Welcome to my practice! With over 20 years experience as a clinical psychologist, educator, and speaker, my goal is to help clients maximize their potential and surpass their own expectations, with the ultimate goal of enhancing a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives. Treatment in my office typically includes solution-focused, cognitive behavioral strategies and neurobiological interventions using both the power of the mind and body to transform unwanted symptoms into habits that promote happiness, strength, and better performance.  Many clients are surprised to learn that modern psychological treatment rarely involves "advice giving" or just endlessly "talking about problems".  While talking can be very helpful in identifying goals, tracking progress, and processing important emotional material, it is often even more powerful to build skill for identifying and using the information that the body holds for reducing symptoms and promoting growth.  Clients are assited in setting their own goals, tracking their progress, and trouble-shooting any roadblocks that arise along the way. 

Although I employ traditional cognitive/behavioral methods, the majority of my clients are adults seeking an emerging neurobiological treatment commonly referred to as "Brainspotting" or "Slow-Wave EMDR" (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).  I am a certified Brainspotting therapist. Brainspotting is powerful, effective treatment for performance related issues for athletes following an injury, stage anxiety for performers, and for common diagnosis such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, relationship and sexuality issues, and work-related stress. Brainspotting uses the body's own information to process deeply held traumatic emotional material gently and often more completely than traditional "talking" therapy. (See www.rockymountainbrainspottinginstitute.com for more information about this treatment)  Recently, I completed a year long training with The Integrative Psychiatry Institute in Boulder, CO, in conjunction with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) to become a Certified Psychedelic Therapist.  While traditional psychedelics are not yet FDA approved for licensed mental health treatment in Ohio, I do provide Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) in partnership with Journey Clinical, Inc., an online Ketamine provider.  With certification from The International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in the area of workplace violence, I also treat workplace trauma using the well reserarched protocol known as Critical Incident Stress Debriefing and Management.  Prior to becoming a psychologist, I started my professional life as a music teacher in Lakewood City Schools where I employed specialized training in mind/body related musical instruction using the Orff and Kodaly' methods of teaching.  Later, I became a human sexuality educator for the Consortium For Health Education in Appalacian Ohio at the Ohio University Heritage School of Medicine where I provided instruction for adults and children in the appalachian community and worked with medical students to enhance their psychosocial skills as they relate to human sexulaity.  I have publications in the areas of human sexuality and physician wellness. 

On a personal note, I have been married for 38 years to Dr. Kenneth Jacobs, D.O., an emergency physician and integrative medicine specialist and am the mother of two grown daughters.