Hello, and welcome to my professional website. Here you will find basic information about counseling in general, and about me and my services. If you have a question not answered here, or would like to schedule an appointment, please send a contact form or call me for a free 15 minute phone consultation. I look forward to talking with you soon! ~ Jill Dean, LPC
***TELEHEALTH COUNSELING SESSIONS ARE AVAILABLE ANY WHERE IN ALABAMA, ALONG WITH IN-PERSON SESSIONS IN PELHAM.
CALL 205-703-2815 FOR INFORMATION.***
What Is Counseling?
Counseling is provided by professionals who have completed a minimum of a Masters degree in graduate school. In Alabama, a professional counselor in private practice, must be licensed to practice by the state. Licensure requires a passing score on a national exam, and up to 3000 hours of post-graduate supervision by an L.P.C. Supervisor. In addition to having a private practice, there are many different jobs that counselors can hold. Some examples include alcohol and substance abuse treatment, mental health settings, not-for-profit agencies, hospitals, and for-profit large practices alongside psychiatrists and psychologists.
Background and Experience
"I am a Licensed Professional Counselor who completed a Master's degree in Counseling in 1998, and a post-graduate Education Specialist degree in Counseling in 2002, both from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is licensed by the state of Alabama to provide counseling in a private practice. l have years of experience and specialize in the areas of addiction, trauma and abuse, anxiety with or without self-harm, marriage/couple's issues, grief and loss, post-partum depression, miscarriage loss and infertility. I am also an LGBTQIA+ ally and welcome everyone. During the span of my career, l spent 10 years providing individual and group counseling, play therapy, and crisis counseling to victim/survivors of domestic and sexual violence in a non-profit shelter agency in Alabama. For six years I worked with children and adolescents who were deemed "at-risk" for future behavioral and/or mental issues due to their difficult, sometimes abusive, living environments. I worked most recently with a local substance abuse treatment agency, providing counseling for intensive outpatient consumers and residential consumers. Part of this work involved providing counseling ( group and individual) to health professionals and other professionals, and first responders seeking treatment for addiction. In addition, prior to my return to graduate school, I was a Licensed Physical Therapy Assistant for nearly 15 years, 11 of those at St. Vincent's Hospital."
Jill is a seasoned professional counselor who has helped hundreds of women, men and children over the years, working on their domestic or sexual violence, addiction issues, as well as other problems that often make coping much more difficult. Some of these other issues include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and C-PTSD, most often seen in persons who grew up in an abusive environment; self-injury (examples include cutting, burning, or excessive exercise), personality disorders such as Borderline Personality, Dependent Personality and Histrionic Personality; mental health diagnoses, such as Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder; suicidal ideations, grief and loss, anxiety, and disordered eating. Jill is also an advocate for survivors of human sexual trafficking, particularly in the prostitution and pornography area, and has provided therapy to survivors over the years.
Jill approaches each client individually to determine what may best help the person meet their goals, whether it is to work on building self-esteem and healthy coping tools, or learning to replace self-injurious behaviors with healthy and positive behaviors, for example. Some of the tools used are from a trauma-informed approach, utilizing skills of Cognitive Behavioral, Dialectical Behavioral, Sensory, Mindfulness, and Psychodynamics, to name a few.
While Jill has varied experience with many different issues, occasionally she may feel that there is another counselor more experienced in a particular topic that you may benefit from seeing. Many counselors like Jill have a specialty or special interests, and this is where most of their experience lies. If after assessment this is the case, Jill will discuss your options with you. In this case, she will discuss making an appropriate referral for you to another qualified mental health professional. It is always your choice whether to continue seeing Jill or accepting the referral offered to you.
So much change is happening in our world today and many are experiencing a resurgence of anxiety, depression, or even feeling re-traumatized with older trauma injuries. This is a normal reaction to abnormal events. If you need help in finding your safe space to get back on track, give me a call.
Call Jill today at 205-703-2815 or complete the contact form below for a free phone consultation, to schedule a 30 minute face-to-face consultation, or to schedule a counseling appointment. All services are provided by a Licensed Professional Counselor, confidential, and private pay, no insurance is required. Superbills can be provided for you to file with your insurance for Out of Network reimbursement, where available.
Verified by Psychology Today.