Jennifer Paulus

Jenny Paulus is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She received her B.A. in Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz as well as her Masters in Social Work at UNE. Her experience with mental health ranges from working with kiddos and teens with ASD to counseling with asylum seekers and refugees, supervising case managers, counseling teens, as well as young adults who have experienced domestic violence. She is passionate about creating safe spaces, LGBTQ+ and BIPOC advocacy and rights, as well as constantly being challenged and learning. She thrives on working towards empowerment which doesn’t come in any one age, gender, sexuality, identity, shape, or form.

As a social worker, she takes an eclectic approach that is informed by specific practices that she has either taken extensive coursework in or certification training in. She leans more heavily on Motivational Interviewing with a dash of Solution Focused Brief Therapy to focus on present challenges to create and enact change. What she took away from her training in Applied Behavioral Analysis was the effect of reinforcement on behaviors, and the ability to inject creativity/playfulness/and optimism even into the most daunting of challenges. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy supports analyzing and modifying the interplay between our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and gives practical tools, exercises, and practices to do so. Psychoanalysis recognizes that we carry so much from our childhood experiences as well as the fact that we are not fully aware of everything we hold, think, and do. What she has learned from experience that although fidelity to the model (i.e. practicing a therapeutic technique exactly as it is taught) is important in many circumstances, reality is not finite and there are no absolutes. What works for one person does not mean it will work for the next, and we must stay flexible and adaptive in our approaches.