Education and Experience
Jaci holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University at Buffalo and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Eastern University. She is also working toward her Perinatal Mental Health Certification (PMH-C).
Jaci has experience working with people from a variety of backgrounds, including refugees, individuals with developmental disabilities, and those navigating changes in faith, identity, and relationships. She supports clients experiencing anxiety, depression, grief and loss, trauma, relationship challenges, disability-related concerns, women’s issues, and major life transitions.
Jaci is also developing a specialty in infertility counseling, IUI and IVF support, pregnancy and infant loss, pregnancy after loss, and perinatal mental health.
Therapy style: Exploring the meaning we assign to our experiences.
Jaci takes a compassionate, holistic, and client-centered approach to therapy. She draws from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Meaning-Centered Grief Therapy to help clients understand their emotions, recognize patterns in their thoughts and behaviors, and explore the meaning they make from their experiences.
Her approach can be especially helpful for people who feel anxious, overwhelmed, stuck, disconnected from hope, or uncertain about what comes next, as well as those navigating faith reconstruction, identity changes, relationship shifts, and other major life transitions.
Finding Meaning in What We Can—and Cannot—Control
Jaci’s approach is informed by both clinical training and lived experience. She is guided by the message behind the Serenity Prayer: learning when to meet a challenge with acceptance, and when to take power to create change in our circumstances.
Rather than offering simple answers to complicated experiences, Jaci helps you identify where you have choices and power within your unique situation.
She creates space to honor where you are, while gently helping you discover what moving forward can look like for you.
Additional Offerings:
Jaci believes meaningful healing can happen when people realize they are not alone.
She is proud to co-lead two support groups in the Tampa Bay community: the AMEND Pregnancy Loss Support Group and the RESOLVE Tampa Bay General Infertility Support Group.
Having personally experienced infertility, IUI, IVF, stillbirth, and pregnancy after loss, Jaci understands how deeply grief and loss can affect elements of our core being and the future someone imagined for themselves.
Jaci knows firsthand that grief and hope can exist at the same time, and offers a warm and nonjudgmental space to process these experiences and find a path forward.
Fun facts about me:
I’ve always been a nature loving nerd! I love all the historic tours, guided nature walks, science lectures (I recently discovered “pint of science” lectures), national parks, hikes, planetariums, and ancient ruins!
My husband is Paraguayan and I’m slowly learning how to make the traditional dishes like Sopa Paraguaya and Chipa Guazú.
