Jess Hoy

Jess graduated from the University of Denver in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and worked in a hospital doing medical research before realizing that she missed the interpersonal components of health and wellbeing. After working for several years with children with disabilities, Jess went back to school and earned her Master’s of Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2023. Jess completed her internship at VCU’s University Counseling Services and stayed on as an Advanced Mental Health Resident after graduation. During her time at the counseling center, Jess stumbled into a passion for working with grief in all forms, finding herself drawn to the often unspoken or shame-shrouded experiences of loss we all face. 

Jess believes that grief is an incredibly painful but fundamentally human experience and that the “right” way to grieve can only be decided by the individual. Jess approaches therapy from a foundation of Narrative Therapy and often incorporates Motivational Interviewing as well as Janina Fisher’s approach to trauma work. From these theoretical foundations, Jess works with clients to identify their own goals for growth and healing, helps clients identify ways that larger systems and messages have been helpful or unhelpful in working towards these goals, and works with clients to access their own self-knowledge to decide for themselves what they need. This often looks like understanding how societal narratives around grieving such as “you need to move on”, “moving on means letting go or forgetting”, “you shouldn’t feel this”, or “this moving on isn’t happening fast enough” actually prevent us from healing and work counter to our innate understanding that our loved ones deserve a place in our hearts and lives and that nothing can or will be the same as it was.

Jess strives to embody empowering, anti-racist, affirming, and respectful values in her work with all clients and believes that she always has room to continue growing in her ability to support clients. Jess highly utilizes the therapeutic relationship and regularly elicits feedback from clients to create a space where clients feel comfortable saying what is and is not working so that the process of adjusting can be collaborative and focused on the client’s needs and goals. 

Jess also believes that loss is nuanced and highly dependent on the relationship you had with the person you lost, everyone’s experience of loss will be different. Jess is particularly interested in anticipatory grief, navigating loss as an adolescent/young adult, grief related to breast cancer, and navigating the loss of parents with whom the relationship dynamics were complicated. 

Outside of her work, Jess enjoys climbing, hiking, snuggling with her dog, and eating lots of snacks. 

Education

M.S.W., Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University

B.S., Neuroscience, University of Denver

Training

CAMS Suicide Prevention Training Certification

Safe Zone Training

Dulwich Center Narrative Practice Training Certification