Who I am
Hi, I’m Jillian (she/her).
People often say I seem a little mysterious at first—I tend to observe before I share. What started as a trauma response has since become one of my greatest strengths: the ability to notice what’s beneath the surface.
For much of my teens and twenties, I was deeply immersed in evangelical Christianity. It was both a coping mechanism and a core part of my identity. I didn’t realize then how my beliefs were shaping my mental health, relationships, and sense of self. But through my own complicated journey—alongside countless hours of counseling and being counseled—I began to understand the impact of high-control religious environments. Over the past decade, my work has centered on identifying the harmful beliefs of these systems and finding the freedom to create my own path.
Now, I help others who are deconstructing or struggling with the psychological and emotional weight of their faith background. Whether you're navigating religious trauma, questioning your beliefs, or simply figuring out who you are outside of a rigid system, you’re not alone. There’s space for you here.
My work is shaped by a commitment to stepping outside dual narratives and seeking nuance. Our world is full of echo chambers—messages that may hold a fragment of truth but can become harmful when taken in isolation or excess. History is, in many ways, a cycle of passed-down trauma and its recreation.
What inspires me most is meeting people who refuse to let that cycle continue—those who do the brave work of breaking patterns, often by starting with themselves.
I’m pro reducing harm. Being a therapist is my way of holding space for that change, one person at a time.
My Perspective
Recognizing the need to heal from trauma takes bravery; actively pursuing that healing takes deep courage. Trauma—no matter its source—shapes every part of life. It influences how we see ourselves, others, and the world. It impacts how we relate, how we feel in our bodies, how we express emotions, how we think, and our sense of safety and autonomy. Healing isn’t just about understanding what happened—it’s about reclaiming the parts of yourself that trauma tried to rewrite.
Are we a good fit to work together?
Where You Might Find Yourself on Your Healing Journey Right Now
You don’t have to have all the answers to begin. Trauma happens when our nervous system is overwhelmed, storing that distress in the body. Healing starts with paying attention to those signals. Using body-based modalities and other effective interventions, we work to help your body process and release stored trauma, complete the stress cycle, and restore a sense of safety and connection.
As you heal, things may start to shift—your sense of self, your relationships, your boundaries, and even how you move through the world. You may find yourself learning new coping skills, building healthier attachments, and reclaiming an identity that feels true to you. Healing isn’t just about what you leave behind; it’s about what you grow into.
Maybe you’re in the thick of deconstructing old religious beliefs, trying to understand how certain teachings and practices have shaped your mind and body. Perhaps you’re navigating relationships in a new way—outside the constraints of purity culture or fundamentalism—or working through the impact of adverse religious experiences that left you with wounds you’re still trying to name.
Or maybe you’re unsure. You don’t know if what you experienced was oppressive, harmful, or even traumatic—you just know something doesn’t feel right.
Sound familiar?
You learned early how to read a room before anyone else did.
How to sense tension before it erupted.
How to become what was needed.
How to smooth, soften, anticipate, perform.
Maybe you became the responsible one.
The emotionally intelligent one.
The peacemaker.
The high achiever.
The one who could “handle it.”
And somewhere along the way, adapting became so automatic that you lost track of where your performance ended and your actual self began.
None of these are character flaws. They're nervous system adaptations — and they're more predictable than you'd think.
But a lot of healing advice still treats these patterns like isolated personal problems. They will:
Tell you your attachment wounds need healing without acknowledging the systems that rewarded your hyper-responsibility and self-abandonment.
Hand you a list of regulation techniques, as if the issue is performance rather than a nervous system that can not access safety while abandoning itself to meet expectations.
Celebrate your capacity to carry others and call it “being an empath or healer” without asking whether the role allows self-expression — or depends on self-suspension.
Have you ever wondered…
Whether your “I’m fine on my own” stance is actually healing — or just highly functional avoidance?
Why you keep considering both sides of any situation without ever landing on your own desire?
If the cynicism you've developed about “Christians” is wisdom or something that hasn't been processed yet?
What your nervous system is actually doing in the gaps and sprints of your healing work?
What it would actually feel like to exist from a grounded, regulated place instead of constantly bracing for impact?
Experience & Education
Degree
Liberty University (B.S.) degree with honors in Clinical Mental Health Psychology with a specialty in substance abuse and codependency.
Virginia Tech (M.A.Ed) degree with honors in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.
Licensure
State of Virginia Licensed Professional Counselor
Experience
Jillian has worked in both child and adolescent settings, along with university counseling and community organizations. In these settings, she has worked with clients to overcome and manage stress, anxiety, developmental transitions, depression, identity changes, relationship difficulties, trauma, addictions, and severe mental illness. Some of the settings that shaped Jillian’s experiences include: Carilion and Virginia Baptist’s child/adolescent psychiatric units, Jefferson College of Health Sciences, school counseling at a Roanoke Valley elementary school, sexual assault response advocacy programs, a local foster care agency, a community service board, a group private practice center, and emergency services. Jillian is now full time in her established private practice and coaching businesses.
Specialization
Religious abuse, spiritual trauma, recovery from high control environments, cults and undo influence, identity and sexuality, obsessive compulsive religious fears, codependency
