Today we’d like to introduce you to Jane Callen.
Hi Jane, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My first career out of college was as a television and print journalist here in the DMV where I’ve spent most of my life. As a kid, I remember our family was riveted by Woodward and Bernstein’s Watergate coverage: we’d spread out the Washington Post and pore over the latest developments together. That romantic view, heightened by movies like All the President’s Men, likely contributed to my interest in investigative reporting. I also love a good story. I covered politics national security and economics for various publications and public television. In graduate school at Johns Hopkins, I became interested in economics and how data inform our view of the world; something approaching objective truth.
That led to Jane 2.0: my next career focused on handling and writing about the principal federal economic indicators for the Commerce Department and Census Bureau. Meanwhile, when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, I volunteered with the American Red Cross to head to the Gulf Coast as a disaster responder. After three deeply meaningful but also grueling weeks helping survivors of Hurricane Katrina, I returned home to Bethesda, MD, and joined my local fire department as a volunteer first responder. I knew that service needed to always be part of my life, regardless of my day job/vocation. During one particularly harrowing deployment to Nepal in 2015 to help survivors of the massive earthquakes, I decided that obtaining a graduate degree in social work would allow me to not only treat physical injuries but also the deep if invisible mental health wounds that often accompany trauma. Back home after that trip, I returned to graduate school (at night – I was still working full time at Commerce, writing about economic statistics) and became an LCSW-C (licensed clinical social worker – certified).
This was and is Jane 3.0. I LOVE this work! I have a private practice in my home office, located in the middle of the garden and overlooking the river. I also provide therapy pro bono to my fellow first responders who are constantly on the front lines of trauma. My favorite modality is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), the gold standard for treating trauma and undoing PTSD. As a psychotherapist, it is an incredible honor to shine a little light and perhaps rekindle hope during what can be someone’s darkest moments. My commitment to healing also extends into hospice, where I try to bring comfort and dignity to end-of-life care at the bedside. I hospiced both of my parents and also have helped other family members, parents of friends, and – increasingly – friends themselves. I’m also affiliated with a local, wonderful, non-profit in-patient hospice facility. This work is often made even brighter by my therapy pup, Joey, who joins me in both fire-rescue and hospice: delivering warmth, companionship, and unconditional support to patients and families when they need it most. I also volunteered last summer supporting HIV-positive orphans in Makindu, Kenya. That was a life-changing trip.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I would not say it’s been a smooth road. Is life ever without bumps? Sometimes money was scarce. Sometimes relationships were — and are — hard. Friends and family get sick and die, and we also hear the ticking clock of our own mortality. Every experience on our life path informs who we become as a person. The difficult experiences, the challenges help shape us like irons in the fire. My only brother died when he was a toddler, exploding my parents’ world, but they still managed to create a wonderful life for me and my siblings. My beloved aunt, another North Star in my life, was violently abused by her husband yet mostly single-handedly raised four incredible sons.
If we can access the resources to cultivate resilience, we can not only survive some difficult experiences but perhaps emerge stronger than ever before. This is sometimes referred to as post-traumatic growth. Challenges are an inherent part of the human condition – one thousand joys and one thousand sorrows.
So no, not always a smooth road. But it is my road – my path – and it led to where I am right now: a place of peace and appreciation. Mindfulness meditation, which I practice (and also encourage my therapy clients to do), helps keep me rooted, equanimous, and grateful. My life is also deeply enriched by two awesome pups, family, friends, music, dancing, gardening.
We are all explorers, just trying to figure things out. If we pay attention, show up for life with curiosity, awe and wonder – and see it all as a great adventure, knowing it will be over and far too soon, then hopefully it will be a life well-lived. “I don’t want to end up having simply visited this world,” said the great Mary Oliver, one of my North Stars.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am a sole practitioner with a private, home-based practice. Many of my clients are dealing with trauma, grief/loss, depression, and general stress as they try to navigate the difference between what they imagined their life would be versus how it has played out. This is not made easier by the current roiling state of the world.
My goal as a therapist is to help you to become your best self, find calm, and reach a place of true self-acceptance. If you are feeling stressed or disconnected or just seek a life change, it is important for you to know that it is possible to find peace, gratitude and equanimity. My role is to facilitate your healing journey toward living and loving fully, and to help you bring compassionate awareness to see the beauty within and surrounding you. Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), the main modality I practice, has decades of scientific evidence demonstrating its ability to heal trauma.
I am committed to alleviating suffering and facilitating mental wellness. I tailor my approach to the individual. Working together, we can leverage your unique inherent strengths to succeed.
As a therapist and first responder working in disaster zones, I have seen a deep radiance emerge – beyond the reach of an earthquake, hurricane, grief or other trauma. It is possible – with the right tools and a healing connection to others – to find peace even in the midst of enormous challenges and pain. This belief is at the core of my practice and who I am as a person.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
The fact that I am alive is an incredible stroke of good luck and source of joy! What have I done to deserve this astonishing gift? Every single day is a new adventure – some beautiful, some challenging – but each an experience for which I am profoundly grateful.
I have been blessed to know amazing people – some have passed, others continue to shine their light. I live in a close-knit community, almost like an old-fashioned village, in a modest old home built as a cabin and surrounded by a wild garden and large trees, in the midst of nature – birds, butterflies, wildlife – and overlooking a river.
I have had wonderful opportunities as a result of privilege: growing up in a middle-class family in suburban Maryland with good schools, excellent health care and abundant, nutritious food. It is hard to imagine what my life would look like if, for instance, I had been born in the midst of war-ravaged Sudan. And recognizing that that is just sheer luck is an awareness that pinches my heart and is also a call to action. I try to channel that awareness into serving others, by living a life that balances serving and savoring.
Pricing:
- Free initial consultation/introductory session
- $185/50 min. EMDR/psychotherapy session
- $275/90 min. EMDR/psychotherapy session
- $275/50 min. couples psychotherapy
- Sliding scale offered if needed
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.janecallentherapy.com/
