Jill didn’t grow up intending to be a therapist. In fact, when she 
graduated with a degree in English literature, she wanted to be a screenwriter and began graduate studies at UCLA Film School. Her plans suddenly changed when one night she was violently attacked. In the aftermath, she couldn’t find anyone who was skilled to help her deal with the nightmares, the fear, the sudden panic. As she recovered from this trauma, she decided to study psychology and to train as a psychotherapist so that she could help people in similar situations.
That was more than three decades ago. Today there are far more therapists equipped to deal with sexual abuse and post-traumatic stress problems. But Jill didn’t stop there. Like most of us, she has had other problems and challenges that have come up in her life over the years. Each time she has taken them as an opportunity not only to heal herself but also to learn more about helping others experiencing similar problems.
In her practice today, Jill works with a wide variety of people who come from all over California, and she also provides phone coaching to people across the country. She especially enjoys working with couples who are struggling to live together, to stay together without giving up who they really are, and couples who are aiming to part gracefully. Jill’s aim is to help each of her clients repair and strengthen their relationships.
She is experienced in working with people in recovery from alcohol and other addictions, and has studied love and romance addiction under Dr. Patrick Carnes. Jill was one of the first fifty clinicians to be certified by Arizona’s Institute of Trauma and Addiction as a Sexual Addiction Therapist (CSAT). This means that she is particularly qualified to help men and women with sex, desire and intimacy issues, and their loved ones.
Many of Jill’s clients are people who find that they are so obsessed with sex, romance or relationships that it is getting in the way of the rest of their lives. Others are people who have difficulty fitting into their family or community and who want to work on identity and gender issues, and to match their insides with their outsides. She is fully certified to teach energy therapies such as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and EMDR. Both of these are helpful for people struggling with painful memories and negative beliefs.
Jill was working as a therapist in West Hollywood when AIDS was first identified, and has known and counseled many people who are HIV+, or who are living with AIDS, cancer and other life threatening illnesses, and their families. She continues to provide particular support to couples in alternative forms of relationships and those effected by infidelity, sexual problems such as mismatched desire levels, and other relationship problems
In her work with individuals and couples, Jill draws from her own experience, her continuing training and her depth of spiritual wisdom. In 1985 she began studying A Course in Miracles (ACIM), a set of books that present an approach to spiritual healing that underlies much work she does with her clients today. She believes that client-centered therapy can be a potent tool to enable each person to release their fears and begin to experience the peace and joy of their own true nature
Jill Denton has been counseling people from all walks of life for over thirty years. She has special expertise working with people who suffer from the symptoms of sexual abuse, post-traumatic stress, and substance and behavioral addictions of all kinds.
Many of Jill’s clients over the years have been experiencing family and personal tensions as a result of sexual/affectional orientation or gender identity issues. She counsels both straight and GLBTQ individuals across the country by phone, as well as in her Los Osos office.
Since 1992, Jill has made a special study of sexual addiction and dysfunction and their effect on family life. Her expertise in this area means that Jill now assists many individuals and couples who are experiencing problems in their intimate relationships.
Please give me a call so we can talk about what’s going on for you and whether I’m the right therapist for you right now. (805) 534 1101 or Text me