Jen Clifton, B.S.

Jen is a counseling intern obtaining her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology at Arizona State University. Jen holds a B.S. in Communication and M.A. in Professional Writing from Kennesaw State University in Georgia and a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction (Community Literacies) from Arizona State University. With more than 15 years of experience—first as a middle school teacher, then teacher educator and community-based researcher, and now in the field of counseling—Jen works with youth and adults to make meaning and carve out next steps in the face of important and sometimes difficult, even intractable, life experiences.

Her therapeutic approach is holistic and person-centered, respectful of the concerns that bring a person to counseling and attentive to the individual as a whole person—with unique interests, concerns, desires, and needs and embedded in complex personal histories, relationships, communities, and institutions.

Jen’s approach, focused on openness, connection, pragmatics, and meaning making, is rooted in:

• existential psychology, which pays attention to the anxieties and uncertainties fundamental to being human—including how a person makes sense of their unique place in the world, and how they navigate in their own way societal, cultural, familial, and individual expectations to build a particular kind of life and become a particular kind of person;

• relational psychodynamics, which recognizes that we develop a sense of ourselves in relationship; that we learn what is possible or not, good or not in relationship; are harmed in relationship; and are changed, healed, and renewed through relationship; and

• cognitive behavioral therapies that examine defeatist beliefs, develop helpful practices for emotional regulation and interpersonal relationships, and support a person trying out new practices and behaviors to reduce psychological difficulties and cultivate an increased capacity to love, work, and play in ways that they value and find worthwhile.

Jen works best with youth and adults curious about underlying issues and interested in trying new mindsets, practices, and behaviors that have the capacity to reduce psychological distress and increase overall well-being. Jen has worked with folks experiencing distress related to depression, anxiety, anger issues, institutional betrayal, sexual trauma, intergenerational trauma, religious trauma, sex-related concerns, shame, grief, estrangement, sexual identity, resettlement, meaningful work, and major life transitions.

Jen provides services out of the Gilbert office, which is close to Queen Creek, Mesa, Tempe, and Chandler.