Jess Thompson

Jess’s approach to therapy is radically affirming in the belief that healing does not have to look like constant self-optimization. What brings people to therapy is not personal failure, but often the understandable result of the experiences, relationships, and messages that have shaped them. Jess sees her role as traveling alongside you with humanizing compassion and genuine interest in who you are, co-creating a space where the unedited and unpolished parts of you feel fully welcome. Jess’s therapeutic style is grounded in a kind-hearted and curious presence that makes room for depth and respect as well as warmth and playfulness. Informed by feminist thought, Jess recognizes that you are the expert on your own life and hold the power to determine what healing and growth look like for you. Jess’s work is to help clients unlearn harmful conditioning and reclaim self-trust, choice, and clarity so they can meet life’s challenges with greater confidence. Jess’s clinical emphasis is in working with individuals, relationships, and groups to deepen self-understanding and cultivate compassion, both for themselves and for those they love. Jess works with clients navigating a wide range of concerns, including anxiety, trauma, relationship struggles, emotional overwhelm, body image, self-worth, creative blocks, communication challenges, and life transitions. Jess works with individuals and couples navigating sexual concerns, intimacy challenges, sexual pain and questions around sexual identity and expression. She views sexuality as a meaningful part of human experience and helps clients explore this area of their lives with curiosity, respect, and freedom from shame. Jess embraces all expressions of gender, sexuality and is a sex-positive, kink-friendly, and poly-affirming counselor. Jess uses an integrative approach to tailor therapy to each client’s unique needs, drawing from modalities including Relational-Cultural Therapy (RCT), strengths-based approaches, Narrative Therapy, Creative Arts Therapies, mindfulness and body-based interventions, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). Jess earned a Master’s in both Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Art Therapy from Adler University in Chicago. She is also currently pursuing her Certificate in Sex Therapy. Jess is committed to multicultural competence, anti-racism, social advocacy, and community engagement. Jess is supervised by Ashley Homa.