential, or physical), and is ultimately a relational separation resulting in an experience of unbalance or disharmony. My intention is to utilize creativity to be with the disruption of grief while working to regain balance.
Traditional psychotherapy is often hard to access due to high fees and can promote oppression or a sense of lacking, such as placing emphasis on pathology or negating cultural rites. More so, talk therapy can be limiting regardless of accessibility or cultural congruence because it can negate the wisdom of the Earth, body, intuition, and creativity. I seek to decolonize the therapy world by offering lifestyle-coaching as a collaborative opportunity to get creative about how to navigate change, while discovering new modes of problem solving and coping skills to meet personal goals at affordable rates.
Our Work Together
My approach starts with collaboration on the intention of our work together. From there we begin to create awareness, access your strengths, and discover or redefine your gifts, followed by getting curious about the barriers or patterns that dim your light or dilute your flow. This is something I believe we are naturally drawn to and can be accessed through creativity, spirituality, and Earth connection. In my experience I have felt and witnessed the imbalance that stress and stressful societal norms produce. While I cannot change the way society fuels toxic stressful messages and lifestyles, I can help you deconstruct these messages and reconnect to your Truth. My practice is ultimately an offering to help clients reconnect the ways they experience distance and discover creative ways to manage stress. While I have the training and credentials to diagnose and treat mental illness, I am not working with this model of treatment, and I encourage those seeking that type of care to consider if my approach is a fit for your needs.
Experience and Credentials
I hold an MA in Counseling Psychology with emphasis on the Expressive Arts from the California Institute of Integral Studies. I am a Licensed MFT with the state of California, as well as a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist through the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA). I have also completed 360 hours of training in Personal Energetics Management and have over 5 years of experience working with grief and trauma.
Since 2007 I have worked with artists in a variety of roles from managing studio spaces to providing workshops. In 2013, I began training as a grief counselor and worked as a school based clinician, leading me to work in community mental health as a therapist supporting Urban Native American youth and their families. As a part time therapist working with a high level of trauma that mirrored my own experiences, I sought to divide my time between mental health and lifestyle coaching to aid in my own wellbeing and grow my gifts. I began offering wellness consultations as an integration of my education in psychology and training with personal energetics management.
I am an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and grew up in the Detroit suburbs. I lived and worked in Oakland, California for 15 years. I recently relocated to Kalamazoo, Michigan where I continue my practice remotely from home. I also have the honor of teaching in the Expressive Arts Department at the California Institute of Integral Studies for the low residency program.
I am trained as and Expressive Arts Therapist however my experience as an artist, curator & activist, was where I came to understand the power of creativity as an emotional AND logical asset. This understanding led to higher education in the arts and humanities, eventually discovering the field of expressive arts therapy. My goal as a wellness practitioner is to support the creative process of living, while managing the various grief responses experienced through loss of past experience, including those of our Ancestors.
My practice is continually growing and deepening. What began as a desire to support those in a grief process grew into a holistic practice where grief is part of the larger picture. This growth began from my personal healing process and expanded upon working clinically with death and dying. For me, grief comes from loss of any type (interpersonal, existential, or physical), and is ultimately a relational separation resulting in an experience of unbalance or disharmony. My intention is to utilize creativity to be with the disruption of grief while working to regain balance.
Traditional psychotherapy is often hard to access due to high fees and can promote oppression or a sense of lacking, such as placing emphasis on pathology or negating cultural rites. More so, talk therapy can be limiting regardless of accessibility or cultural congruence because it can negate the wisdom of the Earth, body, intuition, and creativity. I seek to decolonize the therapy world by offering lifestyle-coaching as a collaborative opportunity to get creative about how to navigate change, while discovering new modes of problem solving and coping skills to meet personal goals at affordable rates.
Our Work Together
My approach starts with collaboration on the intention of our work together. From there we begin to create awareness, access your strengths, and discover or redefine your gifts, followed by getting curious about the barriers or patterns that dim your light or dilute your flow. This is something I believe we are naturally drawn to and can be accessed through creativity, spirituality, and Earth connection. In my experience I have felt and witnessed the imbalance that stress and stressful societal norms produce. While I cannot change the way society fuels toxic stressful messages and lifestyles, I can help you deconstruct these messages and reconnect to your Truth. My practice is ultimately an offering to help clients reconnect the ways they experience distance and discover creative ways to manage stress. While I have the training and credentials to diagnose and treat mental illness, I am not working with this model of treatment, and I encourage those seeking that type of care to consider if my approach is a fit for your needs.
Experience and Credentials
I hold an MA in Counseling Psychology with emphasis on the Expressive Arts from the California Institute of Integral Studies. I am a Licensed MFT with the state of California, as well as a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist through the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA). I have also completed 360 hours of training in Personal Energetics Management and have over 5 years of experience working with grief and trauma.
Since 2007 I have worked with artists in a variety of roles from managing studio spaces to providing workshops. In 2013, I began training as a grief counselor and worked as a school based clinician, leading me to work in community mental health as a therapist supporting Urban Native American youth and their families. As a part time therapist working with a high level of trauma that mirrored my own experiences, I sought to divide my time between mental health and lifestyle coaching to aid in my own wellbeing and grow my gifts. I began offering wellness consultations as an integration of my education in psychology and training with personal energetics management.
I am an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and grew up in the Detroit suburbs. I lived and worked in Oakland, California for 15 years. I recently relocated to Kalamazoo, Michigan where I continue my practice remotely from home. I also have the honor of teaching in the Expressive Arts Department at the California Institute of Integral Studies for the low residency program.