Jill Hackman, Master’s Level Clinical Intern

Practicing since: 2025

“Healing begins the moment someone feels safe enough to tell the truth of their experience.”

Jill Hackman is pursuing a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Indiana University. She was inspired to become a mental health counselor after spending over a decade practicing law, working alongside people during some of the most stressful, uncertain, and emotionally charged moments of their lives. Jill found herself drawn less to the technical aspects of the law and more to the conversations in between—the moments when clients shared their fears, their histories, and the weight they had been carrying alone.

In those conversations, Jill saw how deeply people longed to be heard, understood, and supported. That realization sparked a shift—she wanted to move from advocating within systems to walking alongside people as they made sense of their experiences, healed, and reclaimed their lives. She brings the same dedication, clarity, and compassion from her legal career into her work as a counselor, along with a calm, steady presence, deep respect for each person’s autonomy, and the ability to hold complex stories without judgment.

Clients will experience a space they can be honest without fear of judgment, where complexity is welcomed, and where growth is supported with evidence-based practices and genuine human connection. Jill believes healing happens through partnership, and she walks alongside her clients throughout their individual journeys.

She hopes clients leave treatment with a deeper understanding of themselves and a clearer sense of what is possible. At its core, her goal is for clients to feel more grounded, empowered, and capable of navigating life with intention rather than fear or habit. Ultimately, Jill wants clients to carry forward the belief that change is possible—not because she said so, but because they experienced that truth within themselves.

Jill Hackman is an intern under the clinical supervision of Patrice Forrester, LCSW-C, licensed in the State of Maryland (#16103).