Virginia Jenkins
Counsellor
I use IFS to support people in the shift from feeling out of control to living in choice. I deeply believe that everything we do is an attempt to meet our needs, and that feedom is being able to choose how we do that.
I specialise in:
About me
With over 15 years of professional training and experience, I specialize in using Internal Family Systems (IFS) and down-to-earth mindfulness approaches to work with:
- Addiction & Habit Change
- Complex Trauma & Dissociation
- Men’s Mental Health
- International, Multilingual, and Multicultural Couples
- International Leadership & Entrepreneurship
After studying Contemplative Psychology at Naropa University, I went on to support people in court-mandated therapy to navigate issues related to addiction and trauma. But through doing that work, I felt that something was missing. That the issues at the root of my clients' struggle needed a clearer path to true resolution.
And when I stumbled upon IFS, I knew that was the missing piece. By the time I started training in IFS, I had moved abroad to Barcelona and was working in private practice. In the hundreds of sessions I have had over these years, I have seen firsthand the power of IFS to truly heal trauma at the root by appreciating how all of our parts are simply trying to take care of us, usually using outdated models that worked in the past and wreck havoc in the present.
More recently, I have also started training in Coherence Therapy as a way to offer even more tools to facilitate the process of transformative change for clients.
I speak:
Location:
Approach
Our resistance to change - whether it's changing a behavior or healing our trauma - is not a problem. It is what actually shows us the path of what needs to be tended to in order to meet all of our needs. While it may be more obvious the needs we would get met by no longer being addicted to social media or by no longer being triggered into a panic attack whenever we think about work, there are also needs that our system is trying to meet by not making those changes.
My primary job is to facilitate the process of identifying and tending to those needs. But we do that not by waging war on the resistance. Instead, we listen to it and understand what needs must be accounted for in order for the resistance to consent to the changes we want to make. And often those needs are connected to unresolved past trauma.
I am deeply committed to facilitating each client's journey to true trauma resolution and transformative change. In service of that, I strive to cultivate a warm, welcoming environment where anything that comes up can be met with understanding and care (and, at times, a dash of cosmic humor!). This space allows us to both include and deepen beyond the logical parts that want to understand the knots we tie ourselves into, ultimately doing the experiential work that allows us to actually untangle those knots - not just study them.
While I hold space when necessary, know that you won't feel like you are talking to a blank wall. I lean in and meet you in the intensity of whatever is present. I have a very solid presence and halfway joke that there is essentially nothing that anyone can bring into our work together that will knock me off balance.
Experience
Private Practice - Therapist & Therapeutic Coach April 2021-Present
Private Practice - Communication Coach September 2019-August 2022
Northstar Transitions - Assistant Clinical Director & Psychotherapist September 2018-March 2019
Behavioral Treatment Services - Psychotherapist, Supervisor, & Administrative Team Lead March 2015-August 2018
Naropa University - Clinical Support Professional (TA) January 2015-December 2016
Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence - On-Call Shelter Advocate August 2014-March 2015
Boulder Shelter for the Homeless - Program Staff June 2014-March 2015
Colorado AIDS Project - Intern August 2013-July 2014
Education
Trainings:
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 3
- Men in Mind - Movember
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 2 - Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO)
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 1
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) Online Circle: Foundations of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) Model
- Certified Professional Coach Training Program (ICF ACC Track)
- Coaching for Self-Leadership - Internal Family Systems (IFS)
- Introduction to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
- Motivational Interviewing (MI)
- Certified Addiction Counselor Training
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Training
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Training
- The Art & Science of Liberation: Introduction to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Awakening the Core Self: An Introduction to the Hakomi Method
University Education:
MA Contemplative Psychotherapy Naropa University, July 2014
BA Environmental Policy and Hispanic Studies College of William & Mary, May 2010
Services
Intro Call
Individual Session
Couples Session
Insurances
