Jennifer Paras (she/her)

Coming from a diverse multicultural background, I have dealt with my own personal experiences as well as in helping clients who have suffered from racial discrimination in their workplace and/or bullying due their ethnicity. Working with diverse client populations have helped me improve my ability to empathize even more after learning more about their cultural intergenerational oppression their parent's or relatives had to face which then in turn, had an effect on their upbringing.

I have experience working with male and women Veterans who have been exposed to sexual and or combat trauma. I have three years experience with working with such population with the Veteran Affairs and is well informed and have extensive knowledge on posttraumatic stress disorder.

I have taken many classes or trainings on domestic violence as a clinician and have also helped clients who were victims of abusive relationships. Many understood what physical violence was but lacked the knowledge of what mental or emotional abuse looked like. I was able to guide and educate clients on expanding their knowledge on domestic violence as well as in learning the skills of setting personal boundaries, self-care, and in making better decisions to improve their quality of life.

I very much believe in the attachment theory and have extensively researched in graduate school and over the years on how such theory helps in understanding more of your attachment style and how you may respond to relationships due to this. I have helped many trauma survivors who had suffered from attachment issues.

I have attended training to be able to provide accelerated resolution therapy to trauma survivors who wants to work on processing and resolving their trauma in order to move forward to live more of a functional life. Such approach has worked well with many individuals.

I have used cognitive behavioral therapy techniques since I started my internship in 2008. I have used the dysfunctional thought record with clients often in challenging their self-defeating thoughts (which often stems from their cognitive schemas since their childhood) and in reframing their thoughts into more realistic thoughts. Cognitive behavioral therapy is evidence based and it is the most often researched which is why I believe this approach does work for many people.

I have extensively researched the attachment theory since graduate school and over the years therefore, I do believe your attachment to your caregivers as a child as a profound effect on how you respond in your adult relationships. Learning more about your attachment style can help in understanding yourself in a better light to work towards having more of a secure attachment.