Jean Holland, LCSW, PhD

Therapy approach
A relationship between you and your therapist is a primary ingredient fostering meaningful change and personal growth. My approach is warm, open, and empathic. I listen deeply and engage actively as is helpful. My goal is to create a space where you feel safe to be your authentic self, free from judgment. You decide whether this is a comfortable setting for you to grow.

I am a psychotherapist (LCSW) with a PhD and advanced training from a four-year psychotherapy institute. While I have had the privilege of working with individuals across the lifespan, a majority of my clients have been college age through young career adults. They come from diverse cultural, gender, ethnic, religious, and spiritual backgrounds. I have supported them through challenges such as anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, often related to issues of this age group: life transitions, family issues, career decisions, dating, parenting, identity, and loss. I draw from a psychodynamic perspective to understand your unique story, while incorporating therapeutic approaches that seem to us to be most helpful for you.

Therapy focus
I see therapy as a journey we take together. You bring your unique situation and goals. I provide travel skills based on having taken journeys with others. I have never, however, been to your desired destination. You determine the direction and duration of therapy; only you can decide what to focus on and when you feel ready to move forward. While present-day concerns may be paramount, exploring your past can provide valuable insight into your current situation. I interact with you to ensure I understand what you are saying and to help you more fully express your thoughts and feelings. I use a variety of techniques to assist in therapy including role play, homework, journaling, naming aspects of the self, labeling thoughts that are helpful or not to increase your skills in desired areas and decrease those that prevent progress to your goal. All feelings including tears, anger, joy, and laughter can be part of our work together.

Communication style
I like a relaxed atmosphere that allows us to communicate easily. I am curious. I like to listen. I like to smile but I am also serious. I reflect back to you what I think you are telling me, ask some questions to ensure that I more fully understand what you are saying, encourage you to delve deeper, and wonder with you about when your goals and your actions do not seem aligned. I get to know you not only by what you say but by feelings that may emanate from you. I am comfortable with a broad range of feelings. I support strength and empowerment. I encourage you to let me know what interaction with me is helpful to you and what is not helpful. My goal is to offer a compassionate, thoughtful space where you feel heard and supported.

Therapy Goals
My goal for you is that you can live fully in the present, understand aspects of your past as they impact the present, and move forward on a path that is best for you. You can let go of people, situations and thought patterns that are not helpful. You can seek and find people and situations that will support you. You can find satisfaction in life and laughter even though everything will not be perfect and parts of life could remain difficult.

Our first session
After an initial conversation to help us get to know each other, our work together begins. You share the concerns that brought you to therapy, current life situations, and relevant history. I seek to understand what you are telling me as you begin to develop goals for therapy. You let me know how I could be most helpful to you. We begin to explore avenues to your goals and how to measure the progress you seek. This conversation expands over sessions as you feel more comfortable in therapy and as aspects of your life become clearer to you. At the end of this initial session, you can assess whether we could work well together.