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Healing Across the Lifespan: A Partnership in Mental Wellness

Choosing a mental health provider is a deeply personal decision. You aren’t just looking for a prescriber; you are looking for a witness to your story, an expert in the biological complexities of the brain, and a partner in your recovery.

My name is Jessica Stanley, and I am a Board-Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC). My journey to this practice has been defined by a unique duality: the macro view of a healthcare executive and the micro focus of a dedicated clinician. Before opening the doors to this practice, I served as the Clinical Director for a large-scale healthcare organization. In that role, I was responsible for the oversight of complex systems, the mentorship of large clinical teams, and the implementation of evidence-based protocols across diverse populations.

While my time in leadership allowed me to impact mental health at a systemic level, my true passion has always remained in the quiet, transformative moments of the exam room. I have returned to full-time clinical practice to bring that high-level expertise back to where it matters most: the individual human experience.

Mental health does not exist in a vacuum, nor does it look the same at age seven as it does at seventy. I specialize in treating patients across the entire lifespan. Whether I am working with a child struggling to navigate their first years of school, an adolescent facing the pressures of identity formation, or an adult managing the heavy mantle of career and family, my approach remains the same: comprehensive, compassionate, and evidence based.

Areas of Specialization

I am trained to treat a broad spectrum of psychiatric conditions including:

ADHD & Neurodivergence

Anxiety Disorders

Depression

PTSD & Trauma Recovery

A bit about my educational journey: Upon Graduating from High School in Oregon, I headed East. I earned my Bachelors Degree in Communication Studies from Emerson College in Boston where I minored in Psychology. My Masters in Clinical Mental Health came years later from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

Hi, I'm Rachel — and if your child is struggling, you're in exactly the right place.

I know how hard it is to watch your loved one deal with anxiety, sadness, or stress and not know how to help. That's where I come in. I'm a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with over 10 years of experience working with young children — from preschool all the way through preteen — and helping them build the kind of skills that actually make a difference in their everyday lives.

My background is rooted in schools. I've been a school social worker in Norwell, Plymouth, and Sandwich, which means I understand the world your child is living in — the classroom pressures, the social dynamics, the moments that feel too big to handle alone. I bring that real-world context into every session.

I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist with more than 25 years of experience helping individuals navigate trauma, identity exploration, relationship challenges, and life transitions. I’ve worked in community mental health, school systems, and private practice, and I’m deeply committed to providing culturally affirming care that honors the full complexity of who you are.

Rooted in my graduate training at the University of Rhode Island, I developed expertise in both general clinical and health psychology. I developed a programmatic line of research in health promotion (adoption and maintenance of multiple health behaviors including exercise, smoking cessation and nutritious eating) with a particular focus on exercise motivation as a gateway to adopting other health behaviors.

During my internship and postdoctoral training at VA Connecticut and VA Boston, respectively, my research evolved towards integrating health behavior change (e.g., exercise adoption and maintenance) with veterans suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain and PTSD. As I learned more about the biopsychosocial model of these medically and psychiatrically complex disorders, my ultimate goal became to help veterans better manage their pain and PTSD symptoms, utilizing health behavior change as a complementary component of their overall treatment program. With this approach, the ultimate goal was to help them improve their overall quality of life and well-being, long-term.

My patient oriented research experience, over the past thirteen years, directly informed my approach to my clinical work with individual patients. In fact, I worked for Newton-Wellesley Eating Disorders and Behavioral Medicine for the past fifteen years. As part of this work, I focused on helping individuals suffering from the full continuum of eating disorders (Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder) to sustain their recovery long-term and achieve "recovery maintenance" through establishment and achievement of additional life goals and to move beyond their "eating disorder" identity to a "whole person" identity to create a more meaningful life post-recovery. Additionally, as part of this practice, I treated patients suffering from anxiety, PTSD, chronic musculoskeletal pain and depression as well as veterans from the community.

I am a Clinical Social Work professional and holistic healer with over a decade of experience. I have a background in yoga, energy psychology, mindfulness, somatic work and spirituality. I have worked with all ages and in many different settings and specialize in helping people heal from anxiety, depression, ADHD, and trauma as well as perinatal mood disorders and anxiety.

Recently I have been more aligned with women looking for something more in their life, looking for clarity and purpose and/or exploring their spirituality and mothers in any stage of motherhood, whether trying to conceive, struggling with infertility, pregnancy and/ or overwhelm and anxiety.

I have also been aligned with youth and young adults looking for more meaning and purpose in their life.

I work with individuals navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, emotional regulation difficulties, behavioral concerns, life transitions, and relationship challenges.

I am a licensed clinical social worker with experience supporting children, adolescents, and adults through trauma, anxiety, depression, family challenges, and major life transitions. I earned my degree from Simmons University with a focus in Trauma Studies, and I have worked in both school-based therapy and medical settings as a social worker. This background allows me to understand how emotional stress shows up in different parts of life, including school, family systems, and health-related challenges.

Many of my clients come to me feeling like something is holding them back. Stuck in patterns that no longer serve them, struggling to communicate in ways that feel authentic, or searching for healthier ways to cope with life's challenges. They often describe a sense that their personal growth has stalled, even when they can't quite put their finger on why.

I am a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) in Massachusetts and have been working in clinical social work since 2014. I have experience working with a wide range of mental health concerns and populations. Having spent several years working in the inpatient setting, I have worked with people from every background. I have experience working with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, substance use disorders, anger management, and psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.