Dr. Jennifer Kaufman Walker: Autonomy, trust, and the long arc of healing

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
I'm Dr.

(00:00):
Jennifer Elizabeth KaufmanWalker.
Um, my company is True NorthPsychological Services, and I
work with children, adolescents,and adults primarily in trauma
and grief and loss.

SPEAKER_00 (00:12):
Amazing.
Now take me back to how you gotstarted in all of this.
Tell me how you got to where youare today.

SPEAKER_01 (00:19):
So I started out at Lynchburg College.
I took psychology classes, notknowing exactly what I wanted to
do with it.
But then I began volunteering atthe sexual assault response
program Crisis Line.
Then I decided to major inpsychology, transferred or
graduated, and then went toMarymount University for my

(00:43):
master's.
There I worked at NorthernVirginia Mental Health
Institute, Arlington Artworks,Arlington Community Residence,
PRS, and the domestic violenceshelter.
And then from there went on toget my PhD at George Washington
University.
I worked at Arlington CountyBehavioral Health slash the

(01:04):
Arlington County Jail and in theCommunity Services Counseling
Center.

SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
Very cool.
So it sounds like you've hadkind of a wide variety of going
all over and getting a taste ofa little bit of everything.
Cool.
Okay.
So you've been named best mentalhealth practitioner in Loudoun
County.
What does that recognition meanto you and your practice?

SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
Well, it means a lot, especially because I'm
newer in a brick and mortarprivate practice.
Um and it shows that in a shortperiod of time you can make an
impact on the people you workwith, but it was a great honor
to be considered even.
So winning it was verysurprising, but much

(01:44):
appreciated.

SPEAKER_00 (01:45):
Amazing.
And you often say the phrase,one size does not fit all in
therapy.
How does that philosophy shapeyour approach to mental health?

SPEAKER_01 (01:55):
I believe that every person, regardless of the
diagnosis or the symptoms, willnot respond the same to every
typical therapy.
So I have been trained andcertified in a variety of
therapies so that when a personcomes in and I'm working with
them, I get to know them, I givethem my idea of what I believe

(02:21):
would be beneficial.
And to ensure that there's asense of autonomy, um, we go
through them and they get tosay, I'm interested in trying
that or this.
And we kind of go from there.

SPEAKER_00 (02:35):
And what values guide you when working with
clients through their mostdifficult challenges?

SPEAKER_01 (02:41):
First and foremost, trust they feel safe and that
they have accessibility so thatthey know that they could pick
up the phone or text me at anytime and that there's someone in
their corner who is wanting tohelp them and see them succeed.

SPEAKER_00 (03:01):
I feel like that's such a sought-after um way to
run your business, being able toreach out in practically any
time of the day.
That's that's amazing.
And what inspired you to pursuecounseling and specialize in
grief, trauma, and firstresponder support?

SPEAKER_01 (03:20):
Trauma, I feel like, is of uh misunderstood and not
as accessible specialty.
And so many people haveexperienced it, especially in
this day and age with everythingthat has occurred.

(03:42):
Greet it first responders, itwas during COVID when I realized
that there were so many firstresponders needing support and
so few counselors who werecertified within the first
responder um community.
Um, and then on top of that, thegrief and loss, when I lost my

(04:04):
dad in 2002, I realized that isone thing that we have all
experienced, whether it's a lossof a loved one, a pet, a loss of
our own health, a job, a home,grief and loss kind of
infiltrates everything.

SPEAKER_00 (04:20):
Absolutely.
So it's important to note thatgrief spares no one.
Yeah, no, it definitely doesn't.
How has your work with children,families?
Oh, I'm sorry, I just asked youthat one.
Can you share a moment when youtruly saw the impact of your
integrative approach on aclient's healing journey?

SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
Um, so uh every day I'm lucky enough to see the
impact and my client's hardwork.
But I think one of the mostrewarding experiences was with a
girl who sort of maybe 10 yearsago um was having behavioral

(05:03):
problems.
She was in the foster caresystem, and she was diagnosed
with conduct disorder.
And I felt like something wasoff about the diagnosis.
So I continued watching, doingresearch, and I said that I felt
like there were she was havingseizures, non-convulsive

(05:23):
seizures, and advocated for herto go to a neurologist.
And sure enough, she was havingseizures.
So the seizures would happen,and she'd just kind of stare off
into space, so it wasn't veryobvious.
And then the behavioral piecewould happen immediately
following.
So once they got her onmedication, the behaviors
completely stopped, and she wasable to kind of live her best

(05:48):
life.

SPEAKER_00 (05:49):
How wonderful that she could start that healing
process, and you had such anintegral piece of it.
It was pretty cool.
So you provide clinicalsupervision across multiple
states.
What values do you emphasizewhen mentoring the next
generation of counselors?

SPEAKER_01 (06:07):
Supervision is probably one of my favorite
pieces of this field.
I love instilling confidence inmy supervisees and taking a
collaborative approach becausereally supervision sets the
stage for your work, right?
So if you have a supervisor whomakes you feel as though you

(06:31):
don't know enough or makes yourconfidence dip, or you don't
feel supported by, that's goingto impact how you feel about
your abilities as a counseloronce you are within the field.
So trust, collaboration,confidence.

SPEAKER_00 (06:52):
Absolutely.
And as we were talking ofearlier, I feel like with trust
in any job or any field, withouttrust, you have nothing.
What role does collaborationplay with between you, clients,
families, and other providers?

SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
I feel like collaboration among providers
and family members is such ahuge piece of the puzzle.
So I am very communicative,communicative with families,
especially with children.
And I cannot do my job if I amnot in communication with the

(07:30):
school or the primary carephysician or the psychiatrist or
the, you know, occupationaltherapist.
If we are not all workingtogether, then it's kind of like
throwing pieces of a puzzle on atable and not having the pieces
to connect them.

SPEAKER_00 (07:45):
Exactly.
And you use a wide range ofmodalities from ED, EMDR to IFS
to somatic practices.
How do you decide which toolsbest serve a client?

SPEAKER_01 (07:59):
So obviously, there is kind of the standard of care
and what we consider the go-tofor different disorders, but I
don't typically look at that asmuch as I get to know the client
and what their goals are, whattheir symptoms are.

(08:19):
And I like to be creative withmy therapy modalities, so which
is why I've been certified in somany different types, and I
present them to my client andsay, you know, here are the ways
we can tackle this and gothrough the pros, the cons,
their address their fears,concerns, thoughts, and then to

(08:41):
ensure that sense of autonomy, Ilike that they have the buy-in
to what they feel is best.

SPEAKER_00 (08:48):
Sure.
Absolutely.
And what do you wish more peopleunderstood about trauma-informed
care and why it matters?

SPEAKER_01 (08:58):
So I think the most important piece is the fact that
trauma looks differently foreveryone.
So it's not about the event thatoccurred as much as it is about
the person's ability to copewith the event and the support
system they have behind them.

(09:19):
So someone can experience anevent that one person may not
feel is traumatic, but theydon't have the scaffolding, I
think you said earlier, to helpsupport them.
So if like a child goes throughsomething and goes home and is
dismissed or invalidated, or theparent doesn't believe them, or

(09:41):
they feel like they have no oneto turn to, doesn't have to just
be a parent, anyone who isthey're strongly connected with,
that event is more likely toturn into long-term trauma for
that individual versus someonewho could go through an
absolutely like horrificdisaster and have support in

(10:05):
place.
And that won't turn into along-term trauma for them.
So it's really about coping andthe people you have around you
to support you.

SPEAKER_00 (10:14):
Kind of having those building blocks at home with the
family.
And how do you integrateneuropsychological insights and
mindfulness to create a holistictreatment experience?

SPEAKER_01 (10:28):
So everything is connected.
Our body, our physical health,our mental health, our brain.
And in order for someone totruly gain control over their
mental health, and this doesn'tapply obviously to severe mental
illness, but more so, you know,anxiety, depression, somatic

(10:50):
type of things, is to firstunderstand how the brain and the
body work and communicate, andthen bringing awareness to the
different shifts in your bodyand ways to control those shifts
and calm them down so that itgoes and sends those signals to
the brain to be like, okay, youcan calm down now.

(11:12):
That is kind of the the circle,so to speak.

SPEAKER_00 (11:22):
What do you hope clients walk away with after
working with you beyond symptomrelief?

SPEAKER_01 (11:28):
That they have someone in their corner, that it
doesn't matter if it's been aweek since we stopped working
together, five years, 10 years,that they can always reach out.
Once you're a client of mine,you'll always be a client of
mine.
And so if you're in crisis in 10years from our last meeting, you
can send me a text and I willfind a way to get you seen and

(11:50):
in to the practice as soon aspossible.

SPEAKER_00 (11:53):
Awesome.
I feel like that would be reallyreassuring to a client.
They can reach out at any time,whether it's 10 years down the
road.
And how do you see your role,not just as a clinic clinician,
but as an advocate for reducingstigma around mental health?

SPEAKER_01 (12:13):
I think just continued conversations, whether
it's reels or podcasts or booksor just talking to people,
therapy and mental healthdoesn't have to be a shameful
experience.
We all, every single person inthe world, and I will die on

(12:35):
that hill, has struggled withtheir mental health, whether
it's for a moment or a long-termissue.
We have all been there, and sonot talking about it, I think,
is the biggest issue.
So just continued conversationand communication about our

(12:58):
experiences without shame.

SPEAKER_00 (13:00):
For sure.
Like at the end of the day,we're all human and we all need
help sometimes.
There's no shame in that.
So looking ahead, what's yourvision for your practice and the
legacy you want to leave in thefield of mental health?

SPEAKER_01 (13:14):
I'd like to continue the way I'm going, um, where my
practice is small enough where Istill have that one-on-one
communication with my clients.
I'd like to continuesupervising, writing just to
make an impact, even if it'sjust on a few people, feels like
enough to me.

SPEAKER_00 (13:36):
Sounds very rewarding.
Very rewarding job.
Yeah.
And so, Jennifer, as we wrap up,is there anything that you'd
like to add that I haven'ttouched on?

SPEAKER_01 (13:46):
One important part of my practice is the name your
your price sliding scale.
I, if anyone cannot afford myservices or the services of
someone who I work with, we askfor you to look at your budget
and name a price of whateveryou're comfortable with and
we'll honor it.
No questions asked.
Um, the same applies for fullplaying clients.

(14:09):
If they are they hit a hardship,we're not going to stop seeing
them because they can't affordto pay our price.
We don't ask for any sort ofproof or any of that.
Um, and the other thing is, iseven if you do reach out and you
don't, you know, we're not theright fit, the one promise I can

(14:30):
make is that I'm going to doeverything I can to ensure that
you get connected to someone whocan help you.
Again, even if you're not goingwith us as a clinician.

SPEAKER_00 (14:41):
That's wonderful.
Well, I want to thank you somuch today for joining me on the
podcast.
It was a pleasure having you.
Thank you for having me.