818-850-5840
ABOUT
What a lot of people don't know about me, was that I originally starting my schooling pursuing a degree in creative writing. I received my bachelors in creative writing, with an emphasis in poetry, and was in the second year of my master's program, when I decided to do something different.
As a writer, I was always trying to understand emotions, reactions, and interpersonal relationships. What started as my interest in observation, and writing about my experiences, turned into a career in psychology. I've now been in the field of mental health and addiction for over 20+ years.
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I created LA Mind and Body, because I found that one of the best coping skills for dealing with any mood disorder, or for increasing motivation, was being active. I wanted to teach my clients the benefits of doing both, working on your mental health, and physical health.
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Who are the clients that I work with?
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I like working with clients who've never gone to therapy, and need a lot of psychoeducation, guidance, and hand holding. I also love working with clients and families who've tried everything and feel like change isn't possible.
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My specialties include: Trauma, Addiction, Family Therapy, Anxiety/Depression, and lack of motivation.
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Jackie Benavente, LMFT
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Jackie Benavente, LMFT
Marriage & Family Therapist
Phone:
818-850-5840
Email:
*Accepting new clients in Los Angeles & California
More about Jackie
Jackie started her career at Desert Aids Project, where she worked as a case manager to clients affected by HIV, mental health and addiction issues. She completed her practicum at D.A.P., providing individual therapy and case management to clients. She moved to Los Angeles as an intern to work for Saban Free Clinic, on a grant which provided social work support to a newly opened charter middle and high school. She developed the school’s first mental health program, where she provided group and individual therapy to students, parenting support, and mental health training to staff. Jackie continued her career working in community-based clinics, including: Didi Hirsch, Masada Homes and Eisner Pediatric. During this time Jackie worked with families, adolescents, and at-risk youth, providing outreach work and bilingual therapy.
Her passion grew for working with marginalized groups and her focus turned to the field of addiction. She landed a job working for UCLA’s Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine. She worked on medication clinical trials for the treatment of methamphetamine dependence as well as health studies for (HPTN), HIV Prevention Trials Network. During this time, she became a contracted therapist, working with San Francisco's department of public health. She was trained in motivational interviewing and began providing MI and case management to participants who were recently enrolled into sober living and were considered high risk.
Jackie eventually transitioned to working as a therapist, and later as the clinical director of residential and outpatient treatment programs for substance use and mental health. Here she ran the day-to-day operations of these programs, used her creative skills to develop clinical groups and client programming, and began to focus more attention on family and couple's therapy, to assist with boundary setting and communicating needs. She facilitated parent and family support groups, and due to the need for trauma work, she became trained as an EMDR therapist, by the Institute for Creative Mindfulness.
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She originally opened her private practice in 2015, LA Mind and Body, in North Hollywood. Her goal was to make mental health more accessible to the community. She provided individual, family and couple's therapy.
Today, she's available via telehealth, and continues working with individuals and their families.
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Jackie's modalities include:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, (CBT).
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Motivational Interviewing, (MI).
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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, (EMDR).
FAQ
"Nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (51.5 million in 2019). Mental illnesses include many different conditions that vary in degree of severity, ranging from mild to moderate to severe," NIMH » Mental Illness (nih.gov).