Meet Jarid Hill, MA, LLC | Michigan Trauma Therapist

A Trauma-Informed, Depth-Oriented Therapist in Michigan

I’m Jarid Hill — a psychotherapist and mental health counselor offering online therapy for adults across Michigan. My work is grounded, emotionally honest, and shaped by a deep respect for the complexity of being human.

I believe therapy should feel like a place where you can finally exhale — where you don’t have to organize your feelings perfectly, hide your overwhelm, or pretend you’re “fine” when you’re carrying far too much alone.

This page is meant to help you get a real sense of who I am, how I work, and whether we might be a good fit.

A Space Where You Don’t Have to Hold Everything Alone

Therapy that meets you exactly where you are

People often come to me exhausted from trying to manage everything internally — the emotions that leak out at the edges, the numbness that shows up when things feel too big, the pressure to “be strong,” or the sense that no one has ever really understood the way their inner world works.

My role is to meet you precisely where you are, without pushing for more than your system can handle. Together, we slow things down, explore what’s happening beneath the surface, and help your body and mind find a more grounded, connected way of moving through the world.

Why I built Hillside Counseling

I created Hillside Counseling because so many people feel unseen in therapy. They’ve had surface-level experiences where they talked in circles, learned coping skills that helped “some,” or felt like their therapist never fully understood the depth of their internal experience.

I wanted a practice that honored complexity — a place for clients who feel deeply, think deeply, or feel disconnected from themselves and want something more genuine than symptom management.

My Path Into This Work

The moment I realized people deserved more than surface-level support

Before becoming a therapist, I worked in environments where people often needed someone to truly sit with them — not fix them, not analyze them, but be with them in their pain. I saw how much people longed for understanding, and how powerful it was when someone finally met them without judgment.

That experience is what led me into this work. I wanted to help people process the emotions, histories, and patterns that shape their lives — in a way that feels safe, steady, and deeply human.

My professional background and training

I am a Limited Licensed Counselor (LLC) in the state of Michigan, working under supervision as I move toward full LPC licensure. My clinical work is strongly influenced by trauma-informed, somatic, relational, and experiential modalities.

My ongoing training includes:

Trauma-informed and attachment-focused therapy
Somatic and nervous-system-informed approaches
Experiential depth work (inspired by AEDP and related modalities)
Neurodivergence-affirming support for ADHD and sensitive nervous systems

I see therapy as a lifelong craft — one that requires humility, presence, and continual learning.

Why depth-oriented therapy matters to me

Surface-level strategies can help in the moment, but they rarely shift the deeper patterns — the protective parts of us that block connection, the stories we carry in our bodies, or the emotions we learned to bury.

Depth-oriented therapy allows us to move gently and steadily toward the root of things — at your pace, in your timing — so real change can happen.

How Clients Describe Working With Me

Warm, grounded presence

Clients often describe my presence as calm, steady, and unhurried — the kind of steadiness that allows their system to settle rather than brace. Many people come into therapy used to monitoring themselves closely: saying the “right” thing, managing how they’re perceived, or staying one step ahead of discomfort.

In our work together, that pressure tends to ease. You don’t have to perform, explain yourself perfectly, or justify your reactions. My role is to offer a consistent, grounded presence that helps you feel met as you are — even when what you’re feeling is messy, unclear, or hard to put into words.

Calm, steady pacing

I’m very attentive to pacing. Therapy moves at the speed your nervous system can tolerate, not the speed of an idea, insight, or agenda. That means we slow down when things feel too intense, and we stay engaged when there’s space to go deeper — always tracking what feels regulating versus overwhelming.

This approach helps you remain within your window of tolerance, where meaningful change is actually possible. We don’t rush emotional material, but we also don’t avoid it. Over time, this steady pacing allows deeper experiences to unfold without flooding, shutdown, or pressure to “push through.”

Collaborative, not prescriptive

Therapy with me is not something done to you — it’s something we build together. I don’t sit back silently and I don’t impose interpretations or solutions. Instead, I stay actively engaged, offering reflections, curiosity, and guidance while remaining responsive to what feels most alive and relevant for you.

You are the expert on your inner world. My role is to help you explore it safely, notice patterns as they emerge, and make sense of your experience in a way that feels true to you. Collaboration creates room for trust, agency, and real change to take root.

Neurodivergence-affirming and trauma-aware

Many of the people I work with have spent years feeling misunderstood — especially if they’re neurodivergent, highly sensitive, internally focused, or navigating trauma responses that don’t fit neatly into expectations. In our work, differences in processing, attention, emotional expression, and regulation are not treated as problems to correct.

Instead, we approach your nervous system with curiosity and respect. Therapy is adapted to you — your rhythms, your sensitivities, your ways of making sense of the world. Whether you identify as ADHD, AuDHD, or simply feel “wired differently,” this is a space where your experience is taken seriously and worked with, not minimized or pathologized.

What I Believe About Healing

You’re not “too much” — your system adapted to survive

Many people come into therapy carrying deep shame about how they feel or respond — their overwhelm, emotional intensity, shutdown, or difficulty staying present. They’ve often been told (directly or indirectly) that they’re “too sensitive,” “too reactive,” or “too much.”

