For as long as I can remember, I have known that my life would somehow be about healing. As a child, my imagination could only stretch as far as “doctoring”,  so I bandaged my cats, ministered to my friends’ cuts and scrapes, and impressed upon myself the seriousness of my aspirations by thumbing through old anatomy textbooks, memorizing random facts that no 6th grader really needed to know.

Soon enough, though, I found my intrigue for the human body overtaken by a growing love affair with the human spirit: its capacity for suffering and overcoming, for renewal and growth – and for the fascinating role of relationship in that healing process.

And so, I pivoted to psychology. I studied human development, religion, and counseling, eventually finding my way to Adlerian Depth Psychotherapy. There, in its positivity, in its unequivocal regard for equality and human dignity, I found my home.

As an Adlerian depth psychotherapist, I am less interested in labels and diagnoses than I am in individuals - especially how they have come to be who and where they are at this moment in time. That means I am not likely to think in terms of illness or brokenness when I meet you, but instead, of discouragement, and perhaps of outdated ideas, forged in hardship, about what it takes to survive, to live meaningfully, to love and be loved within your lifetime.

In private practice, my clinical focus is on families and the individuals and relationships that comprise them. In both Switzerland and in the US, my experience includes work with disrupted couples, victims of domestic violence, parental and sibling bereavement, divorce, and expatriation, as well as issues of depression, anxiety, and adjustment in both young people and adults.

I am also a passionate advocate for parent education, viewing it as a powerful preventive tool in the field of mental health. As such, I regularly make time in my clinical schedule to offer experiential workshop series that promote principles of democratic family living.

In both my professional and personal life, I operate with an understanding that life is both lovely and difficult. I work with my clients to develop the well-founded belief that they can overcome hardship, create meaningful lives, and maintain peace and purpose in the face of the inevitable challenges that come with living and breathing…

I hope to meet you soon.

Jinger Hayes, LPC, CCADP