Currently out
11/20/2019-12/10/2019
Jennifer J.D. Villena, M.A.
Associate Marriage Family & Expressive Arts Therapist
Your Mental Health Matters
Specializing in Person-Centered Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy & Mindfulness
To Empower Individuals, Couples, & Teens
Welcome
Do you find you compare yourself to others?
Do you listen to the self-critic saying you are not enough?
Do you feel lost and alone in this confusion and get bogged down by "what if's" that lead you nowhere?
Do you always need to be prepared and in control of everything?
I work with adults, couples & teens affected by everyday anxiety and stress; who strive toward unattainable perfection based on influences by societal standards. In our work together I will support you to face the defenses of self-judgment, loneliness, fear, weakness, and embarrassment and start the emotional navigation process. We sort through the confusion, explore the root of your issues, begin to shed the doubt and empower you towards self-love and acceptance.
My style is down-to-earth, warm, easy going and playful; I strongly feel fun and laughter is vital in daily doses.
My therapeutic goals:
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To create a secure and safe place
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Build a collaborative therapeutic process in self-reflection and exploration.
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Connect with others and provide sensitivity to mental health concerns, taking into account, societal, family, and peer influences and pressures involving a client.
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To provide a non-judgemental and supportive environment.
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Promote the acceptance of mistakes and help to view failure as a step toward change.
Approaches
Person-Centered Approach - Rogerian Therapy
The person-centered approach was founded by Carl Rogers (1940). The client is the pilot and therapist is the co-pilot and together they build trust, where the client can feel secure and safe to share feelings, thoughts, and explore emotions without judgment.
The Necessary Factors of a therapist in a Person-Centered approach are:
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Therapist Congruence of Genuineness – The therapist does not have a façade
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Therapist Provides “Unconditional Positive Regard – UPR”
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Empathy
Expressive Arts Therapy
Creative interventions allow the therapy process to deepen and cultivate therapeutic resources towards healing.
Levine and Levine (2005) shared, “If expressive arts therapy is to have any integrity, it must be thought in its term, not by relying on other ground. This requires a faith in the power of imagination to confront suffering which can only live in therapeutic practice.”
Creative Modalities Offered:
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movement and dance
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drawing, painting, clay, and other art-making
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rituals to process grief and past healing trauma
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collage and vision board
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guided meditation
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sand tray
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writing and poetry
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play therapy
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drama therapy
You do not need to be an artist to use expressive arts therapies it is used to purely to help expand the process.
Mindfulness
Mindful approaches can cultivate awareness and help combat stress, and positively impacts expressive arts therapy, helping to calm, maintain focus, and improve awareness.
Mindful Modalities Offered:
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yoga
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meditation
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breathwork
Talk and Walk
Therapy outside the office setting
Research shows that exercise and nature reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. Walk and talk sessions take place outside, at your pace, and can be especially helpful for working through transitions, "stuckness", or severe stress or trauma.