Jess Firestone

Who I am as a Therapist

I delight in supporting kids, teens, adults, and couples who have overlapping and different identities and experiences from me. I believe that growth and healing happen when you are seen, supported, and cared for no matter how you feel or what is happening in your life. I love listening to you and helping you hear your own wisdom about the challenges you’re facing. Sometimes it’s helpful to hear me reframe the way you’re thinking that may come from being too hard on yourself. I can help you develop confidence in your ability to ride the waves of emotion that can be overwhelming. It is beautiful and painful to be a human and I want you to know you’re not alone. I use a strength-based approach, helping you re-write stories about yourself and your relationships. While we work together, we can do art, go for walks outside, or play with toys. That goes for kids and adults!

I see therapeutic change through the lens of attachment- strengthening the attachment we feel to ourselves, the people we care about, or nature can change how confident we feel sharing our authentic selves and trying new things. I often use Narrative Therapy, which seeks to shift the way we see things by examining and revising the stories we tell ourselves that may be unconscious or patterned from the home and societal cultures where we grow up. When processing painful events, using a post-traumatic growth framework can help us accept the things that happened that were out of our control or were the best we could do at the time with what understanding and resources we had. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be helpful in describing the connection between our thoughts, feelings, and actions, and using our core values to guide us in directions we want to grow. Internal Family Systems asserts that all the parts of us are trying to help us in some way, often by trying to protect us from pain or discomfort, and that when we accept all the parts of ourselves, we can access our wise selves that know what we need. Emotionally Focused Therapy is an approach I appreciate for its focus on identifying sensitive spots that come up in our relationships and how to identify and interrupt the conflict cycles we find ourselves replaying.

Before becoming a therapist, I worked in schools for almost 20 years. All that time in school communities prepared me to help you navigate issues you may be having as a current student, as an educator, or as an adult processing things that happened when you were younger. I am deeply familiar with the ways school systems can cause harm or fail to offer the support you need, especially for BIPOC, queer, and neurodiverse people. I am passionate about helping you identify and advocate for what you need.

Specialty Areas

Therapeutic Approaches 

• Attachment Based Therapy
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Creative Arts Based Interventions
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
• Ecotherapy
• Emotionally Focused Therapy
• Flash Technique
• Internal Family Systems (IFS)
• Mindfulness
• Motivational Interviewing (MI)
• Narrative Therapy
• Play Therapy
• Solution-Focused Therapy

Training & Experience  

• Past career as a bilingual teacher and school counselor
• Experience leading arts-based anxiety groups
• Experience supporting LGBTQ+ youth and their families