I'm Jess. At 43, I'm building Oak & River in a season where the work I do with clients mirrors the work I'm doing in my own life. That's not a disclaimer. It's the whole point.
For a long time I was the woman my practice is built for. The capable one. The dependable one. The one who held it together so well nobody thought to ask if I was okay. I built a life that worked - marriage, motherhood, career, faith, friendships - all of it real, all of it functioning. From the outside it looked like I had it together.
Inside, I had been quietly saying I'm fine for so long I had forgotten it was ever a sentence I chose.
What shifted wasn't a crisis. It was an unraveling - slow, then all at once. I lost my father. I came to motherhood differently than I'd planned, to two boys who quietly reshaped everything I thought I was building. I started seeing my own story clearly for the first time. And I changed careers entirely, in my late thirties, toward something that finally felt like mine.
The woman who walked into 35 could not have carried what was coming. The woman walking into 43 could. I'm about six months past the moment I finally surrendered the wheel. That's the work I do with clients now - not from the other side of transition, but from freshly past the white-knuckle grip, with hands that still remember.
What to expect from me: I'm direct. I name what I notice. I won't be a blank slate. I'll meet you with presence, honesty, and the kind of perceptive attention that comes from having sat in your seat. I won't rush you and I won't manage you. I will, gently and consistently, help you see the operating system that has been running without your consent.
If any of this lands - if some part of you just exhaled - that's the part of you we'll be working with.
My Approach
Therapy that actually moves something.
I work with women who are externally capable but internally running on empty. You've built a life that looks fine from the outside, maybe even impressive. But inside, something's been quietly draining.
My work is about helping you reconnect with yourself. Not just managing symptoms, but understanding the patterns that got you here, and building real capacity to live differently.
What I Believe
Insight without action is incomplete
Understanding yourself matters. But therapy should also produce real shifts in how you live and relate.
You are not the role you learned to play
The patterns that kept you safe once aren't the whole story. You get to outgrow them.
The body knows things the mind hasn't admitted yet
We work with the whole person not just what you can articulate.
Credentials and Practice Details:
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Licensed Mental Health Counselor Intern, State of Florida (Registration #IMH27278)
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Clinical supervision: Bonnie Jo Daniels, LMHC (License #MH 17418)
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Working under clinical supervision toward full licensure, which means your sessions meet the same ethical and clinical standards as a fully licensed therapist.
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Fully virtual practice, serving women across Florida via secure telehealth.
$165 per 50-minute individual session
Oak & River is out-of-network with all insurance carriers. Monthly superbills are available upon request for clients who would like to seek potential reimbursement from their insurance provider.
