Jennifer Plumb Vilardaga (she/hers)

ACT is the primary way I provide therapy. By honoring the traps and opportunities of being a thinking and feeling human we can learn to live more freely. With keen observation and compassion, we can learn to choose to either move AWAY from discomfort (perhaps at the cost of what really matters) or TOWARD meaningful living (perhaps with discomfort along for the ride). I earned my doctoral with ACT founder Steven C. Hayes, and I am an internationally-recognized ACT therapist, author, and trainer.

ACT is the primary way I provide therapy. By honoring the traps and opportunities of being a thinking and feeling human we can learn to live more freely. With keen observation and compassion, we can learn to choose to either move AWAY from discomfort (perhaps at the cost of what really matters) or TOWARD meaningful living (perhaps with discomfort along for the ride). I earned my doctorate with ACT founder Steven C. Hayes, and I am an internationally-recognized ACT therapist, author, and trainer.

I have extensive experience providing many kinds of exposure therapy for anxiety, OCD and PTSD. Trying to avoid discomfort makes sense, but limits life profoundly over time. Exposure therapy puts you in the driver's seat - you decide what you fear, we work up toward the harder fears, and I coach you to feel your way through to being more free. I was trained in exposure therapy from experts in their fields at major academic hospitals and have trained other learning psychologists as well.

I have extensive experience providing many kinds of exposure therapy for anxiety, OCD and PTSD. Trying to avoid discomfort makes sense, but limits life profoundly over time. Exposure therapy puts you in the driver's seat - you decide what you fear, we work up toward the harder fears, and I coach you to feel your way through to being more free. I was trained in exposure therapy from experts in their fields at major academic hospitals and have trained other therapists in these methods.

By slowing and down and looking at things in a new way, we can learn to develop a new perspective on even our most painful feelings and experiences, our history, our current situation, and begin to savor, appreciate, and live life a little more freely. I draw from ACT and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and have long practiced mindfulness and yoga in my life. I also draw from the research on mindfulness and love helping people find free and accessible mindfulness practices to do at home.

Aging is not for the feint of heart. While it can bring decline, fears, and regrets, it is also an opportunity; to let go of what is (ultimately) not that important, develop a personal legacy, choose what is important, and reflect and appreciate what has come before. I draw on years of working with older adults in both the veterans hospitals and Duke University medical center to help you adapt to the present, seek out purpose, make peace, and prepare for what comes next with dignity.

Fear, worry, perfectionism, obsessions, hoarding, trauma - there are many forms of anxiety. Each has it's own way of making itself known in our world. I love working with individuals to help them understand their anxiety in a new way, and learn to live with it but not be defined by it. I have extensive experience drawing from research-based approaches to anxiety management, including exposure therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, mindfulness, and acceptance and commitment therapy.

We are each shaped by what came before. If you or loved ones lived through war, atrocity, disaster, sudden loss, immigration, early life abuse/neglect and so on, you may find that some of the ways of being informed by that are not as helpful. I provide a compassionate foundation to help identify old patterns that once served you (or the people you learned from) and practice new skills like grounding, self-trust, and self-compassion to create new, more workable patterns.

Navigating life transitions, parenting, caregiving, or having a career is tough enough on it's own but many of us do more than one of these at once. Instead of just trying to find more time (when??) for "self-care", I offer a new way. Let's slow down, begin to listen to your inner wisdom, watch out for inadvertently adding more suffering (because you are human), refine your deepest core values, and see if the choices you make from this place feel less stuck and more free.