Individual Therapy
Individual Therapy in Colorado
At Jennifer Ann Counseling, we offer both in-person and virtual psychotherapy for individuals throughout Colorado. Sessions can be held face-to-face, online, or in a flexible hybrid format, depending on what best supports your comfort and consistency. We also offer walk-and-talk sessions for local clients who feel most at ease while moving through nature.
Therapy that focuses on connection
We are made for connection and relationships, and healing happens when we feel seen, heard, and understood. We work with deep feelers and deep thinkers, people who are self-aware, high achieving, and often exhausted from trying to hold it all together.
High Achievers
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Perfectionists
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Deep Feelers
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Deep Thinkers
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High Achievers ✺ Perfectionists ✺ Deep Feelers ✺ Deep Thinkers ✺
If you’ve ever wondered, “Why can’t I just relax?” or felt like your worth is tied to how much you do, how well you perform, or how little space you take up… you’re not alone.
Supporting Women Through Burnout
We specialize in supporting women who grew up deeply attuned to everyone else’s emotions and often became the responsible one, the achiever, or the helper. Now, even with all your insight and accomplishments, it still feels like you’re chasing a moving target just to feel “enough.” That perfectionism helped you survive, but now it’s running the show and fueling anxiety, burnout, and a relentless inner critic. We can help you understand where those patterns come from, gently untangle from them, and build a relationship with yourself that feels grounded, steady, and kind.
Walk & Talk Therapy
Still therapy, just outside! Instead of sitting in the office, we’ll take our conversation to the trail and walk at a relaxed, natural pace. Think of it as everything you'd expect from a regular session, just with fresh air and forward motion.
Why do therapy while walking?
For some people, movement makes it easier to open up. Walking side-by-side can feel less intense than sitting face-to-face, and being in nature helps calm the nervous system. It can reduce stress, help regulate mood, and ease anxious or stuck energy. Plus, moving your body while talking can actually support deeper insight and emotional processing.
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Jennifer Ann Counseling is located in downtown Colorado Springs, backing right up to the Pikes Peak Greenway trail along Monument Creek. We’ll start and end at the office, and from there, head out for a walk along the path. No special gear required, just shoes that feel comfy enough to stroll around in :)
On occasion, we may also choose to hold our session at a different outdoor location, such as a local hiking trail, if it aligns with your needs and comfort level. These off-site locations will be mutually agreed upon in advance and tailored to what feels most supportive that day.
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We’ll be in a public space, so there’s always a chance we’ll pass other people on the trail. Your therapist will never initiate a hello to anyone or reveal anything about your relationship. If we do see someone you know, you get to decide how to handle it and your therapist will take your lead. (We have a specific consent form for Walk & Talk Therapy that we’ll review together before starting.)
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Nope! The fee is the same as a regular in-office session.
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That’s totally fine! These sessions always begin and end at the office, so if you’re not feeling up for a walk, we’ll just stay inside!
If you’re navigating any of the things named above, you might also be experiencing anxiety, depression, or the lingering impact of complex or relational trauma. We can gently meet you there, too. Together, we’ll explore the roots of your pain, not just the symptoms, and help you reconnect with a sense of safety, agency, and wholeness. We’ll create space for healing that honors your story and your strength.
We believe that every part of you deserves to be seen, respected, and included—your race, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, age, faith, body shape, size, and ability. All of you is welcome here. Our work is rooted in a deep respect for your full identity and lived experience, and we’re committed to creating a space where you feel safe, valued, and supported in your healing.
Therapy in Colorado
How does individual therapy work?
Jennifer Ann Counseling’s offices are a space where you’re encouraged to come as you are!
Want to kick your shoes off, bring a warm drink, or eat a snack during your session? Go for it! Therapy works best when you feel safe, grounded, and at ease, so we invite you to get comfortable, settle in, and take a deep breath. You don’t need to be polished, put together, or have it all figured out to begin.
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We typically offer standing, recurring appointment times, either weekly or bi-weekly. When weekly availability allows, we often recommend starting with weekly sessions, as therapy tends to be most effective with consistency… especially in the beginning!
When possible, we invite new clients to commit to weekly sessions for the first six weeks. This helps us build a strong foundation of trust, momentum, and meaningful progress together.
