DR. JENNIFER BALLERINI MY APPROACH

My Approach to Therapy

I believe therapy works best when it is tailored to who you are, how you learn, and what matters most to you. My work with clients blends evidence-based therapy with a warm, collaborative personal style, supporting adults and couples as they heal, grow, and reconnect with themselves and others.

I primarily work with adults and couples in the Sacramento area, including Folsom and surrounding communities, and I also provide telehealth therapy to clients throughout California.

My approach is shaped by training in several therapy models — including Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) — along with self-care practices such as mindful self-compassion, meditation, and yoga. While this “alphabet soup” of approaches can sound complicated, they share a simple and powerful foundation: healing happens through safe connection, emotional awareness, and present-moment experience.

Below, I’ve shared more about these approaches and how they support the work we do together.

Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, highlighting the cracks rather than hiding them. The piece is not only restored — it becomes more beautiful and resilient because of where it has been broken. Like the calcium cuff that forms around a healed bone, the repaired place is often stronger than before.

AEDP is built on this same idea. We all carry wounds from our past, but AEDP recognizes that we also have an inborn capacity to heal and grow from those experiences — to become strong at the broken places — when healing happens in the presence of a safe, caring, and responsive other.

In AEDP, the therapist works to create a warm and secure relationship where your natural drive toward healing — what AEDP calls the self-righting tendency — can emerge. From this foundation of safety, we can gently explore experiences that were once too overwhelming to face alone and move toward a more authentic, energized, and peaceful way of being, often referred to as Self-at-Best.

AEDP is an emotion-focused, body-based, experiential therapy. Rather than focusing primarily on analyzing or challenging thoughts, we pay close attention to your emotional and physical experience in the here-and-now. Staying present with emotion creates the conditions for lasting change, allowing the brain to rewire itself through a process known as neuroplasticity.

Many people already understand why they react the way they do — but insight alone doesn’t change deeply wired emotional responses. For example, if you grew up with an angry parent, your nervous system may still react to anger as dangerous, even when your adult mind knows you’re safe. That learning was formed through emotional experience, and it’s through new emotional experiences — what psychologists call corrective emotional experiences — that healing happens.

If you’d like to learn more about AEDP, I often recommend Living Like You Mean It by Dr. Ron Frederick.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

My work is also deeply informed by Internal Family Systems (IFS), particularly as it integrates with AEDP. IFS helps us understand not only our relationships with others, but our relationship with ourselves.

IFS recognizes that we all have parts — different aspects of ourselves with different roles and strategies. One part might carry the pain of past rejection, another might push you to be perfect to avoid criticism, and another might try to numb distress through distraction, food, or substances. These parts aren’t broken or bad; they developed to protect you, even if their strategies no longer serve you.

Alongside these parts, IFS teaches that each of us has a core Self — a steady, grounded presence that is not damaged by trauma. When we are connected to Self, we can relate to our parts with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment or fear.

The Self is often described through eight qualities, known as the 8 C’s. You don’t need to have all of these at once — even a glimpse of one is meaningful.

In IFS therapy, we don’t try to eliminate your parts. Instead, we help them feel safe enough to soften so your Self can lead — allowing you to respond to life with more choice, balance, and authenticity.

If you’d like to learn more about IFS, I often recommend No Bad Parts and You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For by Dr. Richard Schwartz.

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)

Many people seek therapy because they feel stuck — weighed down by depression, anxiety, trauma, or chronic stress, or caught in patterns that no longer serve them. Sometimes these patterns are so deeply entrenched that traditional therapy or medication hasn’t provided the relief they’re hoping for. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) can offer a different path.

Ketamine affects the brain’s glutamate system, which plays a key role in mood, memory, and learning. One of its most significant effects is increasing neuroplasticity, temporarily making the brain more flexible and open to change. For many people, this can create a noticeable shift in symptoms within hours, offering relief from intense rumination or emotional pain and opening a window where therapy can go deeper.

In KAP, ketamine is not the treatment by itself — it’s a catalyst. Combined with careful preparation, therapeutic support, and thoughtful integration, KAP can help soften rigid patterns, quiet the inner critic, and allow new perspectives to emerge with greater ease and compassion.

If KAP is appropriate for you and prescribed by a medical provider, we’ll spend time beforehand preparing your set and setting, clarifying intentions, and creating emotional safety. During the session, you’ll take a low dose of ketamine in a supported environment, with me present throughout. The experience typically lasts 40–90 minutes and may feel dreamlike, spacious, or reflective. What follows — integration therapy — is where insight is woven into lasting change in daily life and relationships.

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a well-researched, attachment-based approach to couples therapy developed by Dr. Sue Johnson. Research shows that 70–75% of couples move from distress to recovery through EFT, with up to 90% showing significant improvement.

EFT is grounded in attachment theory, which understands that humans are wired for connection. When we feel disconnected or unsafe in our relationships, we naturally go into distress. Most couples get caught in predictable cycles — one partner protests through criticism or pursuit, while the other withdraws to protect themselves — creating a painful loop that leaves both feeling alone.

EFT helps couples slow this cycle down, access the vulnerable emotions underneath defensive reactions, and learn to respond to one another in ways that rebuild safety and closeness. As partners begin to see and understand their patterns, they can repair old hurts, deepen trust, and create a more secure emotional bond.

For further reading on relationships, I often recommend Hold Me Tight by Dr. Sue Johnson, Loving Like You Mean It by Dr. Ron Frederick, and You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For by Dr. Richard Schwartz.