Coaching, Consultation, Counseling, Life Coach, Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychotherapy, Therapy

Stuck—Not Broken

Storm Haven, Counseling & Wellness
Get gotten & feel felt Seen Heard Understood Valued Human

You cannot always control the waves but You can learn to surf the storms of life.

ARE YOU STRIVING FOR MENTAL HEALTH WELLNESS?

Do you often find yourself feeling tense, anxious, and misunderstood, especially in the context of neurodiversity? Does your mind frequently race, leaving you trapped in a never-ending cycle that’s challenging to escape?

There may be days when you struggle, yearning to withdraw, avoid your thoughts and emotions, yet somehow manage to fulfill your daily obligations – all the while, sensing that you’re not fully present.

Throughout our journey, we all encounter moments of feeling stuck, and for those navigating the unique landscape of neurodiversity, these challenges can be even more pronounced. Whether it’s the overwhelming grip of anxiety, transitions, or the intricacies of neurodiversity, it can be tough to find your way back to your life’s path and purpose. Imagine what it would be like to break free from this cycle, to regain your momentum, and start embracing life to its fullest potential, all while embracing and celebrating your neurodiverse identity!

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RELATIONAL ALCHEMY

The catalyst of change is possible through the alchemy of a transformational relationship found within therapy. 

Learn to unlock your whole self and live a full, intentional, and meaningful life—even when challenges threaten to take you down and send you into a spiral of despair. At Storm Haven, we have you. All you have to do is decide to begin 🙂

MENTAL HEALTH WELLNESS

Jennifer Hyatt, who established her practice in 2017, has now evolved into Storm Haven, Counseling and Wellness as of October 2022. Welcome to the new and transformed Storm Haven! 🌊

We are not your typical therapists. We are authentic and down to earth. We do real.

Therapy is our jam and passing on the secrets to a well lived life is our passion. We weave the beauty of balance within the integration of healing arts and science infused with compassion and empowerment. 

SUPPORT, HUMANS I WILL

As integrative therapists, we provide support for clients who are stuck in the vortex of spiraling 🌀 anxiety, stuck in the depths of depression 🕳️ and/or anyone looking to level ⬆️ within living their best life 😊 and would love 💛 a fellow traveler 🧳 to engage this path 🗺️ .

Are you a deep thinker, rebel-minded, out side the box thinking, lover of learning, knowledge absorber, have humor with a side of healthy sarcasm, not afraid to get a little woo-woo, authentic human being who is striving to live optimally?

Clients that we join on their journey’s include Deep Thinkers, Book Authors and Book Lovers alike, Witchy Individuals who love Magick, Tarot Lovers, Entrepreneurs, Creatives, Striving for a more Optimal Life Individuals, Tech and Syfy /Sci-Fi Nerds, Knowledge Absorbers, Marvel Fans, Comic Book Geeks, RPG & TTRPG Enthusiasts, Life Lovers, Empaths, Highly Sensitive People, Individuals within Military Families, Seekers of Self-Actualization, LGBTQIA+ Community, Neurodivergents, and other Authentic or aspiring Authentic Human Beings who are doing the best they can within this life.

WORDS TO LIVE BY

We’re all Stories, in the End. Just Make it a Good One, Eh? The Doctor

We are eager to meet you and excited to share in your journey!

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Marriage and Family Therapy

Seek Refuge and Support from the Storms of Life

Storm Haven, Counseling & Wellness
Majestic Moon

I was standing outside with my feet planted into the ground to look up and see the beauty of the night. Instantaneously I felt a sense of calm, balance, and appreciation for life and the beauty of nature.

Looking back on this photo, I am transported back to this feeling and reminded of my group practice, Storm Haven’s, tagline “Seek refuge and support from the storms of life.”

While life can bring great joys and majestic wonders, as humans, life can also bring great challenges that we wish we could escape, avoid, or push away. Although, when we do…we find it may only makes the difficulties worse and the sorrows heightened. Shadows of despair may be cast into what joy we previously had. Like a lonely ship at sea 🌊 enveloped by the storms of life desperately wanting to get to the safety of the cove.

Storm Haven’s tagline was born from this experience…from the pain (storms) I witnessed so many of my clients within and the relief that came by two humans discussing, processing, and finding a way forward—with tools that allowed them to develop a new relationship with the challenges of life and discovering new ways of responding.

This is my mission. May everyone know what it means to live the intentional and well lived life and not miss the beauty right outside our door ❤️

Supervision

Supervision for Rock Star Healing Arts Psychotherapists

Storm Haven, Counseling & Wellness

Jen is a think outside the box, authentic, and down to earth human. Jen does real and this shows up fully within supervision.

