Jennie Hicks, LMFT
Holistic & Integrative Psychotherapy
Integrating Depth-Oriented,
Relational,
Mindfulness-Based,
Expressive Arts, &
Somatic (mind-body oriented) Psychotherapy,
which is Trauma-Informed
& Nervous System Informed,
to support the Mind, Body, & Spirit
Holistic & Integrative
Psychotherapy
"Who looks outside, dreams;
who looks inside,
awakens."
- Carl Jung
About
Welcome, I'm so glad you're here.
I have deep respect for the courage it can take to begin the journey towards therapy. Whatever you may be experiencing or feeling in life which has brought you here, know that all of you is welcome here.
I am a holistic & integrative psychotherapist, meaning that my approach to psychotherapy weaves together various therapeutic modalities to meet the individual needs of my clients, and to support the fullness of who we are - honoring the mind, body, and spirit in healing. My therapeutic style is warm, engaged, intuitive, and collaborative, with deep compassion and a non-judgmental awareness guiding all of my work.
I currently offer holistic psychotherapy services for individual adults and adolescents through my private psychotherapy practice. I also work with a wonderful non-profit called Mind to Mindful & Mindfulness Associates, which offers mindfulness-based psychotherapy services for MediCal clients, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I am a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT), based in Berkeley, California. I serve clients in California primarily through online therapy, in addition to a few in-person spots available. I have over 13 years of experience providing therapy to people of diverse backgrounds, lifestyles, and ages. My practice is inclusive and diverse, welcoming to people of all backgrounds, identities, and cultures.
It is a deep honor for me to do this work. My own journey of navigating life's challenges and healing from trauma, led me to the path of becoming a psychotherapist. The invaluable support of having a therapist on my own healing journey, inspired me to want to focus my life on supporting others in their unique journeys towards inner growth and healing. I aim to create a safe and welcoming space where people feel truly understood, seen, and cared for, can learn to befriend all parts of themselves with compassion, gain insight and self-awareness, and invite opportunities for true healing, growth, and discovering one's innate wholeness and inner wisdom.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there"
- Rumi
Approach
I received a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology, with a specialization in Expressive Arts Therapy, from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), in 2011. Through my studies at CIIS and throughout my clinical training afterwards, I developed a holistic person-centered approach to therapy which allows me to guide clients on their own unique journey of growth and healing, honoring the wisdom of the mind, body, and spirit in an integrated way. My therapeutic orientation is rooted in teachings from Humanistic, Transpersonal, and Psychodynamic traditions, while also integrating traditional talk therapy with the use of mindfulness practices, somatic (body oriented) awareness, somatic practices for calming the nervous system and processing trauma, breathwork, self-compassion, guided imagery, parts-work, and the expressive arts (visual art, poetry, music, movement, drama, and sandtray) when appropriate, and if a client is interested, to deepen the healing process.
My work is further informed by training in Gestalt (a body-centered experiential therapy utilizing present-moment awareness), Hakomi (a mindfulness-based somatic therapy), inner-child work, Buddhist Psychology, Jungian depth psychology and dreamwork, as well as many evidence based approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-Based CBT, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Somatic Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts-work, and other contemporary trauma-informed and nervous system informed theories.
Years of meditation and yoga practice also deeply influences my work, as I strongly believe in the healing power of compassion for oneself and others, loving-kindness, mindfulness, equanimity, embodied awareness, breath practices, and integrating the mind, body, and spirit to enhance one's life. I was first introduced to mindfulness and vipassana meditation at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, when I was a young child, and these transformative practices have continued to be an important part of my life and inform my therapeutic work.
My Approach is...
Collaborative & Client-Centered: I believe that you are the expert of your own experience, and that you hold inherent wisdom within you. I listen to and follow what you want to focus and work on within our sessions, and trust the wisdom in how our work organically unfolds. I am collaborative in reflecting on and engaging with your experience, and guiding you towards insight, growth, and your innate potential for healing and wholeness.
Relational: Informed by attachment theory and neuroscience, I believe that some of the deepest healing happens in relationship with another. Experiencing a therapeutic relationship where one feels truly understood, seen, attuned to, and accepted in a non-judgmental way, can lead to transformative healing. It can heal relational wounds for parts of us that haven’t experienced being related to in that way before, and helps us experience an embodied sense of safety and unconditional positive regard that allows us to feel safe enough to step into our full selves. The therapeutic relationship also provides us with insightful information about opportunities for growth and healing.
