Jaquelynn Flietstra

Hi there!

My name is Jackie, and I’m a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT #148173) in California. I believe therapy is not about “fixing” you or telling you what you should do—it’s about creating a safe relationship where you can slow down, understand yourself more deeply, and begin to make sense of the things you’ve been carrying.

My path to becoming a therapist began with my own experience as a client. I know what it feels like to sit on the other side of the room—to hurt, worry, grieve, feel stuck, and wonder whether things can actually get better. That experience shaped the kind of therapist I wanted to become: someone who sees the whole person and creates a space where you don’t have to pretend to have it all together.

Before becoming a therapist, I worked in education, and I have always had a deep interest in people, connection, and the ways our inner worlds shape the way we experience life and relationships. I earned my bachelor’s degree from California State University, Long Beach, and my Master of Arts in Marriage & Family Therapy from Hope International University.

I work with adults and couples navigating anxiety, depression, stress, grief and loss, trauma, relationship concerns, premarital and marriage counseling, divorce and coparenting, betrayal and infidelity recovery, mixed-faith relationships, faith deconstruction, and women’s and men’s issues. I also have a particular interest in helping people understand the connection between their emotions, relationships, past experiences, and the ways they have learned to protect themselves.

At the heart of my work is the belief that healing happens in safe connection. My hope is that you leave our work together feeling more understood, more connected to yourself, and more able to move through life with a sense of peace and authenticity.

My approach to therapy is warm, collaborative, and relational. I don’t believe there is one right way to do therapy because there isn’t one right way to be a human being. I want to understand who you are, what has brought you here, what you’ve experienced, and what you hope will feel different in your life.

Sometimes therapy may mean slowing down and learning to sit with an emotion you’ve spent years avoiding. Sometimes it may mean understanding where a belief about yourself came from, challenging something you were taught to believe, or learning how to communicate what you actually need. And other times it may simply mean having a place where you can finally say the thing you’ve been afraid to say out loud.

With couples, I focus on helping partners move beyond the surface-level conflict and understand the deeper needs, fears, hurts, and attachment wounds underneath it. I want couples to feel like they are working together to understand the cycle they’ve become caught in rather than feeling like they are fighting against each other.

Most importantly, I want therapy to feel like a place where you can be honest and messy. You don’t have to show up as your best self. You don’t have to have the right words. You don’t have to know exactly what you need. We can figure that out together.

Your first session is an opportunity for us to begin getting to know one another and for you to get a feel for what working together might be like. I know that reaching out for therapy can feel vulnerable, especially if you’re sharing parts of your life that you may not normally talk about, so my first priority is helping you feel comfortable and safe.

We’ll talk about what brought you to therapy, what has been happening in your life, and what you’re hoping will change. I’ll ask questions to better understand your history, relationships, current struggles, and the things that are important to you. If you’re coming as a couple, we’ll also spend time understanding your relationship, what has brought you in, and what each of you hopes to get from therapy.

You don’t need to come in with everything figured out. You don’t need to know exactly what’s wrong or have a perfectly organized story. You can simply come as you are.

I also see the first session as a chance for you to get to know me. Therapy is deeply personal, and the relationship between therapist and client matters. I want you to have space to ask questions, notice how you feel in the room with me, and decide whether I feel like the right person to walk alongside you.

My hope is that you leave your first session feeling heard, understood, and perhaps a little less alone than when you walked in.