About
Welcome to TouchingTrees.
Learn about our experience and approach.
TouchingTrees Approach
My practice and services are focused on helping individuals, couples, and families learn to manage stress from relationships. Some of the most stressful times, of course, are when a divorce or separation is going on, so that is often how I enter into someone's life. My involvement can include individual therapy, couples therapy, Discernment Counseling, decoupling counseling, and coaching.
My approach includes looking at the ways you are feeling "stuck" through emotional, physical, and financial attachments to a stressful relationship. From there, we work together to understand how you got to where you are, why you are motivated to change now, and how you can achieve your personal goals. Those goals may include goals related to parenting, to partnering, or to growing into a more authentic identity.
I use strategies from Internal Family Systems, systems theory, and structural theory, as well as values integration and vulnerability exploration. Sometimes the best vehicle for growth is a trusting relationship with a therapist, and I strive to provide that to every one of the people I work with.
First Sessions
Our first meeting or two is a great way for you to share as many thoughts and feelings as you want. The more I can learn from you, the better I can tailor your therapeutic experience to meet your needs. I'll be taking lots of notes during these sessions!
Next Visits
Depending on your needs, we will work together to figure out the patterns that are getting (or keeping) you stuck. We will also work together to create a plan to make the most of our time together. I want you to feel so much better after participating in therapy, and understanding and changing patterns and cycles is a great way to do that.
Therapeutic Orientation
I believe that the client's needs determine the type of therapy we do together. Generally, I like to integrate any number of theories and strategies into my work with you. I'm always learning, too, so don't be surprised if I share with you some book or concept I just discovered if I think it would be a help to you.
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Jenni's Experience & Focus
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy, Argosy University
Recipient of a Lilly Endowment Fellowship to Indiana University for Secondary Education
B.A. in English Composition, DePauw University
Jenni specializes in post-divorce issues related to emotional, physical, and financial attachment, as well as decoupling counseling. She is trained in Prepare/Enrich, Discernment Counseling, Mediation, and Parenting Consulting.
* Author of Outsmart Your High-Stress Divorce
* Presenter of Outsmart Your High-Conflict Relationship
* Author/Presenter of "Divorce, Everlasting" to Minnesota Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (MAMFT)
* Experience providing therapy to young adults with developmental disabilities, as well as their families
* Author of Child Less Parent, Basement Daisies, Fence Pumpkins, Serotiny, and Cape of Leaves
Jenni's Experience & Focus
Pronouns: She/her
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy, Argosy University
Recipient of a Lilly Endowment Fellowship to Indiana University
for Secondary Education
B.A. in English Composition, DePauw University
Jenni specializes in post-divorce issues related to emotional, physical, and financial attachment, as well as decoupling counseling. She is trained in Prepare/Enrich, Discernment Counseling, Mediation, and Parenting Consulting.
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Author of Outsmart Your High-Stress Divorce
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Presenter of Outsmart Your High-Conflict Relationship
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Author/Presenter of "Divorce, Everlasting" to Minnesota Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (MAMFT)
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Experience providing therapy to young adults with developmental disabilities, as well as their families
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Author of Child Less Parent, Basement Daisies, Fence Pumpkins, Serotiny, and Cape of Leaves
What is EFT Tapping?
EFT Tapping is a somatic approach to processing negative emotions and situations. Tapping "is a practical self-help method that involves using the fingers to gently tap on the body's acupuncture points along the meridian lines of Chinese medicine. It is often referred to as 'EFT Tapping' or simply as 'Tapping'. " Tapping can be used as a form of self-care or through Practitioner-Assisted EFT.
In Practitioner-Assisted EFT, a practitioner helps a client "tap into" their unique subjective experience of a presenting challenge (or troubling issue) for the purpose of gaining clarity and resolution. This supports the client in making changes (emotional and/or physical), shifting limited thought processes, resolving past traumas, opening to beneficial ways to move forward and more."
Source: https://eftinternational.org/discover-eft-tapping/what-is-eft-tapping/
Leslie's Experience & Focus
Pronouns: She/her
Mental Health Practitioner pursuing licensure in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Certified EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Tapping Practitioner and Coach through EFT International; Trained in Matrix Reimprinting.
M.A. in Counseling, specialty in Marriage, Couples, and Family Counseling
from Adler Graduate School
M.A. in Landscape Architecture from University of Minnesota
B.A. in History with Honors from University of Oregon
Leslie specializes in working with couples and individuals (teens-adults) on improving their relationships with themselves and others, as well as with individuals working through burnout, stress, and anxiety. She employs a holistic wellness approach to her work, exploring the intersections of mental health and lifestyle.
She enjoys incorporating EFT tapping, expressive arts, nature-based practices, and mindfulness into her therapeutic work. Her primary counseling modalities include Adlerian psychology, Internal Family Systems Therapy, Emotionally-Focused Couples Therapy, and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.
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Completed the High Conflict Relationships Certifications to support clients in navigating high conflict relationships.
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Copresenter of "Integrating Cultural Humility and Nonviolent Communication Strategies in Conversations about the Climate Crisis" to the Minnesota Chapter of the American College Personnel Association (MNACPA), March 2023.
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Copresenter of "More Than a Mother: An Ecological Systems Perspective on Motherhood and Identity" to the Minnesota Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, October 2021.
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Coauthor of "Cross-Cultural Design in Landscape Architecture: Working with Marginalized Communities in Rural India," EDRA52, 2021.
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Presenter/Author of "Translating Historical Water Wisdom to Contemporary Challenges" to WaterSmart Innovations, 2018.
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Background in environmental design, research and advocacy.
Services
Relational therapy for couples and families
Discernment counseling and Decoupling
Individual therapy
EFT Tapping Coaching