Jennifer Wilson
Areas of concern that Jennifer can help best with include mood swings, impulsive/disruptive behaviors, self-harming and suicidal behaviors, depression, anxiety, school avoidance, family and peer conflict, angry outbursts, trauma, substance use, and lack of coping skills. Ages 14-21
Meet Jennifer
Jennifer is a Registered Nurse with specialty mental health designation and is fully trained in and has practiced comprehensive Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) for 17 years. She has worked with adolescents, young people and their families for over thirty-five years in both an inpatient and outpatient psychiatric hospital setting. She understands that emotional issues and coping difficulties during the adolescent and young adult years can be barriers to functioning, and to enjoying and thriving through the transitions of this amazing growth period. Early intervention to assess needs and receive the appropriate level of help and treatment is key to changing problematic symptoms and patterns, and to engaging more fully in life.
Some teens and young adults can present with challenging and high risk or harmful behaviors, particularly when they struggle with impulsive decision-making and intense emotional experiences. Jennifer can help young people to understand their own unique challenges and strengths, figure out what they need, support their path toward their own goals and build a life that is worth living. Using a DBT trained approach, teens, young adults and their families can learn how to practice mindfulness, along with new problem-solving skills. When mindful awareness is combined with effective problem-solving skills, sensitive and emotionally reactive teenagers and young adults have the tools to respond to others and situations more effectively.
Jennifer’s approach is to provide treatment and supports that are person centered, flexible, holistic, strength based, and to engage in an authentic relationship with clients and their families. She assists youth and families to identify and understand emerging and/or ongoing mental health struggles and make changes in ways that are meaningful for them.
In Jennifer’s leisure time, you might find her gardening, walking or hiking various trails, camping, canoeing and kayaking, or watching the sunset with her husband of 42 years and her big dog, Odin. She enjoys connecting virtually with her adult son and looks forward to planning more trips to visit him in the mountains and prairies of Alberta.