If a weekly time isn’t available, we’ll begin with bi-weekly sessions and adjust as openings shift. After the first six weeks, we’ll check in together and decide what frequency feels most supportive, whether that means continuing weekly or transitioning to bi-weekly. Throughout the process, we’ll stay attuned to what’s working best for you and your needs.
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We don’t generally approach therapy from a place of assigning labels unless doing so serves a meaningful purpose in your care. Our work centers on understanding your lived experience and making sense of the symptoms, patterns, stressors, or challenges showing up in your life, rather than reducing you to a diagnosis.
That said, diagnostic language can sometimes be helpful for insight, validation, treatment planning, referrals, or helping make sense of what you’re experiencing. If a diagnosis becomes clinically relevant, we’ll approach those conversations collaboratively and transparently.
It’s also important to know that if you choose to seek insurance reimbursement using superbills, a mental health diagnosis is required on the documentation provided for out-of-network reimbursement. This is standard practice for insurance billing, and we’ll always communicate openly with you if diagnostic documentation becomes part of your care.
Modalities We Utilize in Therapy
“The past affects the present even without our being aware of it.”
- Francine Shapiro
EMDR
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Therapy is a powerful, research-backed approach that supports your nervous system in healing from trauma and other overwhelming or painful life experiences. Originally developed to treat PTSD, EMDR has since been shown to be effective for a wide range of challenges, including anxiety, grief, phobias, chronic stress, and difficult life events that still feel unresolved.
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At the heart of EMDR is the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model, which is based on the idea that we are all naturally wired to heal. But when something happens that overwhelms us—whether it’s too much, too fast, or not enough for too long—our nervous system can get stuck, and the memories or emotions tied to that experience may not fully process. This can lead to patterns that feel hard to shift, even when you understand them logically.
EMDR helps gently “unstick” those experiences so they can be reprocessed in a way that feels safer and more complete. In EMDR, we use bilateral stimulation (like eye movements, tapping, or sound) while gently bringing up a memory, thought, or body sensation. This helps your system reprocess what got stuck so it no longer feels as triggering or defining. Many clients describe feeling more grounded, clear, and able to respond to life from a place of self-trust, rather than reactivity.
“A moment of self-compassion can change your entire day. A string of such moments can change the course of your life.”
- Christopher K. Germer
IFS
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a compassionate, evidence-based therapy that helps you connect with and heal the different parts of yourself, particularly those shaped by self-criticism, fear, shame, or overwhelm. This approach recognizes that the mind is made up of many parts, a natural and adaptive response to lived experience. Parts like an inner critic or perfectionist often developed in response to past hurt or pressure and are doing their best to keep you safe.
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At the core of IFS is the belief that you have a Self within you, a calm, confident, and compassionate center that can lead with clarity. Even when parts feel loud, reactive, or stuck, your Self is never broken or lost. In IFS therapy, we create space to gently listen to protective and wounded parts with curiosity rather than judgment. When parts feel seen and understood, rather than pushed away or criticized, they begin to soften, build trust, and transform.
IFS is especially supportive for high-achieving, perfectionistic women who feel pulled in different directions internally. Rather than trying to get rid of perfectionism, we explore the deeper wisdom underneath it and begin to shift your relationship with it. Through this work, many clients experience greater self-compassion, more internal balance, and a deeper trust in their own voice and inherent worth.
“Safety is not the absence of threat, but the presence of connection.”
– Stephen Porges
Polyvagal Theory
Polyvagal Theory is a science-backed framework that explains how your autonomic nervous system responds to cues of safety and danger. Developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, it helps us understand why we sometimes feel anxious, shut down, disconnected, or on edge — even when nothing seems “wrong.” Rather than seeing these responses as flaws, Polyvagal Theory teaches us they’re protective patterns rooted in our biology.
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We use this approach to support high-achieving, perfectionistic individuals in understanding their stress responses with more compassion and less shame. Together, we explore how your nervous system moves between different states, such as fight, flight, freeze, or grounded connection, and how past experiences may have shaped these patterns. Through mindfulness, somatic work, and curiosity, we build your capacity to notice and respond to these shifts with gentleness rather than judgment. Together, we practice one of the most powerful skills there is: learning how to befriend your nervous system.
Polyvagal-informed therapy supports your journey toward self-trust, regulation, and emotional resilience. Rather than forcing yourself to “just relax,” we help you learn how to create a felt sense of safety in your body so calm and connection can emerge naturally. This is where real healing begins, when you feel safe enough to soften, slow down, and show up as your full self.
