Just like the journeys I explore here, my own journey has been a wild and winding one. I am a thinker, a writer, a mother, a psychotherapist, a teacher, and a major dreamer. My days are filled with two wildly different pieces of life: with one piece, we find psychological academia and healing work…and with the other piece, the unabated joy and terror of motherhood (also healing work). Stacks of textbooks? Check. Tarot cards? Check. Jung’s Collected Works? Yep. Astrology books and charts? Got ’em. Legos, markers, an assortment of tiaras, and sand stuck to just about everything? Indeed.

Tough work and amazing work abounds in all aspects of this full and beautiful life. What a blessing to be in continual dialog with the next generation of thinkers and healers. What a blessing  to shape a tiny person, day in and day out, in our ever-evolving relationship of push and pull, questions and answers, joy and tears.

For those who are into the technical stuff, I earned a B.A. in Psychology from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where I was lucky to have the guidance of Dr. David C. S. Richard. This is where I learned about the fundamentals of psychological work, and began to hone my focus on trauma studies. I went on to receive my M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, where I am now proud to work on the other side of things. I serve as the current Department Co-Chair for Counseling Psychology at Pacifica, and teach both research and clinical courses in the MA program.

I am also a licensed psychotherapist with dual LMFT and LPCC licensure. My clinical work focuses on the tenets of depth psychology, and a deep honoring of the psyche. In this extraordinarily meaningful work, we honor all that is…especially leaving space for that which is yet to be consciously seen, known, or understood. We pay attention to what the unconscious is trying to say to us. We look, listen, and feel deeply into dreams, intuition, synchronicity, images, symbols, and every individual who crosses our path. Each piece of information that is presented to us is invaluable in the web of meaning-making.

And while I’m guiding my graduate students with their writing and research, I make space to do the same for myself. My own ongoing research focuses on adoption/separation trauma, exploring the numinous awakenings inherent in trauma and PTSD, the intersection of astrology and depth psychology, and various modalities of alternative healing and light work.

Every day brings a new journey, so come journey with me. Life is love…and love is everything.

Jemma Elliot, M.A., L.P.C.C., L.M.F.T., is the Department Co-Chair and a Core Professor for the Counseling Psychology Department at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara.  Jemma, an adult adoptee, has a clinical focus on adoption and separation trauma, and has provided trainings and spoken on panels to advance the understanding of the needs of children and families on the adoption spectrum throughout Los Angeles County. Jemma also has a special interest in working with PTSD from a depth psychological perspective, and in witnessing and hosting the extrasensory gifts and energetic awakenings that often arise in clients after traumatic experiences. In her downtime, Jemma can be found pursuing her passion for greyhound rescue, cultivating her love of the arts, and dancing and singing with the love of her life, her eight-year-old daughter, Kaia Joy.