Jen has walked in both the non-profit and private practice worlds.  This lends well to providing well-rounded supervision.

Supervision with Jen is a growth enhancing experience filled with collaboration and insight to make you the most compassionate and effective therapist possible.  

From deeply relational discussions within a variety of theoretical orientations to looking through the lens of both diagnosing and non-pathologizing towards highlighting the whole person approach, you will continuously grow within the self of the therapist and discover great depths along the journey. 

Jen loves being a supervisor because she loves walking alongside supervisees on their path to licensure and beyond. 

Jen stays informed in all things related to mental health field so that she may pass this along to you.  

Jen is a lifelong learner. While she will teach and support you, she will also learn a lot from you.  This field is one in which we are all learning from each other every single day.  When we learn to teach we are able to master the craft of being a psychotherapist. 

What Jen hopes for you is to NOT become a carbon copy of her but to build upon your innate skills and unique strengths to become fully you—therapist as a human and human as a therapist—because this is how clients will be drawn to you and how you will help the clients who come into your life! 

If you resonate with what is written here, Jen would absolutely love to connect with you 🙂

Connect with Jen
Counseling, Life Coach, Psychotherapy

Be the Mighty Zen Gator

Storm Haven, Counseling & Wellness

Be a Mighty Zen Gator

Seek the Balance of the Fierce and Zen-Like Gator

In the natural world, gators 🐊 have evolved to thrive with remarkable efficiency. They do not squander their precious time and energy on endeavors that might deplete them, unless those pursuits promise substantial benefits. These creatures, seemingly indifferent to the world around them, lurk below the surface, always vigilant for opportunities and threats—continually evaluating, “Will this help me?” or “Will this harm me?” It’s only the truly worthy morsels that trigger a gator’s response.

As humans, we encounter our own version of “tasty morsel” experiences along our life’s path. Before we react, we too have the opportunity to pause and ask ourselves, “Will this harm me?” or “Will this help me?” It is within this critical space between experience and response that our mental health and well-being are profoundly influenced.

By mastering the art of remaining present and responding mindfully, we can unlock the potential for a more intentional and rewarding life. Just like the gator carefully selects its prey, we can learn to discern which experiences are truly worthy of our attention and action.

When an experience proves worthy of the “chomp,” it’s time to take action and fully savor the moment. Embrace the opportunity with enthusiasm and enjoy the benefits it offers. But what about those experiences that do not merit the “chomp”?

In these instances, we can draw inspiration from the gator’s wisdom. Rather than mindlessly reacting, we can deploy the tools of a chosen response. Take a moment to examine whether there is anything worth pursuing further. Process the situation thoughtfully and remain in a state of mindfulness, akin to the fierce and tranquil nature of the gator 🐊.

By adopting the Gator Mindset, we gain the ability to navigate life’s challenges and opportunities with a sense of purpose and clarity. We become masters of discernment, able to differentiate between what serves our well-being and what doesn’t. Through this practice of mindful response, we can cultivate a more intentional, harmonious, and rewarding life journey—one that aligns with our mental health and well-being goals. 🐊

Counseling, Life Coach, Life Exploration, Therapy

Stop the Glorification of Busy and Seek Balance

Storm Haven, Counseling & Wellness
Seek Life Balance

Yesterday as I buzzed around from one task to another, my back sent a tinge of pain that was echoed from the past. In that moment, I found myself thinking upon when I had my back injury.

Back on October 28th, 2021, I was rushing about and did not see the patch of slippery water on my bathroom floor. In one split second I went from full able bodied to the worst pain I have experienced in my life (and I birthed four children). As I filled a water bottle to pour into my diffuser, I envisioned adding some peppermint in and pulled from the future of what that moment would feel like…to be grounded and calm as I sat down for my next online client session.

Well, I was grounded alright as water dropped from my newly filled cup, I had the briefest of a flashing thought, “be careful, you may slip on that water…” Oh that thought was ever so brief and no sooner had a microsecond passed, my feet went up above my head and down I went in one ungraceful and swift swoosh. I was on the ground and screaming in excruciating pain. I could not collect my thoughts as I instinctively rolled over in a child’s pose and did the best I could to breath through that moment. The body is a wonderful thing, it takes over and does what is needed when survival is at stake. While still very much in pain, I was able to regain my mind enough to think of my client who would be waiting online for me in two short minutes.

