I founded Free Spirit Counseling in 2019 with the hopes of bringing my varied experience to the Peninsula to help others have a more fulfilling life. As a clinical supervisor for the state of VA, I split my clinical schedule between counseling and clinical supervision. Free Spirit is also a site for Interns in Counseling students of Masters and Doctoral programs to gain on the job training experience working with clients.
In 2024 we opened a site in Virginia Beach to expand more in person opportunities to our community at large. I Work at this site a couple of times a month, as well.
Clinical Specialties and Approach
I work in person and online with diverse populations, children, teens, individuals, couples, and families. My specializations are focused in Trauma and PTSD, Military and Military Families, Grief and loss, Christian Counseling, and Supervision of Residents in Counseling in Virginia. Additional areas include Relationship Issues, Marriage and Family, Women’s Issues, Domestic Violence, Sexual Violence, Depression, Anxiety Disorders, Chronic Illness, Life Transitions, Spirituality, and Substance and Alcohol Abuse.
Building the counseling relationship is the first element that I use with my client centered approach as an ideal way to learn the best interventions to apply to the client’s situation. Some of these interventions include Narrative Therapy, Animal Assisted Therapy (with Therapy Dog Linus), various forms of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Family Systems and other forms of Family Therapy, Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), elements of Feminist Theory in Therapy, and more.
Professional Philosophy
Counseling is a great tool to work through issues that are hindering your life balance. I consider it an honor and a privilege to be part of this growth process in one’s life. Everyone is an individual, so I don’t use a ‘cookie cutter’ approach with my clients. I learn who you are through building a relationship with you and then I determine the best approach to help you. It has been an honor to receive the positive feedback from clients who have expressed appreciation of this method. They have shared that feeling truly heard by their counselor has helped them to work through their challenges. They also tell their friends. The best compliment I receive is getting their referrals.
Clinical Supervision
I believe quality clinical supervision is just as important as quality counseling and client care. I am passionate about building good professional relationships with my Residents and Interns in Counseling to help them to feel comfortable in the sharing and feedback process related to their professional growth and helping their clients. I supervise Residents in Counseling who come to work at Free Spirit, as well as some who work at other organizations. Interns in Counseling who are working to fulfill their education hours connected to their Masters and Doctorate level internship courses are supervised at Free Spirit through our non-profit Free Spirit Cares. They provide free counseling to anyone who comes to them for care.
Military Community
I have been a member of the military community my entire life. I grew up as a Navy brat living as far west as Midway Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and as far East as Bermuda in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I spent 6 years on active duty in the Army after graduating college, and then later married an Army soldier.
In my ‘married to the military’ portion of my life, I participated in and led Family Readiness Groups (FRG) for the unit and Battalion while my husband was deployed twice to Iraq for a total of two years during the OIF and OEF timeframes. I also led a group at my church at that time for women with deployed husbands/boyfriends. Two of our sons served in the military, one now retired from the Air Force and the other was a Marine Reservist for six years. Additional elements of educational and professional experience with the military community are highlighted below.
Professional Training and Public Speaking
Before becoming a counselor, I served in the U.S. Army and had a business career in Human Resources Management. I earned my M.A. in Counseling in 2010 from Regent University in Virginia Beach. During my internship portion of my degree, I worked with residents of a local domestic violence center, followed by an outpatient substance dependency program. I also trained with the Regent Trauma Team and had the opportunity to deploy with the team to Romania during that summer to work with traumatized populations. This resulted in becoming a Certified Traumatologist.
I completed most of my Resident in Counseling timeframe working with students in a community college Women’s Center before moving over to a private practice where I received my licensure in professional counseling. I worked there for over 7 years before founding Free Spirit. During that timeframe, I completed my Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from Adams State University in Alamosa, CO in 2019. My major work of research was: “Inspiring Military Cultural Competence in Counselor Education: A Narrative Inquiry of Nonmilitary-Connected Master’s Students.”
Along the way, I have written articles published in journals related to the mental health field. Based on my expertise with the military culture, I was hired by the Counselor Education and Supervision department of The College of William and Mary for nine months to create the first three courses for their Military and Veterans Counseling concentration.
Learning and training others on topics in the counseling profession are passions of mine. I have professionally presented to a variety of audiences in local, regional, and national conferences in both the United States and Canada. As an expert in the field, I have presented to other professionals on a variety of counseling topics, to include the military and military families, and I have been an instructor of many of the courses in Counselor Education and Supervision Masters programs. Find out more about this topic and Professional Training and Public Speaking with Free Spirit.
Organizational Membership and Leadership
I remain an active member of numerous professional organizations in the counseling field and have been the Journal Editor of the Virginia Counselors Journal, published by the Virginia Counselors Association. As the owner and founder of Free Spirit Counseling, I consider it an honor and privilege to provide mentorship and consultation to those who train and work at our center.
Connect with me directly at jill@freespiritonline.org or at 757-204-1866.
The picture includes our in-house therapy dog, Linus, and is taken in front of the wall mural in The Wish office.