True Growth Counseling & Consulting

09/29/2025

Exciting News!

Jillian is now a Certified Somatic Therapy Foundations Practitioner!

Somatic therapy focuses on the mind-body connection. Rather than only exploring thoughts and emotions, somatic work also pays attention to how experiences live in the body. Trauma, stress, and unresolved emotions often show up physically—through tension, tightness, shallow breathing, or even feeling disconnected from your body.

In sessions, somatic experiencing might look like:
✨Guiding you to notice where you feel certain emotions in your body
✨Practicing grounding techniques that help regulate your nervous system
✨Using gentle movement, breathwork, or visualization to release stored tension
✨Learning to listen to your body’s signals as messages, not just symptoms

If you’ve been curious about therapy that moves beyond “just talking,” somatic work can be a powerful addition to your healing journey.

You can learn more about services with Jillian at www.new-growth-consulting.com, or reach out to schedule an appointment today.

07/27/2025

con·text
/ˈkäntekst/
noun
"the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed"

There is always more to the story. That's one of my core beliefs.

Context matters—in our reactions, our pain, our behaviors, our boundaries. Our mental health doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It lives in our stories. It lives in the context.

In this week's post, I’m sharing three stories that remind me why we have to look deeper—beyond the behavior, beyond the diagnosis, beyond the first page.

Are you willing to go deeper?

👉 https://www.thecandidcounselorwrites.com/post/where-the-story-lives-the-importance-of-context
📝 "Where the Story Lives: The Importance of Context" is up now on The Candid Counselor.

I'm making a case for why context matters—because without it, we miss the full story. Through three personal and professional examples, I explore how mental health isn’t just a diagnosis or a behavior; it’s shaped by what people carry, what they’ve survived, and what they’ve learned to exp...

07/07/2025

We all have a story. But for a lot of us, it wasn’t one we wrote for ourselves.

It was handed to us in pieces—through expectations, assumptions, and other people’s beliefs. Some parts we accepted because we didn’t know any different. Other parts we rejected, only to find they still shape our decisions anyway.

If you’re feeling unsure about who you really are or what you want, it may be time to trace the narrative back to its source. Not to blame, but to understand. Not to dwell, but to finally rewrite.

Ask yourself these questions to explore the story you’ve been living:

1. What messages did you grow up hearing about who you were “supposed” to be?(Smart? Nice? Tough? Responsible? Selfless?)
2. What were the “rules” in your family, spoken or unspoken? (Don’t upset anyone. Be the peacemaker. Achieve to be loved.)
3. What story did your family, culture, or community teach you about your worth, your role, or your limits?
4. When did you start to notice cracks in that story—moments when it didn’t quite fit?
5. What parts of the story are you still carrying that don’t serve you? (And whose voice is behind those parts?)
6. What do you want your story to be now? (Not what’s “realistic"...what’s true to you?)

The goal here isn’t to erase your past—but to understand the plotlines, characters, and turning points so you can write a story that actually feels like yours.

You get to be the narrator now.

And if you're interested in taking a deeper look into your story with support, schedule an appointment today 🌱

07/04/2025

Exciting update!!

We are now able to accept clients covered by:
-Wisconsin Physicians Service (WPS)
-United Healthcare
-Oscar (Optum)
-Oxford (Optum)

Contact us today to schedule an appointment!

Website 💻 www.new-growth-consulting.com
Schedule 📆 https://jillian-oetting.clientsecure.me

06/28/2025

Feeling Disconnected From Yourself? Start Here.

Here’s what I believe:
The most important relationship we have is the one we have with ourselves. Without a healthy relationship with you, all your other relationships—romantic, platonic, professional, even parental—are going to feel off balance.

But here’s the hard part: our relationship with ourselves is usually the hardest one to develop and heal. Why? Because it’s shaped by the people around us—especially the ones we depended on early in life. If unhealthy influences were the norm, then chances are, that inner relationship has been carrying a lot of damage.

Sometimes identity gets buried under layers of expectations, survival mode, or just trying to keep up. If you feel disconnected from who you are—or like you never really knew—this is for you.

You don’t have to “find yourself” all at once. Just start asking different questions. Here are five that can help:

1️⃣ Who were you taught to be?
What roles, labels, or expectations were handed to you growing up?

2️⃣ What are some “shoulds” that shaped who you’ve been?
(I should be nice. I should be successful. I should be the one who holds it together.)
Whose rules were those?

3️⃣ What are your preferences?
Not your partner’s, your parents’, or your boss’s—yours.
What do you like? Dislike? Want more of? Want to say no to?

4️⃣ What lights you up?
When do you feel most like yourself?
What conversations energize you?
What could you talk about for hours and never get bored?

5️⃣ What do you believe about the world?
What do you stand for—even if you don’t fully understand why yet?
These beliefs are often the roots of who you’re becoming.

You’re not “lost.” You’re under layers. And peeling them back isn’t selfish—it’s coming home to yourself.

