Portage County Licensed Psychologist

Dr. Jessica Brooks is a licensed psychologist, certified rehabilitation counselor, and researcher. She grew up in rural South Central Wisconsin, and in 2014 received her PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Rehabilitation Psychology. Rehabilitation psychology is a psychology subspecialty that focuses on maximizing health, functioning, and community participation across the lifespan of people with disabilities and chronic health conditions including serious mental illnesses. For over a decade, she has been involved in clinical care and foundation and federally funded mental health promotion research, with over 80 peer-reviewed journal publications focusing on mental health and rehabilitation topics and the development and implementation of new counseling and psychotherapy interventions. Dr. Brooks completed her clinical internship at a community-based mental health program with Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin. She is also a former Tenure-Track faculty and taught bachelor’s rehabilitation studies, master’s rehabilitation counseling, and doctoral-level health services research students in the Department of Rehabilitation & Health Services at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas.

For postdoctoral work, Dr. Brooks completed a research and clinical fellowship in outpatient and community-based mental health services at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. She also completed a health services research traineeship at Columbia University in New York, New York. With the desire to live closer to family, Dr. Brooks returned home to Wisconsin during the COVID-19 era. Dr. Brooks provides online individual psychotherapy to adults aged 18 years and older. Dr. Brooks has extensive experience with cognitive-behavioral therapy methods including acceptance and commitment therapy, mindfulness-based interventions, behavioral activation, and recovery-oriented cognitive therapy, and she maintains a positive, person-centered philosophy in psychotherapy. Dr. Brooks enjoys working with individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds and lived experiences, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQ+ populations, people with disabilities, and persons living in rural areas. During her leisure time, she enjoys attending live performances (comedy shows, musicals, plays, film), spending time outdoors (rain, snow, or shine), and being with friends, family, and pets.

Dr. Brooks is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Her areas of clinical specialty include:

• Depression
• Suicidal ideation
• Anxiety disorders
• Personality disorders
• Chronic pain
• Serious mental illnesses (schizophrenia, bipolar disorders)
• Substance use disorders
• Autism spectrum disorder
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Disability adjustment
• Aging and geriatric mental health
• Grief counseling
• Career counseling

Click here to schedule an appointment with Dr. Jessica.