Depth-Oriented: Our lived experience and relationships, from childhood until now, all inform who we are and how we engage with the world. I work with you to make conscious parts of your experience that may be outside of your awareness, bringing light to parts of the self that may be unconscious, to better understand how your past may be impacting your present day challenges and sense of self. Through deepening insight you can meet your experience with greater compassion, and may discover new ways of relating to yourself and others.
Mindfulness-Based: Bringing mindful awareness to your present moment experience of emotion, sensation, and thought, can provide great insight and teach us new ways of relating to ourselves and our lived experience. As we talk I may guide you into deepening awareness of what you feel in your body and the emotional realm, and invite you to meet whatever is present with curiosity and non-judgement.
Somatic (body oriented): "Somatic" simply means "of the body" and "the living body known from within", originating from the Greek word "soma." Somatic approaches are experiential, which means that we use the body as a guide in our experience of mind/body healing. One of the greatest gateways towards healing and wellbeing, is the innate wisdom of your body. Somatic Psychotherapy is grounded in the understanding that emotional, mental, and spiritual health is inseparable from the wellbeing of the body. Our body and mind are interconnected, and our body holds and is impacted by our emotions, beliefs, and experiences. As a leading trauma expert states "the body keeps the score," which is especially true with how the body is impacted by stress and trauma. Somatic Psychotherapy approaches are powerful for working with trauma, chronic stress, and healing the nervous system. Supporting us in shifting from survival states and trauma responses, to internal resourcing, grounding, and regulation, to feel a sense of inner calm, inner security and trust, and empowered resilience. My work is informed by training in various somatic therapeutic approaches such as Gestalt, Hakomi, Somatic Experiencing, Polyvagal Theory, vagus nerve toning, breathwork and mindfulness for embodied healing.
Experience
Through many years working at a non-profit assisting women and children survivors of domestic violence, I developed a strong belief in the use of art as a healing tool and the resilient nature of the human spirit to overcome life's most difficult challenges. This work instilled within me a deep sensitivity to the profound effects of trauma on people's lives, and evoked within me a great appreciation for the healing power of creative expression to help people rediscover a sense of hope, empowerment, inner strength, and possibility for the future. When certain life experiences can not be conveyed or processed by words alone, the use of creative expression can open new doors to deeper understanding of the self and what is possible.
After receiving my Masters in Counseling Psychology from CIIS, my clinical experience at various non-profits and community mental health organizations continued to shape my therapuetic orientation. The Center for Creative Growth trained me in John Bradshaw's approach to working with the inner-child to heal past wounds and the way we relate to ourselves and the world, introduced me to hypnotherapy techniques, and deepend my training in gestalt therapy and expressive arts therapy. My clinical experience at Earth Circles Counseling Center in Oakland, CA, furthered my training in a broad range of holistic and traditional therapeutic orientations, and increased my experience in providing trauma-informed care to a diverse cross-cultural low-income population.
My experience working as a school counselor/therapist with Bay Area Community Resources (BACR), strengthened my skills in providing comprehensive individual, family, and group counseling to students in kindgergarden through 8th grade. In addition to providing counseling, I provided crisis-management and risk-assessment as needed, engaged in collateral work with teachers, parents/guardians, resource specialists, school psychologists, social workers, and principals, assisted in IEP/SST/504 Plan/Restorative Justice meetings, and collaborated with teachers to provide social-emotional curriculum to increase pro-social skills, address bullying, and create a positive school environment to foster children’s strengths.
I am passionate about continuing to deepen my therapeutic skills through engaging in ongoing workshops & trainings. Some of the trainings and workshops that have inspired me and inform my work have been...
- Clinical Trauma Professional Certification: EMDR, CBT, & Somatic-Based Interventions to Move Clients from Surviving to Thriving (Arielle Schwartz, Ph.D.)
- How the Body Keeps the Score: Intensive Trauma Treatment (Dr. Bessel van der Kolk)
- Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Transformational Approaches to Treating Complex Trauma (Janina Fisher, Ph.D.)
