Jennie is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist at Family Matters Of Marin being supervised by Sarah Foxfire, LMFT. She received her BA in Environmental Studies and Art from the University of California at Santa Barbara, a BFA in Illustration from Art Center College of Design, and her Masters in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute.

Prior to her graduate degree, Jennie developed programs and led workshops and retreats in the field of therapeutic arts, working with private groups, organizations, and individuals as a coach, educator, and facilitator. Her passion is working with individuals and families through a psychodynamic, humanistic, and strengths-based lens. For the past two years Jennie has worked as a high school counselor in the Wellness Department with adolescents and parents to develop greater harmony and communication at school and at home. She has a passion for helping children, adolescents, and families to understand one another, and to work together more harmoniously. Jennie was also the lead for a school-based Maker-Tinker program with youth in grades K-8 to develop skills in communication, collaboration, and creative problem-solving. Jennie is very comfortable and has a gift for being able to make creative connections with children and adolescents of all ages.  Her experience as an illustrator, along with extensive training as a SoulCollage facilitator are the foundation for using creative arts in therapeutic and transformational ways with clients.

Jennie has clinical experience working with grief and loss, life transitions, trauma, depression, anxiety, substance use, truancy and oppositional issues, divorce, parenting, learning differences, children/adolescents on the spectrum, gender fluidity, self esteem, emotional regulation, stress management, and developing and cultivating resilience. Jennie has experience working effectively with other providers to develop a network of care for clients who need more intensive support. She has been an integral part of strategic meetings for clients interfacing with wraparound and adjunct services.

Jennie’s own healing journey began as an adolescent when she discovered wilderness experience and art process as ways to cultivate insight and deep connection to one’s inner and outer landscapes. She trained in ecotherapy and became a leader of wilderness quests and rite of passage journeys for young people. Her graduate thesis, Blessed Unrest: Revisioning the Brilliance of Adolescence through the Lens of Depth Psychology, explores the profound importance of adolescents’ discovering meaning and purpose in this vital time of uncertainty and possibility. She holds a passionate belief that in times of transition, at any age, creative interventions supported by a Depth Psychological approach can help to build resilience, autonomy, self-awareness, and connection.

Jennie works with clients to create a meaningful, collaborative therapeutic experience through a kind, non-judgmental orientation that nurtures the unique potential of each individual. The words of poet Hafiz guide her work as a therapist: “I wish I could show you, when you are in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.”  A Marin native who raised two healthy, soulful, now young adult daughters, Jennie lives in West Marin. She loves exploring trails, traveling, cooking, listening to podcasts, and making things.