Jessica’s Favorite Quotes:

  • “Within each of us there is an intense need to feel that we belong. This feeling of unity and togetherness comes through the warmth of a smile, a handshake, or a hug, through laughter and unspoken demonstrations of love. It comes in the quiet, reverent moments of soft conversation and in listening.”

    - William Bradford

  • “The attempt to escape from pain, is what creates more pain.”

    ― Gabor Maté

  • “It is not so much the meaning of life that we seek but our aliveness. When we have that, the meaning of life is obvious”

    - Anodea Judith, Eastern Body Western Mind

Jess Ryan

LCMHC, CYT

(she/hers)

Accepting New clients for Intensives and yoga/movement/sound healing sessions

*not accepting NEW Weekly Therapy CLIENTS*

ACCEPTS BCBS, AEtnA, & SELF-PAY

VIRTUAL AND IN-PERSON (Durham OFFICE)

Hello, I'm Jess and i’m glad that you are here. I utilize a holistic, whole-person approach rooted in integrative somatics, hypnotherapy, parts work and decolonizing/anti-capitalist frameworks. As a yoga teacher, musician and dancer I often utilize embodied movement, breathwork and sound healing to help you restore balance and find ease in your body. We will work with the energy of your subtle body and nervous system to help you process, release and integrate stressful or traumatic experiences in the way that works best for you. My personal style is compassionate, creative, laid back and thoughtful but also clear, accountable and direct. If we work together, I will accept you for exactly who you are, no matter what you are going through. We will work actively together to help you by gaining awareness, developing new perspectives, identifying skills, connecting with all parts of you and finding practical solutions to your current challenges along the way. We may also explore earlier experiences that inform or reinforce your current struggles.

My treatment approaches and interventions include:

  • Trauma-informed Hypnotherapy

  • Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) - in training

  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)

  • Parts Work (Internal Family-Systems Informed Therapy)

  • Applied Polyvagal-Informed Trauma Recovery and Resilience

  • Trauma and Tension Release Exercise (TRE)

  • Yoga/contact-based movement/postural and fascial repatterning

  • Sound healing/Chakra balancing

  • Radical Acceptance/Radical Compassion (somatic approaches)

  • Quantum healing (spiritual approach to trauma recovery rooted in quantum physics, i.e. womb regression, past life regression, meeting spirit guides, quantum leaping, etc)

I specialize in working with individuals who want to become more embodied, present and awake to themselves in experiential ways that do not involve just talking. We will work well together if you are open to non-traditional therapy approaches involving movement, sound, meditation, mindfulness, visualization, play and hypnotherapy.

I enjoy working with adults and adolescents (ages 18 and up) and particularly would like to work with you if:

  • You are an adult who went through trauma as a young person and want to learn how it is impacting you now and repair those pathways so your childhood patterns don’t continue to impact you.

  • You are an adult who feels isolated or unable to interact with others, your desires and your passions the way you’d like. You are feeling disconnected and out of sorts but can’t quite get out of it.

  • Your body is showing signs and symptoms of distress but doctors or other medical professionals don’t seem to be able to give you a definitive answer and help you. You feel tight in in your body or have unexplained dysfunciton/pain that you can’t seem to heal from (fatigue, joint pain, gut issues, chronic muscle tension in neck and shoulders, back pain, etc).

  • You worry a lot, live in your head and have trouble being present. You often feel like you’re on auto-pilot and can’t stop rehearsing the worst case scenario or processing life from a fear-based approach.

  • Feeling disconnected in a fundamental way from self/body/community/spirit/

  • Difficulty concentrating or feeling ‘fried’ in the brain or even ‘foggy’

  • Overwhelm or distress in the body that is unmanageable

  • Seeking connection but unsure how to give or receive it - themes of spiritual connection, collective connection, source

  • You don’t have meaningful relationships and this bothers you. You’d like to have more emotional intimacy with yourself or others.

When not engaging in therapeutic work you can find me spending time with friends and family, hiking, birding, dancing, playing music or attending music/arts events in the community!