- Working with Complex Trauma: Untangling Somatic Wounds (Peter Levine, Ph.D. & Dr Diane Poole Heller)
- Internal Family Systems Therapy: A Step-by-Step Guide Through Clinical Applications of the IFS Model (Frank Anderson, MD)
- Putting Polyvagal Theory into Practice: Nervous-system based Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, & Trauma (Deb Dana, LCSW)
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression (Marty Cooper, LMFT)
- Essential Hakomi Training (Hakomi Institute)
- Buddhist Psychology (workshop at Spirit Rock with Jack Kornfield, Ph. D.)
- Trauma & Mindfulness Meditation: Somatic Mindfulness Training (workshop at Spirit Rock with Sharda Rogell & Sakti Rose)
- The Power of Awareness (7 week mindfulness training with Tara Brach, Ph.D. & Jack Kornfield, Ph.D.)
- Ecotherapy Workshop (Ariana Candell, LMFT with the Earthbody Institute)
- EcoSattva Training (a brave & tender confrontation with our social and ecological reality, integrating dharma and trauma-informed practices to relieve ecological distress individually and collectively, through One Earth Sangha)
I have a deep love for nature, hiking, backpacking, caring for our earth, and I'm inspired by Ecotherapy. I believe in the healing qualities of nature, and how time spent in nature and evoking nature imagery and symbolism within therapy, can soothe our body and mind and reflect our innate potential for growth, healing, and transformation. I am also passionate about supporting people through grief regarding our changing climate and exploring ways to inspire environmental activism. I consider myself an ally, and am deeply committed to social justice, anti-racism, and environmental activism, and see these all as important parts of individual and collective healing for humanity and our earth. I am also a mother, and am deeply passionate about supporting new parents through the transformative journey of parenthood, especially providing mental health support to women before birth and postpartum (as well as all birthing bodies, however one identifies).
Through much of my life I have been inspired by the wisdom of Eastern philosophy. I am immensely grateful for the profound wisdom and teachings of many Buddhist teachers who have inspired me on my life path, such as Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Pema Chodron, Thich Nhat Hanh, The Dalai Lama, Anam Thubten, Lama Tsultrim Allione, Suzuki-roshi, Sharon Salzberg, Mark Coleman, and Joanna Macy. Traveling in India, Nepal, Tibet, Laos, Thailand, and Japan, offered me many wonderful opportunities to practice in local temples and learn more about the wisdom held within various forms of Buddhism, such as Zen, Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, and Tibetan Buddhism. I am also deeply grateful for the wisdom of many Indigenous cultures, traditions, teachers, healers, shamans, and the profound healing of plant medicine and energy work from various parts of the world. I received an undergraduate degree in World Arts & Cultures, and believe that there is so much that we can learn from the various worldviews, traditions, experiences, and knowledge of cultures all across our world.
I bring warmth, compassion, sensitivity, mindfulness, and creativity to my work. I am interested in working with the full range of issues each individual brings to therapy, in addition to having a special interest in working with mindfulness, self-acceptance, self-compassion, spiritual exploration, self-growth, life transitions, anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and loss, identity exploration, and the role of creativity in the healing process.
"You may not see it now,
but this very difficulty will strengthen you. Your heart will grow wiser,
your spirit stronger.
You already know this.
You can begin to see the ways
that this is true."
- Jack Kornfield
Mindfulness
Mindfulness begins with learning to focus our attention on the present moment, bringing our awareness to the physical senses of our bodies, minds, and emotions, purposely with kind curiosity and without judgment. This practice teaches us to approach our personal experiences, especially distressing experiences, with a gentleness and open-mindedness which encourages curiosity and non-judgment. Cultivating this kind of compassionate awareness invites a more spacious, relaxed, and insightful attitude towards even our most distressing thoughts and feelings. We learn to cultivate awareness and non-judgmental curiosity of our experience, to see things as they are, without trying to push them away, change them, or cling to them. Such freedom from old patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving creates a powerful opportunity to make new empowering choices with how we relate to ourselves, others, and the world. Mindful presence can invite us to inquire "What is happening inside me right now? And can I be with this with care?"
Alleviating Stress
Although we often have little control over the causes of stress in our lives, we can cultivate an intention of meeting these events with mindful awareness. We can learn to mindfully respond vs react. With mindfulness as our guide, we can learn to increase awareness of our experience, and replace old habitual patterns with more compassionate and insightful responses to support our wellbeing.
