The Past Shapes Your Present Challenges
You catch yourself in a familiar scene: the same argument with your partner, that critical inner voice that sounds eerily like your father, or anxiety that ambushes you in moments that should feel safe.
We all experience these patterns. They feel bewildering, but they make perfect sense when we look deeper.
The Question That Changes Everything
“How did we get here?” I ask this in nearly every therapy session. It’s the cornerstone of my work with clients across communities—from new parents navigating identity shifts to Latinx individuals balancing cultural expectations with personal growth.
Your present struggles have history. The ways you respond to stress, conflict, and intimacy developed for good reasons. I’ve seen how understanding these origins creates profound shifts for my clients.
One book I frequently recommend, “It Didn’t Start with You,” illuminates how family patterns become personal blueprints. I’ve witnessed this especially in my work with Latinx families, where intergenerational connections often carry both strength and unresolved pain.
For couples, your relationship becomes the meeting place of two distinct histories. The conflicts that feel most stuck typically happen where your individual stories collide—around trust, intimacy, parenting approaches, or communication styles.
Recognition Creates Choice
The pivotal moment in therapy comes when you connect today’s challenges with yesterday’s adaptations. This insight doesn’t excuse harmful patterns—it explains them in ways that create freedom.
Where I See This Breakthrough:
- When anxiety feels overwhelming: Understanding its protective origins helps you respond rather than react
- In parenting struggles: Recognizing how your childhood shapes your response to your child’s needs
- During relationship conflicts: Seeing how each partner’s history creates predictable cycles
- Within cultural contexts: Honoring family traditions while creating personal boundaries
I’ve watched clients experience this moment of clarity countless times. The lightbulb switches on. The pattern becomes visible. And with visibility comes possibility.
Practical Steps Toward Transformation
Understanding without action creates insight but not change. In our work together, I draw from evidence-based approaches tailored to your specific needs, including CBT and DBT techniques I’ve adapted for diverse clients including Spanish-speaking families.
For Healing Past Wounds
We address both immediate symptoms and underlying causes. “The Body Keeps the Score” beautifully explains what I see daily in my practice—how our bodies carry our histories until we learn to release them.
For Building Emotional Strength
We develop practical skills built on your newfound awareness:
- Map your emotional triggers to their historical sources
- Create personalized calming strategies that work with your unique nervous system
- Practice new responses within a supportive therapeutic relationship
- Transform self-criticism into genuine self-compassion
For Strengthening Relationships
We build communication patterns that honor each person’s story while creating new possibilities together. My couples work focuses on transforming understanding into connection—whether you’re navigating cultural differences, parenting challenges, or emotional distance.
This root-cause approach creates lasting change, available through online therapy or in my Woodbury, MN office. I offer this work in both English and Spanish, recognizing that healing sometimes happens most powerfully in your first language.
Your past helped create who you are today, but you’re still writing your story. Understanding your history gives you the pen.
Jennifer Marks is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker providing therapy online throughout Minnesota and California, with in-person sessions in Woodbury, MN. Specializing in anxiety, depression, trauma recovery, couples therapy, and emotion regulation, she offers services in both English and Spanish. Ready to transform understanding into change? Schedule a consultation today.
