Mindfulness therapy for anxiety, grief, and trauma
Reconnect with yourself, feel more grounded, and move forward with intention toward what matters.
Online therapy based in Aptos and serving clients across California
Grief | Trauma | Anxiety | Perfectionism | Christian Therapy | Therapy for Therapists
When the world doesn’t feel safe, you can’t fully relax
You can’t shake the feeling that things aren’t okay, or that something could happen at any point. When no place feels safe, you have to keep a look out. All the time. You manage things the best you can, but despite your best efforts you can’t ever control everything.
The weird part is, you’re often the best person to have around in a crisis. It’s the day-to-day living that’s so hard because your mind is always on, looking out for what might happen next.
Sometimes it’s a worry, but a lot of the time it just feels like being responsible. Still, your mind is always busy, always on, and you often find yourself mentally and emotionally exhausted at the end of the day even if nothing happened.
It shows up in little ways:
Spending hours scrolling your phone because you don’t want to do the task that ends up taking fifteen minutes.
Saying no to the event because you know you’ll spend the evening after going over everything you said wrong.
Worrying so much about having another panic attack at work that you get intense anxiety spikes just walking into the office.
Driving a few extra miles to go around the intersection that reminds you of a bad memory or about the person you lost.
It shows up in a need for control:
Needing to know who’s going to the party so you can prepare how you’re going to show up.
Having to think through all the options before you can choose one (and a contingency plan).
Wanting to understand why you’re feeling what you’re feeling so you can decide if the situation really justifies it or if you’re overreacting.
Never taking risks because it’s safer to stick with what you know than to try something new and possibly fail.
It shows up in choosing busyness:
Always having music or a podcast going so you’re never alone with your thoughts.
Planning every spare moment so you have a reason to say no to surprises.
Letting yourself function on autopilot in the present so you can spend your mental time and energy planning for the future.
And these choices? They’re all about avoidance. We avoid pain, discomfort, anxiety, rejection, grief, trauma, uncertainty, and loss. But trying to live a life without those things means shutting down a lot of the joy, connection, and meaning too.
Jessica Brohmer, LMFT is an online therapist based in Aptos and serving clients across California. Specializing in anxiety, grief, and trauma using mindfulness-based therapy.
Hi, I’m Jessica.
When stress, overwhelm, and frustration build up, it can make all the difference to have a place where you can talk about what’s going on and feel heard.
I believe choosing to embrace discomfort and uncertainty is what lets us really live a fulfilling, authentic life.
I believe that learning to give up our desire for control is how we learn to feel truly safe. Getting curious about our thoughts, feelings, and emotions without judgment is how we develop a healthy relationship with ourselves. And our strongest skill is when we learn to pause and respond thoughtfully instead of reacting on autopilot.
That autopilot didn’t come out of nowhere. Our patterns developed because they were helpful in the past even if they’re not useful anymore. We’ll explore these patterns and use those insights to help you break free from the routines that aren’t helping you anymore.
Therapy here isn’t limited to one hour a week. You’ll have access to support between sessions, whether that’s a quick check in by email, a secure message to ask a question about something that’s come up, or a short call to coach you through your skills before a stressful moment. The work we’re doing is meant to connect with your real, daily life and sometimes it helps to talk through things soon after they happen instead of waiting a full week to meet.
Areas of Specialization
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Grief and Loss
Grief is a special sort of pain. When your grief is fresh, you need a space to process the loss that just happened. And when your grief is older, you need time to gently explore the parts of your pain that are keeping you stuck.
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Anxiety and Stress
Anxiety can easily become its own beast, keeping itself alive in a constant loop of worry. Mindfulness gives you space to pause the whirlwind of your thoughts so you can step out of the cycle of worry, overthinking, and overwhelm.
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Trauma and EMDR
Trauma responses are often ones that kept us safe or were useful during hard times. But they don’t always ease up when things get better. Therapy can help you learn how to feel safe in your body and in the world again.
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Perfectionism and People Pleasing
When your own inner critic is the harshest voice you hear, I can help you repair your relationship with yourself and heal the core fears of rejection, abandonment, shame, and not being good enough.
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Christian Therapy
Christians often avoid pain by spiritualizing it or rejecting it as a lack of faith. Mindfulness helps you integrate your faith authentically into your life by helping you navigate anxiety, grief, or trauma without scrupulosity or trite answers.
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Therapy for Therapists
Becoming a therapist is a great way to help others- or a way to intellectually bypass your own healing. When your own work is part of your avoidance cycle, you need a space to slow down and intentionally sit with the things you haven’t been feeling.
Getting started with online therapy
Connect with me to start the process. You can schedule a consultation with me directly, or you can submit a contact form to ask any questions you have before we begin.
The consultation is a no-risk meeting. We’ll chat for about twenty minutes about what you’re looking for from therapy, how I can help, and see if it feels like a good fit. There’s no pressure or obligation to commit.
We’ll have weekly sessions with support when you need it. We’ll meet for an hour each week by secure video where we’ll work through things that have come up and keep you on track toward your goals. During the week, you can contact me as needed for extra help navigating a situation, coaching through using skills in your real life, or talking through a crisis.
What could your life look like if you lean into the discomfort and truly pursue your passions?