Jennifer Fitkin, LCSW, CSW

Jennifer Fitkin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 20 years of experience. She practices in Iowa and has worked in varied settings including residential treatment, community programs, and correctional facilities. Jennifer combines clinical experience with practical life skills and a straightforward approach to help people facing stress, anxiety, addiction, and relationship challenges.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Social Work from the University of Northern Iowa. Her career has included roles as therapist, clinical supervisor, deputy senior clinician, senior clinician, and Clinical Director at a residential program focused on attachment issues. This range of roles shaped a hands-on style grounded in real-world clinical practice.

Jennifer draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Attachment-Based Therapy, Mindfulness Therapy, and solution-focused ideas. In sessions she looks for practical steps clients can try between meetings and focuses on values, goals, and managing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. She also pays attention to how relationships and past attachments affect current struggles.

Her background includes work with foster care, juvenile justice populations, and men in a medium-security prison on rehabilitation and reintegration. She also has experience with adoption and foster care issues, trauma, process addictions, and mood concerns. She emphasizes sleep, movement, and nutrition as part of overall wellbeing.

Outside of therapy she enjoys hiking, paddleboarding, backpacking, and camping. She is a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer and sometimes has her dog Boomer join telehealth sessions as a comforting presence.

Approaches that guide online sessions

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people notice what matters to them and take small steps toward those values. It uses exercises to reduce struggling with uncomfortable thoughts so clients can focus on meaningful action. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on identifying unhelpful thought patterns and building practical skills to change behaviors and mood. It often involves short experiments and homework to test new habits. Motivational Interviewing is a collaborative way to strengthen a person’s own motivation for change by exploring personal reasons and ambivalence; it can be helpful for substance use and other goal-driven changes.

Finding the right approach is a team effort. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, needs, and preferences and tailor methods accordingly. Sessions can blend methods so practical skills, values work, and motivational conversations fit together in a way that makes sense for the individual.

Confirm the available session formats before booking, since options are not specified in the profile. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule, cut travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when needed. They also let people keep continuity of care when life requires flexibility. Licensed professionals can use these formats to help clients build coping skills, address addictions, manage mood symptoms, and practice new ways of relating.