06/23/2025

Not everyone goes to therapy.
Not everyone wants to.

Maybe it’s not affordable.
Maybe you don’t have the time.
Maybe you’re not ready.

I get it. I actually really do.
That’s exactly why I created this.

Every month, I send out a free grief resource newsletter—something thoughtful, compassionate, and clinically-informed—to support anyone who’s grieving, wherever they are and however they’re feeling.

It’s not therapy. It doesn’t replace therapy.
But I am a therapist. I’m also a Certified Advanced Grief Counseling Specialist, and I have profound respect for what grief asks of us. I believe it deserves to be handled with care.

So this is me offering something.
Something small, but meaningful.
A moment of support in your inbox, every month. No cost. No strings attached.

If that sounds like something you’d like to receive, just sign up at the link below.
It’s for anyone, anywhere.

Sign up here:

Grief doesn’t follow rules—and you don’t have to either. When you sign up, you’ll receive gentle, grounded reflections to help you explore the real and raw feelings that come with grief and what grief looks like in real life—not just what people think it “should” look like. Whether y...

06/22/2025

The world feels heavy right now.
Uncertainty. Disconnect. Division.
It’s no wonder so many of us feel overwhelmed, unsafe, or just off.

Times like these remind us how deeply we need, understanding, empathy, and care.
Support is not a luxury—it’s a lifeline.

If you’ve been thinking about starting therapy, returning to therapy, or you’re simply needing something to feel a little more “okay”… I’m here.
I have immediate openings and would be honored to walk with you through whatever you’re carrying.

This is hard. You don’t have to do it alone.

🌱

Jillian Oetting, Licensed Professional Counselor, Madison, WI, 53719, (608) 344-6075, Sometimes, "what brings you to seek therapy" is hard to put into words—there is just a sense that something is off. You’re living your life, doing what you’re supposed to do, but inside, you feel disconnected...

06/22/2025

I’ve always felt drawn to the misunderstood.

Maybe that’s why I love grief work so much.
And maybe that’s why I believe so deeply in validating Anger.

Both grief and anger are so often dismissed, rushed, avoided, or labeled as “too much.”

But here’s the truth: anger belongs in grief.
It’s part of it.
And yet—unlike other kinds of anger—grief-anger has nowhere to go.

There’s no one to blame. No resolution. No apology coming.

This week on The Candid Counselor, I’m writing about that specific kind of anger—the kind that shows up in loss, with nowhere to land and no one to answer for it. And how maybe the most healing thing we can do isn’t to fix it, but to witness it. To let it rest. To let it land.

🕊️ Read it here:

I’ve always felt a deep connection with the misunderstood.It’s part of the reason I love grief work. Because grief is misunderstood all the time—rushed, minimized, avoided, or wrapped up in clichés that don’t even come close to the reality of it.It’s also part of the reason I care so deep...

06/18/2025

...are you ready for this?

I was recently a guest on Dr. Beth Trammell’s podcast "Things You Learn in Therapy" and the episode is officially out!

In this conversation, we dive into one of my absolute favorite topics: behavioral change—specifically the work I do using behavioral modification with kids and families in an outpatient setting. We talk about:

🌱 Why behavior is communication
🌱 What actually leads to sustainable change
🌱 How small shifts can make a big difference
🌱 The role of parents/caregivers in the process

If you’ve ever wondered why kids do what they do—or how to respond in a way that really works—this is for you.

🧠 Listen here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1927586/episodes/17316054
📱 Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

A huge thank you to Dr. Trammell for having me on—this conversation was so energizing. I hope it offers a fresh, compassionate lens for understanding behavior, whether you’re a parent, a provider, or just someone who’s curious about why we do what we do.

Thanks for being here with me 🫶🏻

What if there's no such thing as a bad kid? What if challenging behaviors are simply messages children send when they lack the emotional vocabulary to express themselves? Licensed Professional Counselor Jillian Oetting takes us behind the sce...

06/17/2025

🌱 Same work, new name 🌱

Due to a naming dispute, I’ve made the difficult decision to transition the name of my business from New Growth Counseling & Consulting to True Growth Counseling & Consulting.

This wasn’t a change I expected, and you all know I’m not someone who believes in clichés, silver linings, or pretending “everything happens for a reason”. I can’t sugarcoat this with an “onward and upward” speech. There was pressure to change—it was brief, but intimidating nonetheless. Still, I believe that one way we can find solace in grief is by making new meaning.

New Growth was the name I chose during a season where I needed to grow fast—unexpectedly and urgently—to support myself, my family, and the vision I had for how mental health care could look different. And I did. I experienced new growth in every sense of the word.

Now I’m faced with the opportunity to grow again.

True Growth is about healing in a way that stays close to who you are. It’s about growth that’s not performative or pretty—but honest. Messy. Real. That’s how I live. That’s how I practice. And that’s what I’ll continue to offer through this new chapter.

The name is changing. The work hasn’t.

Thanks for being here with me 🫶🏻