Jennifer Shotwell

Jennifer is currently a doctoral student seeking a Ph.D. in Addiction Psychology at Northcentral University.

She specializes in substance abuse, spiritual trauma, oppositional adolescents, and personality disorders. She treats all clusters of personality disorders. She is trained in EMDR and is an expert at using this therapy strategy with the high-risk nature of her clients. Her clinical focus is Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) which supports acceptance of self, others, and life by reducing the rigidity of our thinking.

Jennifer is a strong, direct therapist who uses candor and concern throughout the session. She is open about her diagnosis and recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder. Jennifer has gained knowledge through her own life of ups and downs, through multiple years of schooling, and working with hundreds of clients over her time as a therapist. She is extremely passionate about helping her clients and attributes her own success to her time in therapy.

She has worked in a range of settings including transitional living, inpatient rehabilitation, intensive outpatient treatment, and private practice. It is common for her clients to be struggling with active addiction, self-harm, suicidal ideation, broken relationships, psychiatric hospital visits, illegal activity, and uncertain futures.

Jennifer Shotwell’s Story:

My story includes feeling misunderstood and overwhelmed, quite often. It felt that I was always being given incorrect information about myself. All the help I was getting was only looking at the external coping skills and behaviors. I was being told '“stop drinking” when seeking substance abuse help or “you need to be nicer” when seeking support for broken friendships. I remember feeling that I would never get the help I needed. It wasn’t until I had messed up my life pretty bad that someone finally asked what else was going on. At Prime Counseling, we skip the first part and immediately dive into the core issues negatively impacting your life and relationships.