I began yelling for my family. I needed help. No one responded. No one was home. I was alone and unable to move. I had my Apple Watch on so, thankfully, I was able to text my oldest daughter for help. Thankfully, she was just pulling up to our home and came running inside. She grabbed my phone and I sent my client what was the most comprehensive message I could fathom. My ethics brain kicked in…”do not tell too much, don’t make your client hold your pain, boundaries Jen…”

Here is what I was able to say,

“I am so sorry. I need to cancel. I was prepping for our session (filling my humidifier) and slipped on some water in my bathroom. On my back right now. I need to reschedule. Will text later.”

See while there are different schools of thoughts on how to communicate with a client when the therapist is the one in pain, I modeled being human and real and in that moment I was being my authentic self…the best I could anyway while in blinding pain as I considered whether to head to the ER or not and I may have…if I could have moved.

See I had slipped on slippery water while I was rushing about from one thing to the next and in between clients. I had let me last client go beyond that 50-minute mark and had mere minutes to tend to my in-between session needs. My mind was in overload and I was not living the lessons I taught so passionately to my clients. I was overbooked and had over extended myself beyond too far. I did not take the care needed in that moment to slow down and pay attention and I was fully in the repercussions of that lesson now.

Vernon Law says, “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.”

During that time and through my healing, I came to a realization that my body is in fact more fragile than my yesteryears and did not so easily rebound. I also found myself within a sort of existential crisis of aging and how short life is. Being unable to move freely and do the things I loved was difficult. Why was my body not cooperating?!?!

Paralleling this unfortunate event was a sense of reset into what is important, what direction I wanted to head, and what this included. It took a months to heal and it was one day at a time. I took the first week off from clients as I was unable to walk with ease…let alone sit in one position for each client session. It was a painful lesson.

While healing, I also had to practice some self-compassion between what I wanted to do and what I could actually do and also carry that lesson to today to slow down, do not rush, enjoy this moment—even if things are not where I want them to be. Living a valued based life is, while clichè, about the journey and not the destination.

While I slowly healed through present day, it left a distinct lesson in its wake. My back still aches upon occasion to this day. It now serves as a reminder that—while I am functioning pretty well now—I need to take care of my body, mind, and overall life balance.

I am not perfect- I still fall into the hustle and bustle and the glorification of societal influence and pressure within the glorification of busy. Heck! If I am hustling and bustling within a passion and living within my values bring it on : ) However, today the tinge of echoed back pain serves as a worthy reminder to be followed. It is one day at a time and often moment to moment decisions of which path to take in front of me. My mind tells me, “remember to pace, Jennifer, pace.”

Moral of the Story: avoid the puddles of “water” that lay before you as metaphorical disguises of the glorification of busy. 😊💛

Consultation, Intentional Life, Life Exploration, Training

Traveling Therapist: Travel Far, Eat Well, Live Long, and Love Optimally

Storm Haven, Counseling & Wellness
Here I go again!

In 2018, I packed up and ventured abroad in pursuit of living within my values and the intentionally cultivated life, a reflection of my work with clients (i.e., a mindful life). Italy served as my home base as I soaked up travel all across Europe. Then, just a short year later, I came back as a virus was taking hold overseas, the pandemic that would eventually find its way to the United States and send us into a whirlwind of quarantine and a balance of dismay and the discovery of what is truly important in life.

Now, heading into 2022 and, what seems like a lifetime later, I am gearing up once again to quench my inner travel bug. This time my home base will be Japan while also keeping a foothold in California. I am grateful that my passion career allows me the ability to be anywhere in the world while providing services to clients in California and Ohio (where I hold licensure).

Since I have provided ongoing and effective online therapeutic services since 2017, and as aligned within my previous pursuits overseas, I am beyond thankful that I am blessed to take my wonderful clients with me on this next adventure : )

So, here we go : ) Traveling Abroad is set for April 2022!

Coaching, Counseling, Life Coach, Psychotherapy, Therapy

Is This Mine to Carry?

Storm Haven, Counseling & Wellness

When you find yourself upset by a situation or person, ask yourself if the thoughts, feelings, or actions from the situation or person is yours to carry.

With this, it could be helpful to visualize a bag (or an assortment of bags) during these times.

Observe the bag—it’s shape, it’s color, it’s size, it’s contents, it’s weight—and decide whether you wish to pick it up and hold it…or not.

This comes with the parallel awareness and realization that—like airport baggage/luggage—we can only carry/handle so much before being bogged down and overall the contents of the bags preventing us from getting to our gates and ultimately to our desired destination within the optimal experience (i.e., the destination that is aligned with our life values and goals).

