Therapy for Women in Midlife
You do not have to go through the chaos of perimenopause and menopause alone. Your experience is valid and you deserve support.
Hi, I’m Jen.
I’m a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Washington, and I have a passion in supporting women in midlife who are also experiencing perimenopause and menopause. I strongly value curiosity and exploration and believe that we all deserve a loving and compassionate space, free of judgment, to explore our selves, our feelings, our wounds, and our dreams. I am committed to creating neurodivergent and LGBTQIA affirming spaces.
Therapy in Midlife
Seeking support for emotional well-being, physical symptoms, relationship changes, life transitions, loss of confidence or clarity at this time is common and valid. I provide a safe and supportive space to navigate your journey, while making room for your resilience, grief, anger and joy. Stress, anxiety, mood swings and burnout can also be common experiences. Considering this period as a time of transformation, albeit begrudgingly perhaps, discussing identity shifts, and reimagining the second half of life are some examples of work we may do together.
While sources vary, perimenopause can last from 2 years to over a decade, and menopause signifies the cessation of your period for 12 consecutive months. That is a long time to feel the emotional rollercoaster and physical symptoms connected to the slowing and eventual end of your ovaries former mission in life. Even in the post-menopausal period you can feel the emotional and physiological symptoms connected to decreasing estrogen and other hormones. Seeking support is a sign of strength and 100% valid at this time of transformation and change.
What’s Therapy Like?
While painful, the wounds that bring you into therapy can also hold openings into your most beautiful parts.
As your therapist, I am an ally and guide on your journey to better understand your wounds and create a life that brings you the most internal joy and satisfaction. I strive to create a safe and nurturing environment that allows you to consider all facets of yourself, your relationship with others, and your surroundings. From those findings, together we examine what your needs are and how to meet them.
I work using a client-centered and relational therapeutic style, occasionally offering supportive mind-body focused activities. This means that the pace and style of our work is uniquely tailored to you, and I consider you to be the expert on yourself. Because I work relationally, it’s my goal that we develop a genuine relationship where we can safely have difficult conversations, have and resolve conflicts, and you feel comfortable experiencing vulnerability and a wide range of emotions from joy to pain.
Therapy can create a reparative relational experience that brings you more self-understanding and helps you function with resilience and self-love in your interconnected world. We work together to identify, examine, and at times dismantle the systems you live within. Creative arts and mind-body interventions can bypass automatic behavioral and emotional reflexes to difficult situations or painful feelings. By engaging your more intuitive right brain instead of the more analytical left brain and cultivating a mindful relationship with your body, you can identify and develop new personal strengths and ways of being and reacting.
Asking for help is a vulnerable first step. Ultimately, the goal of therapy is to make you feel better about yourself and your life. While the journey can be a tough one with ups and downs, the payoff is often great. It’s my honor to journey with you.
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