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Jennifer Hopes, LMFT

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United States
Bakersfield, CA
Jennifer Hopes, LMFT

Are you looking for help with managing your anxiety/stress? Tired of struggling with depression? Wishing your work life was more satisfying?

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist providing mental health services to residents of California, Texas, and Nevada

License # CA: 82200; TX: 205951; NV: 4564-R Conflicted about interpersonal relationships? Finding yourself always fighting with your teenager? Battling low self-esteem? Therapy is an excellent opportunity to improve these areas of dissatisfaction. I will provide a safe place for you to feel comfortable talking about your struggles, process your feelings, and find lasting solutions to an improved quality of life. My name is Jennifer Hopes and I am Licensed Marriage Family Therapist practicing in a private office in Bakersfield, California. I provide mental health services to individuals, couples, families, and children. I practice a collection of theoretical approaches, which vary depending on the client. I will often employ Psychodynamic Therapy ("talk therapy") to identify underlying concerns and address the root of the problem. I also utilize Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, an approach that analyzes thoughts, assumptions, and core beliefs. Lastly, I enjoy Solution-Focused Therapy as it holds emphasis on finding a solution, focusing on positive attributes, and is directed toward future goals.

09/11/2025

Some of the biggest shifts in my healing didn’t come from adding more tools. They came from subtracting.

Not because the things I let go of were “bad.” A few of them were actually helpful, but they turned healing into another thing to manage, another loop of consuming, improving, performing.

Letting go was uncomfortable. My perfectionist part thought it looked like giving up. But what I found was space. Quiet. Relief.

Here are 3 things I released that made more room for me.

What have you let go of lately?

09/10/2025

For years, I thought if I just got my systems right, I’d finally feel calm. A stricter schedule. A tighter routine. A new app to keep me on track.

But the truth was: no system could solve the feeling of “never enough time.” Because that wasn’t about my calendar. It was about urgency living in my body.

These days I’m not always “on top of it,” and I’m proud to say I intentionally choose to let things fall off my schedule. In place of urgency, I’ve been choosing more presence. And presence feels like a different kind of enough😌

This month I’ll be sharing the small ordinary ways I’ve been unlearning urgency and perfectionism. They won’t be shiny. They won’t promise a quick fix.

I hope they remind you:
You’re not behind.
You don’t have to perform worth.
Enoughness is already here.

08/28/2025

If I could start over, I’d worry less about doing healing right and care more about doing it honestly.

When you’re just beginning, the pull toward performance can be loud. You want to be a “good” client. A “successful” therapy-goer. A “fast” grower. But none of that leads to real safety.

Instead, healing begins in the mess. In the margins. In the ordinary, barely visible choices that rewire your relationship with yourself.
 You don’t need to look impressive. You just need to be willing to stay.

08/27/2025

If a part of you is scared to begin, it makes sense.

Healing doesn’t just offer relief. It asks you to loosen your grip on the protections that got you this far. That’s not easy. That’s not small.

You’re not crazy for feeling cautious. That’s wisdom. And it belongs too.

08/21/2025

You might cry more. Feel more. Question more.

Not because you’re falling apart, but because you’re coming online.

When we begin to heal, our nervous system releases what it once held tightly. That can feel like breaking down, but it’s actually breaking open.

You’re not failing. You’re finally unfrozen.

08/12/2025

Insight isn’t the same as healing. Understanding why you do something doesn’t always stop you from doing it.

If I were starting over, I’d notice first. The feeling. The thoughts. The urgency to fix. I’d stop needing a thesis before I can grieve. I’d let tears come even when I didn’t know why.

Sometimes what hurts doesn’t have words. That doesn’t make it less real.

08/07/2025

Shutdown isn’t failure. It’s not dysfunction. It’s a body doing its best to survive overwhelming conditions with limited support.

If I were starting again, I’d stop trying to force myself to “feel” more connected, more joyful, more open. And I’d begin by getting curious about why I closed off in the first place.

This is the beginning. Not the end.

08/05/2025

If you’re new to healing, or newly burned out by trying so hard to heal, this month is for you.

You won’t find 5-step routines or quick hacks here. You’ll find slowness. You’ll find honesty. You’ll find the kind of permission that doesn’t demand performance.
 ✨This is for the ones who are still holding it all together, but secretly falling apart. The ones who don’t feel “bad enough” for therapy but know something’s not quite right. The ones who want to heal but are scared it might not be possible.

🪴This month, we begin again. Gently. Messy. Together.

Today’s blog, A Soft Start to Healing, expands on this theme. If you’re curious but unsure, it might be the gentle nudge you need. 🔗Link in bio.

07/31/2025

Yes, tolerance is possible. Not perfectly. Not forever. But consistently enough to change the way you meet yourself.

It starts in the smallest moments: Noticing the spiral sooner. Choosing gentleness instead of shame. Letting your body know: You’re not alone in this.

07/29/2025

Some of the most intellectually gifted people I work with can name and discuss the different brands of burnout, attachment, trauma, and somatic work. They’re self-aware. Insightful. Brilliant.

But their bodies still feel tense, stuck, unable to exhale.

Because regulation isn’t about what you know. It’s about what your system believes is safe.

This is why therapy isn’t just education, it’s an experience. It’s co-regulation in action. It’s what happens when your system starts to trust that you’re allowed to slow down.

If your body hasn’t caught up to your mind, I promise you’re not failing. You’re just early in the part of healing that required softness.

Follow for grounded, emotion-based therapy that doesn’t rely on quick fixes.

07/25/2025

The question isn’t: how do I stop feeling stress? It’s: how do I build a relationship with myself that doesn’t fall apart when stress shows up?

That’s the narrative we rewrite - in therapy, in practice, in our bodies.

07/21/2025

Your body can’t fake safety.

You can “function.” You can work, help others, and look okay on the outside. But when your nervous system has collapsed into shutdown, the truth will leak out - through your skin, your gut, your sleep, your spirit.

I lived through years of this. And I’ve spent the last few years slowly, painfully, beautifully returning.

This is a reminder that even those of us who help others also shut down. We also need repair. We’re all worthy of slow, safe, sacred return.

If your body feels wrecked or unrecognizable right now, it’s not failing you. It’s protecting you.

Let it lead you home.

If this resonates, save it to come back to as a reminder that you’re moving through. You’re not alone in this.

Address

200 New Stine Road Suite #120
Bakersfield, CA
93309

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 6pm
Wednesday	9am - 6pm
Thursday	8am - 7pm

Website

http://www.jenniferhopestherapy.com/

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