A question to ask as you approach a new bag…is this mine to carry? Is this something I choose to carry?

Coaching, Counseling, Life Coach, Psychotherapy, Therapy

Urge Surfing

Storm Haven, Counseling & Wellness

Urge surfing can be used with any urges (e.g., urges to avoid, escape, or push away unwanted emotions, urges within procrastination, urges to isolate, urges to self-harm) you experience, including action urges of emotions that don’t serve us well.

Emotions also serve a purpose. Similar to when our stomachs rumble to signal hunger, emotions signal us of a greater need. With this, we can have the urge to run from the action urge of anxiety or grief /loss because of the discomfort of the experience. If we can learn to sit with the emotion, be curious, and identify what it is trying to communicate to us…we can, in turn, take positive action within it and ultimately respond mindfully (versus react) to its signal. When we are able to do this, the strength of the wave is diminished.

To Urge Surf, visualize urges rising and falling like waves. Rather than trying to fight against the wave and be tossed and turned upside down, practice the skill of noticing and observing then surfing the wave until it’s lost it’s power.

Each urge has 3 stages:

RISE WITH INTENSITY

The rise of intensity is when the urge is triggered or begins building up. This is when, if we are able to notice and name what is happening (pay attention non-judgmentally to the sensations that are occurring for us). We can be curious and open to this experience and choose in that moment to not fight against it. We can also deploy our learned coping /mindfulness strategies (breath work, grounding, engage our 6 sensations of sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing plus movement) so that the wave does not grow as big.

THE PEAK

2) The peak is the point the urge is the strongest, like the white caps of the crest of the wave as it peaks. It is slightly before this that we must choose whether to surf and ride the wave or be taken down by it. If we choose to ride, we can continue to take deep mindful breaths as we ride our surfboard. This stage can last up to 20 minutes.

THE CRASH

3) The crash starts when the urge begins to lessen, like a wave after it has peaked and starts falling back into the ocean and towards the reclaimed calm.

Coaching, Counseling, Life Coach, Psychotherapy, Therapy

Past, Present, or Future?

Storm Haven, Counseling & Wellness

We can often become anxious in anticipation of the future or sad about the past. It can be helpful when we are able to live in the present.

If this sounds like you, the following activity may be useful. If you would like to try it out, write “future” on a piece of paper. Under “future” write “present” and under “present” write “past.”

When you feel caught up in thoughts or emotions, slide/move your finger up or down the page to determine where you are. Are you in the past, present, or future?

After a few times you can move the written out page to a visual in your mind. This can be a useful strategy as you move about your day in order to determine your current mindset. If you find you are in the future or past, you can then ask yourself what you may be able to do to move back to the present. This is an intentionally lived and mindful life, a life within the present.

Marriage and Family Therapy

Single on Valentine’s?

Storm Haven, Counseling & Wellness

Humans are wired for connection so it is no wonder that being single on Valentine’s Day can bring with it a sense of feeling left out.

Society has a way of communicating that being in a relationship is the only way you get to celebrate Valentine’s Day. THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE! Whether you are single by choice or single for reasons beyond your control (e.g., because we are in a pandemic 😷), you do not have to be in a relationship to take part in this holiday.

There is no rule that says you have to celebrate Valentine’s Day but if you would like to, these tips may help:

—Shift the focus and be your own secret admirer

Practice self-care, compassion, and self-love. Instead of focusing on what you may not have, reframe your mindset onto what you do have and treat yourself well.

—Reduce or eliminate love triggers

Today may not be the day to watch a movie with a romantic love story or listen to love songs. Rather, try a new genre or better yet plan something new that you can look forward to. Focus on your holistic growth by going on a hike, trying a new virtual workout, participating in a new activity, and/or tuning into YouTube for some virtual travel sights. In fact, research shows planning, watching, or re-living a past travel experience in your mind can elevate the feel good chemicals as if you were actually on the trip.

—Plan a Singles Zoom Date with Friends

Get together with others to play online games, watch a movie, cook a meal together, or just hang out.

—Shower someone else with care

Do you know of someone else who is single or recently lost a loved one? Sending a small but thoughtful gift could mean the world to another. Bonus, it may bring increased levels of happiness and connection to you also.

Valentine’s Day can be a joyful time if you are within a relationship but quite difficult if you find yourself alone. If you’re struggling with severe feelings of loneliness and inability to cope, it may be a good idea to reach out to a caring mental health professional. The global pandemic has brought with it a whole array of difficult and residual effects. We all need someone sometimes to help and support.

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