Meet Jordan Dunmead, AMFT

There’s a Hole in my Sidewalk: An Autobiography in Five Short Chapters by Portia Nelson

I “I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in – I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.

II I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again – I can’t believe I am in the same place. But, it isn’t my fault. It still takes me a long time to get out.

III I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it there. I still fall in. It’s a habit. But, my eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

IV I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

V I walk down another street.”

I believe we are all doing the best we can; lifelong relationships, systemic influences, and personal experiences yield patterns, beliefs, and vulnerabilities that are ingrained into our senses of “Self” and overall ways of being. We all have our own narratives - where we come from, how we got here, what we have been through, and whom we have known - and, usually, it is not something we chose for ourselves. In therapy, with courage, intention, and curiosity, we can better understand these ways of being, weaving them together by choice to create a life worth living and relationships worth having.

To engage in therapy is to engage in a relationship, which takes trust, safety, and collaboration. My goal as a therapist is to allow my relationship with clients to become the conduit through which growth may occur over time. My office can be a place to unload, connect, process, or simply be, and it is my privilege to bear witness to the courage it takes to do so.

I work with individuals, couples, and families, balancing the dialectic of acceptance and change to meet clients where they are in the present moment. My areas of clinical specialty include: sexual orientation/gender identity navigation and development; non-monogamous, polyamorous, and mixed-orientation couples; childhood or recent trauma recovery; family of origin issues; sense of “Self” exploration; and building intimacy and attunement with conflictual couples and families.

I was trained as a Marriage and Family Therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. I pull from various models of therapy, allowing for the work to be collaborative, holistic, and individualized. This model honors clients' innate strengths, therapeutic goals, and the systems and relationships in their lives. I also have specific training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for work with clients who are chronically suicidal, engaging in self-harm, or navigating life with borderline personality disorder. DBT provides clients with specific skills in mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.