Shortly after welcoming her new daughter, Aixa, Jen Randall Reyes saw the birth of another type of endeavor.  This month, her most recent work was published as part of Ann Vernon and Chris Schimmel’s book, Counseling Children and Adolescents.  

 

Reyes’s 15-year career working with at-risk teens and adolescents has led to a specialization in post-traumatic growth counseling approaches.  Her experience is expansive, from wilderness therapy to therapeutic boarding schools to young adult transitional living, foster care and more. Reyes has utilized each opportunity to create educational strategies that have proven to be beneficial to other counselors. Her focus is on training and consulting for those treating at-risk youth.

 

Currently, Reyes is an Associate Faculty member at Prescott College and serves as the Coordinator of the Social Justice and Advocacy Program as well as the Research and Assessment program.  She teaches in West Virginia University’s counseling program and has a private practice that specializes in trauma.

 

Her most recent publication, Counseling At-risk Children and Adolescents,is the third that she has contributed to professional publications pertaining to counseling. Her dissertation on the role of wilderness therapy won the Association of Experiential Education SEER Award and will be published in an academic journal next month.

 

Her first book, Beyond the Big Top: How Crisis Changes Everything, was a memoir on how her family navigated the recovery of her father after he suffered injuries in a car wreck.  At the time, Reyes has traveled and lived all over the world, but returned to help take care of her father.  Juggling emotional and physical challenges, the family learned how a crisis can cause both irreparable harm and unexpected healing.

 

A natural story teller, Reyes has always put her experiences into words to inspire others.  Her passion for research, teaching and writing contribute to her current goals of focusing on trauma and addiction studies, addressing the opioid crisis and dealing with compassion fatigue.

Reyes’s work with advocacy and social justice issues continues to validate the importance of counseling.  She is dedicated to designing treatments that address the symptoms as well as the overall wellness of the patient and magnifying the role of self-care to ensure long-term growth.