Mindfulness has the potential to:
• Transform the way you relate to difficult and stressful moments in your life
• Support you in cultivating a habit of awareness, acceptance, and allowance of your experience
• Support you in meeting your experience with compassion, non-judgement, open-mindedness, and non-identification
• Help you rediscover how to be in the present moment
• Teach you simple methods to address fear thoughts, discomfort in the body, and self-judgment
• Free yourself from old patterns that get in the way of your happiness in the here-and-now
Mindful Self-Compassion
Mindful self-compassion is the foundation of emotional healing—being aware in the present moment when we're struggling with feelings of inadequacy, despair, confusion, and other forms of stress (cultivating mindfulness) and responding with kindness and understanding (cultivating self-compassion). Mindful self-compassion also means holding difficult emotions—fear, anger, sadness, shame and self-doubt—and ourselves, in loving awareness, leading to greater ease and well-being in our daily lives. Mindful self-compassion can be learned by anyone. It’s the practice of repeatedly evoking good will toward ourselves especially when we’re suffering—cultivating the same desire that all living beings have to live happily and free from suffering. And as the Dalai Lama says, self-compassion is the first step toward compassion for others.
"This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness
some momentary awarness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice
meet them at the door laughing
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond."
- Rumi
"Art washes away from the soul the dust of
everyday life."
- Pablo Picasso
Expressive Arts Therapy
Expressive Arts Therapy is a form of therapy that uses visual arts, music, writing, movement, ritual, imagery, sandtray, drama, and other creative tools to support healing. In sessions, if one is open and interested, we can use various creative tools along with traditional forms of therapy, to help you better express what can not be expressed with words alone. It is always your choice if you would like to try it or not. It can be full of playfulness, curiosity, emotional release, and healing. The arts can illuminate insight and deepen self-discovery, as they bridge the gap between the conscious and the unconscious mind. It can bring light to areas of therapy that are blocked, inhibited, and stuck, as well as bring greater focus to areas of concern. The arts can also be a supportive way to process trauma, as they allow us to connect with the non-verbal, visual, and sensory aspects of our experience gradually, which increases a sense of safety, healing, and empowerment.
The primary focus is on the process of creating and expression of one's inner experience, rather than the product created. This allows a person to discover new insight and meaning that might not be achieved with traditional talk therapy on its own. Several modalities available within expressive arts can magnify and deepen the process of therapy. No artistic experience is needed, which can be liberating and even fun! Appropriate for all ages, it can enhance a person’s emotional, spiritual, cognitive, and physical well-being.
The psyche speaks not only with words but images, movement, stories, music, poetry. Cultures all over the world have known this, and traditionally turned towards creative expression and the arts to evoke insight and healing. Expressive arts therapy intentionally uses the arts to further a person’s emotional growth and psychological integration. Expressive arts therapy harnesses and awakens the energy of creative intelligence within us. Within everyone is an inner well of creativity, the creative impulse that lives within all of life, and its expression is natural and supports our wellbeing. This expression can provide an essential element in our overall health and healing, as well as support integration of mind, body, and spirit.
“Expressive art therapy integrates all of the arts in a safe, non-judgmental setting to facilitate personal growth and healing. To use the arts expressively means going into our inner realms to discover feelings and to express them through visual art, movement, sound, writing or drama. This process fosters release, self-understanding, insight and awakens creativity and transpersonal states of consciousness.”
- Natalie Roger
“The task of therapy is not to eliminate suffering but to give a voice to it, to find a form in which it can be expressed. Expression is itself transformation; this is the message that art brings. The therapist then would be an artist of the soul, working with sufferers to enable them to find the proper container for their pain, the form in which it would be embodied.”
- Stephen K. Levine
creative expression is healing
Reconnecting
body,
mind,
& spirit
Let's Connect
I am currently offering online psychotherapy sessions to individuals residing anywhere in California, with a few in-person spots available in Berkeley, CA.
To set up a session, please call or email me. I offer an initial 15-minute complimentary phone consultation, for people who are interested in booking a session with me. This offers an opportunity for you to share a bit about what you're looking to explore in therapy, and for us to discuss how I can be of support.
I look forward to hearing from you
Jennie Hicks, LMFT
(pronouns: she/her)
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist #104006
email: jennie.mindfultherapy@gmail.com
phone: (510) 984-3244
Anam Cara Therapy Center
2915 Martin Luther King Jr Way
Berkeley, CA