Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Tredinick.
Hi Jessica, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, a few days after my parents arrived from Chile—South America is also a melting pot. My last name is Celtic, but most of my blood is Spanish and Italian, some native Chilean, but my soul is Venezuelan. As a child, we lived in oil towns, and there was one called Judibana that stayed with me because it was really windy, and that wind entered into my first dreams. Lots of freedom, I had a happy childhood, biking, climbing trees, and enjoying the beautiful sunsets facing the Caribbean Sea. Later on, in Caracas, I wanted to study Literature and Philosophy altogether, but they were no longer taught together. After stumbling abroad, I ended up studying Philosophy in Caracas but did my extra courses in Literature and two years of formal studies too.
In this Literature school, there was a unique program which included an area named Literature and Life. A Jungian analyst, Rafael Lopez Pedraza, taught Mythology there for many years. So in those classes of world literature started my journey and inclination for Jungian themes.
By the time I was writing my thesis, my sister, Verónica, who is a Graphic Designer, had an idea for a business project. We worked together in a poster and frame shop, which later became also a gallery. Here we did all the framing including cutting glass and took turns in the shop. It was grounding and an overall great learning experience. My sister, I have to say, is excellent in making things happen. After many years, the political and economical situation was already deteriorating, so I decided to make a career change. With my love for literature, images, art and dreams, I thought that Jungian Psychology would be my next step. I thought I would complete this easily and come back home, but things turned out to be a long and winding road.
I went to school at Pacifica Graduate Institute in California because the archives of Campbell and James Hillman were there. It was a program of Depth Psychology with a Jungian orientation. Also, it followed the Marriage and Family Therapy courses that prevailed in CA. As part of the requirements, I had to see a Jungian analyst, and I had a fruitful experience both with my analyst and in my school.
My internship was in the Houston Area Women’s Center. I traveled periodically to Pacifica like most of the other students. After graduation, I did my Optional Practical Training in a job I got in Portland, Oregon at Conexiones, which was a private practice model which specialized in serving mostly the Latino community of Oregon. I worked with adult couples, families and children. I enjoyed also working with people who had HIV. My mentor and supervisor, Lucrecia Suarez, was the owner of this company. After some years, Conexiones became specialized in trauma, and this is how I mastered this expertise. It was absorbed by Western Psychological & Counseling Services, where my experience extended to English-speaking clients.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There is no shortcut to becoming a Jungian. I never became one. A Master’s and clinical hours are a pre-requisite. Due to my visa, and the small size of Conexiones, it took me longer to get the hours I needed to become Licensed. Both Conexiones and Western made it possible for me to get my green card. I stayed in Portland for 15 years and moved to Houston shortly before Covid 19 exploded. Perfect timing. My mother had recently moved from Venezuela, like many other people she had to migrate and was having some health issues that needed attention.
It was hard to get started during Covid. I was not able to find an office to rent for quite a while. I dedicated this time to create my private practice and that is how my company Insight & Dreamwork Psychotherapy was born. It was daunting to start from scratch with no connections in my area but also exciting. I rented my current office, first by the day and now on my own.
It’s fair to say that not all was happy in my childhood. I had extreme asthma attacks since I can remember. Both my older sister and I began having asthma during our first trip to Chile where we had our first contact with wool. I was three years old. I was allergic since I was born but not asthmatic until then. So this has been part of my struggles and my healing journey too. In my philosophy thesis, health has was a theme, and my health began to improve at that time. Nowadays, I can say that I no longer need medications on a constant basis, lately, I use none, and it has been decades with no crisis at all. Anti-inflammatories made the difference in my thirties, I believe.
In this sense, my childhood dreams of flying were my escape from my body, a compensation for a body that could not breathe and had not enough air and oxygen. In my dreams I could fly at my will, I “knew” how to fly in a very Hermetic way: I would make my heels touch and I would ascend. I was surprised when I learned about the winged heels of the Greek god Hermes, an archetypal theme.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Insight & Dreamwork Psychotherapy PLLC?
I am a life transition therapist in Houston. I help adults overcome anxiety and the unknown in order to step into new seasons of life with confidence and hope. In my practice, I focus in life transitions, like a mid-life crisis, anxiety, and grief and loss. I also have experience treating depression and trauma.
My approach is psychodynamic and integrative, promoting a body-mind-spirit connection. I do trauma-informed, attachment, body-focused, and cognitive behavioral interventions. I work in English and Spanish.
I also give emphasis to dreamwork if clients are interested in paying attention to their inner life and growth. I also have a mix of private pay and take some insurance. My practice is based in Houston, and I still see clients in Oregon.
How do you think about happiness?
Including dreams and sand play for adults in my work makes me happy. My experience with dreams has been rich and meaningful. I follow the thread of my own dreams, and I sort of see how my life has been woven. In my practice, I am happy when people share their dreams because it gets to a deeper level of work and a sort of felt sense of commitment. Images and symbols are so alive, much more alive than words and philosophy. Images have an emotional tone to it, and symbols are the bridge between the image and the concept: a hybrid of emotion and meaning. That is why paying attention to symbols is so healing.
Also, having my own practice is something unexpected that makes me happy. I don’t think without the pandemic, I would have taken this step. I am not the entrepreneur type, so I don’t plan to grow endlessly, but it feels so good to be able to shape my days. I like to have time for myself, rest and grow as a therapist in Jungian themes that give me pleasure, which in turn will help others, hopefully. I enjoy learning, and I am now participating in Jungian supervision with a group of Spanish-speaking therapists from my country. Eduardo Carvallo, the supervisor of this group, was analyzed and trained by Lopez Pedraza, so it is a full circle. Also, I just finished my certification as a Master Dream Patterning Analyst under Michael Conforti’s Assisi Institute. So “sticking to the image”, which was the motto of Lopez Pedraza and James Hillman in their Archetypal school, is part of the work I continue to master.
Last but not least, another thing that makes me happy is to work with people from different countries and cultures. It is very enriching to listen how they see life, what is common and what is different. Working with artists and creative types too.
Pricing:
- $175 for 60 Minutes
- $200 Initial Session
Contact Info:
- Website: www.idpsychotherapy.com
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jessica-tredinick-houston-tx/126356
Image Credits
Photo by John Bakator on Unsplash Photo by Ashley Batz on Unsplash Photo by Cosmic Timetraveler on Unsplash
