About
Adaptive Richmond Therapy is a woman-owned, local business on Stuart Circle in the fan neighborhood of Richmond, VA. Jill Opalesky and Selena Hicks work together to provide compassionate and quality care to resolve trauma by utilizing Instinctual Trauma Response® and Art Therapy.
Our Practitioners
Jill Opalesky, Owner
MS, ATR-BC, ITR-CTT
Jill has over 25 years of experience and is dedicated to educating and treating trauma in her community as she has seen how often trauma changes and affects people long after the trauma has ended. Jill has also seen how difficult it is to get help for trauma or PTSD. She believes in the power of ITR and art therapy in the healing process. Jill is dedicated to helping people with trauma heal, educating people in the community about trauma, and promoting research on trauma. Jill believes that people can overcome their trauma and be healthy.
Selena Hicks
MA, ATR-BC, ITR-CTS
Selena is currently working as a Board-
Certified Art Therapist in Richmond, Virginia. She is passionate about working
with people of all ages and believes in the healing power of creative expression.
She uses a client-centered, multicultural, and multimodal approach to
treatment. She has worked with children, adolescents and adults in various
community and clinical settings who have witnessed and/or experienced trauma.
She deeply understands how trauma can impact one’s well-being and day-to-day
life and believes that healing is possible.
What is ITR®?
ITR describes the body’s and brain’s reactions to stressful or overwhelming experiences. ITR is predictable and understandable and the components are biologically hardwired in us for our survival. There are seven components of the Instinctual Trauma Response that are likely to happen in all traumas regardless of type. These provide the scaffold on which trauma stories are constructed.
This survival response in the brain can help us through trauma but can get stuck in everyday life and cause problems. After the trauma, the brain and body keep fragmented memory stored in the senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. We can get triggered or reminded of past trauma and the emotional brain (limbic system) sends the same alarm to protect the body. This can cause stress, fear, and anxiety for no reason.
ITR gives traumatic memories order, verbal coding, historical context, and an objective, third-person view that protects the person from re-experiencing the trauma and fosters their capacity for empathy for themselves and others. The client feels the event is finally over and in the past.
ITR helps people who suffer from triggers (negative neurological responses to non-threatening situations) resolve their trauma.
What is Art Therapy?
Art therapy is an experiential therapy. It involves utilizing art materials to express a thought, feeling, or idea. Art therapy is a form of self-expression in addition to words, which requires no artistic talent. It uses art as a means of personal expression to communicate feelings. Art can be an important avenue of communication and expression, especially when words fail. The art produced becomes a tangible object that can be examined now and later by the participant and therapist. It can be used in individual, group, or family settings.
All people can utilize this modality successfully, which can be a useful way to communicate when words fail. There is a connection between the art, client, and therapist. It is an interactive process providing the therapist and client with an object to focus on and discuss. In addition, the process of making the art can in and of itself also be very therapeutic without discussion.