Jennie Dickson-Mills
MSW, LCSW, SEP, E-RYT 200
I’m a psychotherapist and yoga/meditation teacher living and working in the Triangle area of North Carolina. I work with adults in individual therapy to address a range of concerns. I welcome people from all sexual orientations and gender identities, including transgender people, as well as all racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds.
In my approach to therapy I center the foundational importance of the mind-body connection, the healing nature of secure human relationships, and a critical cultural analysis with an anti-oppression lens. I believe that by building a loving connection with your body, yourself, and with others, it’s possible to not simply alleviate psychological symptoms, but to truly flourish.
In my work I bring a warm and empathic presence to my relationship with you as we collaborate to understand more clearly what has led you to seek help. Therapy is a dynamic process, and I believe strongly that understanding our inner worlds better can bring about dramatic change and growth. Typically, this involves deconstructing our outer world as well in order to understand what cultural forces have conspired to keep us locked in unhealthy patterns of thought, behavior, and relationship.
As a somatic therapist, I believe that we live in a culture with a profound disconnection from the body, and that re-establishing a compassionate relationship with our whole, embodied, selves through deep somatic emotional attunement is necessary to bring about self-regulation and peace. I integrate the teachings of mindfulness meditation, yoga, and Somatic Experiencing Therapy into my work in order to develop the felt sense of safety in the body and build lasting change from the inside out.
I have trained in a range of modalities over the years including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, and AEDP. I am committed to ongoing training in the latest methods for healing offered in the field. I also maintain a committed personal meditation and yoga practice, which I see as essential to my presence and grounding as a clinician. In addition to individual therapy, I also offer meditation and yoga training to individuals and groups. Check out COURSES & WORKSHOPS for current workshops and course offerings.
I offer free 15-minute phone consultations to see if we might be a good fit. Please email me to set up a time to talk.
Contact:
jennie@jenniedicksonmills.com
919 200 6641
In my free time I spend time with my partner and young child, who keeps me on my toes.
We love to play outdoors in nature, listen to music, and connect with our friends and family.
My Background
Education & Work
I worked as a clinician in the Duke University Counseling Center for 6 years prior to opening my private practice in the fall of 2017. During that time I worked with hundreds of students from diverse backgrounds and a wide range of presenting concerns. I also helped Duke CAPS engage in a 2-year anti-racism process with an organization called Dismantling Racism Works. As a social worker, seeing the impact of cultural oppression on psychological health is foundational to my training. The process of attempting to deconstruct systemic racism on an institutional level, and doing the internal work of understanding my own privilege as a white person and how it colludes with those systems, was a profound experience that enriched my passion for social justice and my commitment to the unending work of personal and cultural liberation.
I received my Masters in Clinical Social Work in 2013 from UNC-Chapel Hill. During my Masters I completed a practicum internship at the Duke High Risk Obstetrics Unit and a concentration year internship at Duke University Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). I was subsequently awarded a 2-year fellowship at Duke CAPS following graduation during my supervision and licensure years.
I completed a 1-year certification at Smith College School for Social Work in Clinical Supervision.
I completed a 3-year certification in Somatic Experiencing and I am registered as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP).
I received my Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from St. Mary's College of Maryland at Historic St. Mary's City in 2002.
Mindfulness & Meditation Training & Experience
I was introduced to yoga and meditation in 2005 and the practices were personally transformational for me. It is through my own devoted yoga and meditation practices and the healing I experienced through them that I eventually decided to offer these practices as a teacher. I did my first yoga teacher training in 2009 and I have taught yoga and meditation practices to a range of people in a variety of settings including studios, retreat centers, and in higher education ever since.
I have worked as a Teacher Trainer and Trainer of Trainers for the Mindfulness Institute for Emerging Adults (MIEA) since 2013, and I currently serve as a member of the MIEA Faculty. Through my work with MIEA I have trained hundreds of teachers across the world how to teach mindfulness meditation. MIEA originally offered their curriculum in higher education settings but has expanded to many other contexts including the military, prisons, and high schools. To learn more about the Koru Center, check out their website: MIEA - Mindfulness Institute for Emerging Adults
The following are some of the personal and professional immersion experiences I have undertaken to deepen my meditation practice and teaching.
Southern Dharma Retreat Center (SDRC), Transforming the Judgmental Mind with Donald Rothberg and Eve Decker, 10-day insight mediation retreat, 2020
Insight Meditation Society, Foundations of Mindfulness-Based Approaches, 8-day Insight Meditation Retreat, 2020
Southern Dharma Retreat Center (SDRC), Settling, Seeing, and Spacious Awareness, Donald Rothberg, 10-day Insight Meditation Retreat, 2018
SDRC, Guardians of the Heart, the Four Brahma Viharas, DaeJa Napier, 8-day Insight Meditation Retreat, 2017
Mindful Self Compassion Core Skills Training, UNC Chapel Hill, Kristen Neff and Christopher Germer, 2015
SDRC, Lucinda Green, 5-day Insight Meditation Retreat, 2014
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course (MBSR), UNC Chapel Hill, 2010
Yoga Training & Experience
I taught several weekly yoga studio classes from 2009 to 2019, accumulated thousands of hours of teaching experience, and earned the E-RYT 200 classification (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher). I’ve also attended classes and workshops with a variety of teachers all over the world since 2005.
I’ve offered several modules over the years in Michelle Cassandra Johnson’s annual 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training called Skill in Action, including Mindfulness and Yoga, Yoga and the Chakras, and Trauma-Informed Yoga Teaching. This is a social justice-oriented YTT that I highly recommend to anyone wanting to deepen their yoga practice or offer the practice to others. Michelle offers a 300 hour Yoga Teacher Training in which I’ve offered a module called “Becoming a Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher.”
Some of my yoga training:
Asheville Yoga Center, Chakras, Michael Johnson, 2015
Asheville Yoga Center, The Yoga Sutras, Michael Johnson, 2015
Asheville Yoga Center, Beginning Sanskrit, Michael Johnson, 2014
Asheville Yoga Center, Inner Life of Yoga, Michael Stone, 2014
Wilmington Yoga Center, Trauma Sensitive Yoga, Dave Emerson, 2011
200 hour Yoga Alliance certified Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (ERYT 200), Franklin Street Yoga, 2009-10
I am not currently teaching any weekly yoga classes. Stay tuned…I continue to reimagine how this beloved practice fits into my life and conspire to create a new yoga offering one day soon.