Joelle’s Bio
Joelle Jacobson, M.A., L.M.F.T., P.P.S., has been working with tweens, adolescents, young adults, adults and families in California for over two decades. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in West Los Angeles and has her Pupil Personnel Services credential for academic advising. Joelle offers counseling in an office, in-home, via phone, and via videoconference; TeleMental Health. She is a Brainspotting Practitioner, a Neurofeedback Clinician who practices BrainPaint® Neurofeedback and a Treatment Placement Professional. Joelle is professionally affiliated with the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT).
Joelle has created and taught Human Development courses focusing on mental health issues including alcohol and other drug prevention on the high school level. She implemented speaker series', created mentoring, diversity and body image programs in middle schools and high schools. Joelle spent several years providing free counseling services for a public school district through Jewish Family Services. Aside from working with adolescents and their families in a private practice format, Joelle worked at an all girls' high school over the course of ten years, providing personal and academic counseling. She worked for three different school districts providing biopsychosocial assessments for Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) for students suffering with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED). Joelle worked for Discovery Behavioral Health and the Betty Ford Center, part of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation addiction treatment centers in Rancho Mirage and West Los Angeles.
Joelle works collaboratively with her tween, teen and young adult client's psychiatrists, educational psychologists, school counselors, ADHD and Executive Functioning coaches to ensure they receive accommodations at school, along with her client’s treatment facility, sober living home, case manager, sober coach or companion. She places people in treatment in all levels of care from short term to longer term and works with the families during the entire process while they are in treatment, preparing for discharge and post-treatment. She speaks at middle schools, high schools, universities, corporations and conferences about mental health and substance use disorder. Joelle provides script consultation for accuracy on mental health, substance use disorder and eating disorders, as well as being called on for media interviews as an expert in the field.
Joelle’s Mission
In the mid-2000's, Joelle Jacobson, M.A., L.M.F.T., P.P.S., Brainspotting Practitioner, Neurofeedback Clinician and Treatment Placement Professional designed Teen Talk Line to make counseling more accessible to teens by adding TeleMental Health to the private practice in order to accommodate demanding schedules, time constraints and clients who don't drive. Teen Talks Line is not a hotline. It is a psychotherapy practices that offers different treatment modalities for the various needs of the client. Joelle saw the need for counseling via videoconference before it became more mainstream in 2020. Many teens want and/or need counseling, but do not have the transportation and/or the time to sit in traffic to get to the appointment, talk for an hour, then sit in traffic to return home. They have been up since 6:00 a.m., had a full day of school, an extra-curricular activity, maybe some community service, still have homework to do, an exam to study for, a project to work on and SAT or ACT flashcards to memorize. Joelle is not only available for counseling after school in her private practice, via phone or videoconference, but teens can also have a TeleMental Health or phone session with Joelle during their free period at school in a confidential setting on campus. TeleMental Health allows her clients to keep weekly counseling consistent when they are out of town, ensures privacy for a client that does not want to be seen walking in and out of a therapy office and assists in counseling for families when family members cannot all be physically present in the office. Although Joelle offers sessions virtually, she is also available for in-person sessions in her office in West Los Angeles as well as in-home visits when indicated.
Joelle has seen firsthand how the demanding schedules of tweens and teens building their college resume can be detrimental; emotionally and physically. Teen Talk Line wants to be part of the solution by offering face-to-face, phone, TeleMental Health counseling for tweens, teens, young adults and their parents, as they need support as well. The goal is to build an emotional resume during this time of growth and change. In order to achieve future goals, it is important to have a knowledgeable sounding board who tweens, teens, young adults and their parents can trust to discuss any psychological and academic issues they might be experiencing.
Teen Talk Line looks forward to helping you work through any issue, small or large, towards living a happier and healthier life.