Inspiring Conversations with Dr. Meg Jones of Meg Jones PsyD Psychotherapy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Meg Jones.

Hi Dr. Meg, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was adopted from Bogotá, Colombia at 6 months old and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio with my parents and older sister (who is also adopted from Colombia). In my early years, I felt confused and disconnected from being a POC due to being raised in a predominately white community. Around 14 years-old, I recognized eating disorders in my peers while participating in high level competitive gymnastics. I didn’t realize it then, but this was the beginning of my interest in mental health struggles.

After high school, I transitioned to a large state college in Kentucky, and decided to major in Psychology. Once I graduated, I took a gap year to work on a psychiatric unit at a Children’s Hospital and in a research lab. During this year, I realized that I wanted to be a clinical psychologist and work directly with patients in a therapy setting.

In 2015, I returned to Cincinnati to pursue my doctorate at Xavier University and focused my training on eating disorders. During graduate school I was unexpectedly contacted by my birth mom, who is still in Colombia, through social media. This led to lots of mixed emotions and opened up a desire to learn more about where I was from and reconnect with my roots. My family supported me and we all took a trip to Colombia to meet my birth family. This was a life-changing experience for me.

In my fourth year of graduate school, I experienced a series of difficult life events and went through a major depressive episode. With the help of therapy and medication I was able to keep up academically and successfully matched for internship in Davis, California. This experience gave me a new perspective on how therapy can support young people during life’s most difficult moments and transitions. This was when I realized that I wanted to work with teens and young adults.

I completed my pre and post-doctoral internships working with college students at University of California, Davis. During my time at UC Davis, I was the Eating Disorder Intern and worked on a multidisciplinary team. When COVID happened, my work with students went fully remote and I became well trained in Telehealth best practices.

After earning my doctorate degree, I moved to Oakland and began working in a small group practice in SF and Marin. I worked full time with the group for almost 3 years. During this time, I was able to take an 8 week trip to Bogotá Colombia on my own. I spent time with my birth family, improved my Spanish, and explored the city I am from. In 2023 I moved to Los Angeles and in 2024 I opened my private practice.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My depressive episode in graduate school was probably the most difficult struggle in my personal and career development. Although I had been studying to be a psychologist, I had not had the experience of struggling with my mental health until then. Moving through my depression was exhausting, difficult, and required a lot of outside support from my family, therapist, and doctor. I had to ask for support from my professors, colleagues, and friends, which required a level of vulnerability that I was uncomfortable with. Experiencing depression and working through it led me to grow immensely as a person and as a therapist. I was pushed out of my comfort zone and in hindsight, this experience provided me with understanding and empathy for my clients that I would not have if I never had my own struggle.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I started my private practice in Spring of 2023. Figuring out how to start a business, manage finances, and market my practice were huge learning curves for me. I worked with the SBDC of LA which was immensely helpful for me to make sure that I was in compliance with filing all the necessary paperwork to start a business.

Currently in private practice, I specialize in compassionate and evidence-based therapy to help young people navigate eating disorders, anxiety, OCD, perfectionism, and important life transitions. I am especially passionate about working with POC, athletes, and young people in non-traditional families. My goal is to help my clients better understand what they are feeling and develop tools to navigate life’s challenges with more clarity, confidence, and resilience. In my work, I take a culturally informed and relational approach and am trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).

In my work, I am proud of the relationship that I am able to build with my clients and their parents. I consistently get feedback that working with me, clients feel more open to being vulnerable and sharing their struggles. It is important to me to give young people a positive therapy experience so that they feel good about reaching out to someone for support, when needed, later in life.

In my branding and website, I have been intentional in creating a warm and authentic presence. It is my hope that clients feel like they have a general understanding of who I am as a person and therapist after reading through my website. I believe that therapist-client fit is one of the most important parts of working together and am happy to offer a free consultation call so that potential clients can see how things feel before deciding to work together.

One additional aspect of my branding that feels very important to me is my logo. When I decided to start my own private practice, I knew my logo had to be my tattoo. During my depressive episode in 2017, I drew this image on a piece of paper while reflecting on the idea of “reaching for the light”. I remember feeling like I had lost my light at that time and found comfort in this image as I worked through that difficult time. I got my tattoo shortly after getting through my depression, around 2019. Now, as a therapist myself, I want to support my clients in the moments when it feels like their light has vanished and help them reach their light again.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was a pretty happy, outgoing, and friendly person. I often felt different from my friends as a person of color and as a result, tried hard to fit in through my interests and style. From around 13 to 20 years old I used to straighten my hair every day so that I could look more like my white peers. Around 21, towards the end of college, I started to embrace my naturally curly hair and began to believe that I didn’t need to be like everyone else to be liked. I did competitive gymnastics starting at 6 years old through high school and was highly committed to the sport. I have always loved being creative and spent a lot of time making art when I was young, and still do as an adult.

I currently spend lots of free time engaging in creative hobbies such as knitting, throwing clay, and painting. I am also a rock climber and practice yoga regularly to keep me feeling my best. I have found movement and creative hobbies are very supportive for my mood.

I hope to one day incorporate pottery into my practice as a therapist. Making pottery is very therapeutic and a good practice in making mistakes and tolerating frustration and other difficult emotions.

Pricing:

• $265 for 50 minute session

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.megjonespsyd.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-jones-psy-d-9b42bb210
• Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/meg-jones-santa-monica-ca/1319612

Image Credits
Photography by Jason LeCras