JILL PETTEGREW, MFT
Licensed Marriage Family Therapist
Somatic Psychotherapy | Somatic Experiencing®
Ketamine Therapy
Psychedelic Therapy (Ketamine) and Integration
Mindfulness Meditation
Jill Pettegrew, MA, LMFT
Licensed Marriage Family Therapist (LMFT94476)
I am a licensed psychotherapist in the Bay Area specializing in somatic, mind-body approaches for your healing and personal growth. With over 14 years of clinical psychology experience, 24 years as a somatic bodyworker, and a practicing vipassana (mindfulness) meditator, I combine evidence-based therapies with a compassionate and individualized client-centered approach, empowering and supporting you towards healing and change.
As a Somatic Experiencing® practitioner, I understand the deep, vital connection between the mind and body. In sessions I will work with you to: identify and deepen your internal and external resources; develop coping skills to foster greater capacity and resilience for difficult emotions and life experiences; identify and communicate wants, needs, preferences, and boundaries; explore habituated and conditioned patterns of relating, reacting, numbing, and avoiding so you can move away from the various levels of activation your nervous system has developed into states of more ease, flow, spaciousness, and freedom. Somatic Experiencing® supports releasing fixed patterns held within the body and nervous system developed through traumatic events and/or growing up in an unsafe, fearful, chaotic, emotionally absent, or unstable environment, allowing greater access to a deeper and wider range of emotions. Somatic Experiencing® also supports healing from other types of traumatic events, ranging from medical conditions (surgeries, diseases, chronic illness) to accidents to sexual assault.
My practice places great emphasis on mindfulness, as I believe that cultivating present-moment awareness is essential for self-discovery, self-awareness, and freedom from painfully constricting beliefs, emotions, and physical sensations. We will incorporate mindfulness practices into therapy sessions, helping you develop greater self-compassion, emotional regulation, and insight.
With a relational approach, I recognize the significance of the therapeutic container and connection. Together we create a safe and non-judgmental space where you can explore your relational patterns, uncover underlying dynamics, and build healthier and more fulfilling relationships.
In addition to somatic and mind-body approaches, I'm trained in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, an innovative modality that has shown promise in treating a range of mental health conditions. We can explore utilizing this therapy as another possible tool, tailoring your treatment plan to meet your unique needs and goals.
I am deeply committed to supporting you on your journey towards well-being. Together we work to unlock your innate healing capacities and create meaningful change in your life.
Reasons to explore therapy at this time in your life include:
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Struggling with depression, anxiety, and/or panic attacks
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Feeling overwhelmed by strong emotions, and/or not able to access emotions (numbing)
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Loss of interest in life, irritability, hopelessness, difficulty concentrating
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Stuck in fight and/or flight trauma states
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You find yourself dissociating, going into "freeze" state
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Unable to feel your body, feel like you're a "walking head"
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Needing support in identifying and communicating your needs
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Feel like you're run by your To-Do list, and also chronically exhausted
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Wanting healing from traumatic event(s)
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Relationship challenges or changes (i.e. empty nest, retirement, divorce)
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Needing to improve communication and/or boundaries in your relationships
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Self-esteem/confidence challenges
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Struggling with a chronic or acute health issue
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Other life transition and adjustment
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Integrating non-ordinary states of consciousness, including psychedelic experiences
I am a licensed* Marriage and Family Therapist, with a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, a certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research from CIIS, and specialized training in ketamine-assisted therapy from Sage Integrative Health. Currently a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP) in training. Currently I am a student in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield.
Ready to get started? Call or email to set up your first appointment.
SERVICES
INDIVIDUAL THERAPY (AGES 18+)
SOMATIC PSYCHOTHERAPY (Somatic Experiencing®):
Emotions and the accompanying body sensations and thoughts can sometimes be overwhelming and intolerable. This often leads to avoidance, distraction, depression, excessive worry, rage, collapse, relationship difficulties, and when extreme, self-medicating with drugs, alcohol, sex, video games, and other addictive behaviors. When we're activated (triggered), the root cause is usually something from our past: messages from our families or peers that we interpret as being unloveable, too much, that something's wrong with us (shame), or that our needs cannot be seen and met. We use our minds and body patterns to protect these vulnerable parts of ourselves, resulting in maladaptive patterns of behavior, mood issues, and chronic physical distress.
My approach is to identify, build-on, and use your strengths and resources, while also exploring negative patterns that stop you from living a full, integrated life. Together we cultivate your inner wisdom through gentle focused attention and presence (mindfulness), awareness of and building capacity for the somatic (body) sensations response to triggers, and quieting the accompanying internal dialogue. The result is more choice, freedom, and possibility for your life.
Somatic Experiencing® (SE) aims to resolve symptoms of stress, shock, and trauma that accumulate in our bodies. When we are stuck in patterns of fight, flight, or freeze, SE helps us release, recover, and become more resilient. It is a body-oriented therapeutic model for healing trauma and other stress disorders. It is based on a multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics and has been clinically applied for more than four decades. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine.
The SE approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma. It offers a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight or freeze responses and provides clinical tools to resolve these fixated physiological states.
"Psychedelics can provide a deeply significant experience, but ultimately, healing is the result of greater psychological and cognitive flexibility and the capacity to adapt constructively to life situations as they happen, rather than the result of a life free of emotions or symptoms...." --Marc B. Aixala from Psychedelic Integration: Psychotherapy for Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness
PSYCHEDELIC THERAPY/KETAMINE-ASSISTED PSYCHOTHERAPY (KAP):
A unique therapeutic method used to address a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, post-traumatic stress, chronic pain, addiction, and some forms of anxiety. It involves the use of the psychoactive substance ketamine to enhance and deepen the therapeutic process, and the use of psychotherapy and other integrative forms of treatment to amplify and prolong the curative effects of ketamine.
PSYCHEDELIC INTEGRATION: An important part of any psychedelic or consciousness-altering experience is the integration of the experience days, weeks, or months afterwards. Engaging in integration during and after a psychedelic experience supports a "positive imprint [that] gives us some confidence in our own internal processes and helps us develop an optimistic attitude towards life." (--Marc B. Aixala from Psychedelic Integration: Psychotherapy for Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness) Together we identify ways to engage with and enhance the experiences, ideas, feelings, and sensations of the experience, and identify practices to includes in daily life to promote healing.
CONTACT ME
To request an appointment for East Bay locations:
Lafayette office (wait-list for Thursday appointments)
3468 Mt. Diablo Blvd. Suite B-201,
Lafayette, CA 94549
El Cerrito office (openings available Tuesdays):
Located in private home near Barrett Ave and Arlington Blvd. Address provided when appointment confirmed
Email me to check availability to inquire about psychotherapy appointments (currently video appointments available, and Tuesdays in my El Cerrito office ).
Berkeley office (ketamine-assisted therapy, Sage Integrative Health, wait-list):
2185 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley, CA, 94705
Use this link to contact Sage Integrative Health directly to request an appointment through the clinic's practice (currently wait-list for ketamine-assisted therapy).
In-person appointments available for ketamine-assisted therapy late Summer 2024.
(*Licensed requirements = 3000 hours of post-graduate supervised training, passing two California State board exams by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS), and background checks by the State of California Department of Justice. Licensure includes being held legally and ethically responsible by the BBS for maintaining a strict code of ethics in the field of psychotherapy, abiding by the laws of the State of California, and obtaining continuing education credits to support professional development. My license can be confirmed by clicking this link to the California Department of Consumer Affairs website.)