I don’t see these patterns as flaws or failures. I see them as intelligent adaptations — ways your nervous system learned to protect you in environments that didn’t offer enough safety, understanding, or support. What once helped you survive may now feel limiting or exhausting, but it still deserves respect. Healing begins not by fighting these responses, but by understanding them with compassion.

Emotional safety comes before insight

Insight alone doesn’t create change. You can understand why you feel the way you do and still feel stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected. That’s because healing doesn’t happen through analysis first — it happens when your system feels safe enough to soften.

In our work together, emotional safety comes before interpretation. We move at a pace your nervous system can tolerate, paying attention to when things feel grounding versus when they feel like too much. When safety is present, insight tends to emerge naturally — and it lands differently. It becomes something you can feel, not just think about.

The body holds the story (and the path forward)

Much of our emotional history is stored in the body — in tension, numbness, collapse, restlessness, or patterns of bracing and holding. These aren’t random sensations; they’re signals shaped by lived experience.

Rather than pushing past the body or treating it as an obstacle, we work with it gently and respectfully. By noticing sensations, shifts, and cues in real time, we begin to understand what your system has been trying to communicate. Over time, the body often shows us not only where pain is held, but also where relief, agency, and connection can grow.

Change happens through connection, not force

Healing is not something you can will yourself into. It doesn’t come from pushing harder, trying to “fix” yourself, or overriding what you feel. Lasting change happens through connection — being met by another person with consistency, curiosity, and care.

In therapy, the relationship itself becomes part of the healing. When your experiences are received without judgment or urgency, new possibilities begin to open. Patterns soften not because they’re forced to, but because they no longer have to work so hard to protect you.

My Approach in the Therapy Room

My approach is experiential, relational, and grounded in the understanding that real change happens when your nervous system feels safe enough to soften. While every session is different, the foundation of my work comes from trauma-informed, somatic, and attachment-focused principles. If you want a deeper look at the methods and philosophy that shape my work, click below to explore a full overview of my approach, or click here:

AEDP and experiential depth work

Our work focuses on the emotional experiences that live underneath the surface — the feelings that tend to stay out of reach, not because you’re unwilling to feel them, but because at some point in your life it wasn’t safe to. These emotions often carry important information about what you needed, what you adapted to, and what still longs to be acknowledged.

Rather than talking about emotions from a distance, we gently create space to experience them in the present moment — at a pace your system can tolerate. This kind of experiential depth work allows insight to emerge organically, not as an intellectual exercise, but as something that feels real and embodied. Over time, emotions that once felt overwhelming or inaccessible can become sources of clarity, relief, and self-understanding.

Learn more about AEDP and how I work with the model by clicking here.

Somatic and nervous-system-informed therapy

Your body is constantly communicating — through tension, restlessness, numbness, shallow breath, collapse, or subtle shifts in sensation. These signals aren’t random; they’re expressions of your nervous system responding to the world based on past experience.

In our sessions, we pay gentle attention to these cues, not to amplify them or force awareness, but to listen to what they’re telling us. We notice when your system tightens, when it softens, when it feels safer, and when it needs more support. By working with the nervous system rather than against it, therapy becomes less about pushing through and more about restoring a sense of regulation, agency, and choice from the inside out.

Trauma-informed, affirming, and non-pathologizing

Everything in this space is grounded in the understanding that your responses make sense in context. Trauma-informed therapy means recognizing how experiences — including relational, developmental, and systemic ones — shape the nervous system over time.

Your identity, orientation, neurotype, and lived experience are respected and affirmed here. There is no agenda to correct, normalize, or diagnose your way of being. Instead, we approach your inner world with curiosity and care, holding the belief that nothing about you is broken — even the parts that feel confusing, intense, or hard to live with right now.

What sessions tend to feel like

Clients often describe sessions as calm, grounded, and emotionally attuned — a space where they don’t feel rushed, analyzed, or pressured to perform. We move slowly enough to stay connected, but intentionally enough to avoid getting stuck in surface-level conversation.

Sessions tend to feel spacious rather than overwhelming. There’s room for silence, for not knowing, for discovering what wants attention in the moment. You don’t need to arrive with a clear plan or the “right words.” We listen together for what feels most alive beneath the surface and follow that thread with care.

Who I Work With

I work with adults across Michigan who are carrying more internally than others often see. Many of my clients are thoughtful, sensitive, or deeply introspective, yet feel overwhelmed, shut down, or disconnected from themselves. Whether you’re navigating trauma, emotional numbness, neurodivergence, or simply the sense that something inside feels stuck, we approach this work together with curiosity, warmth, and respect for your nervous system.

Adults (18+) across Michigan

I work exclusively with adults 18 and older, offering secure online therapy throughout Michigan. Whether you’re in Ann Arbor, Royal Oak, Birmingham, or anywhere else in the state, therapy happens from the comfort of your own space. Many clients appreciate the privacy and groundedness that online therapy provides, especially when working with deeper emotional experiences.

Highly sensitive, introspective, or internal processors

I often work with people who feel deeply, think deeply, or tend to live much of their emotional world on the inside. If you’re someone who notices subtleties, gets overstimulated easily, or processes slowly and thoughtfully, you’re not “too sensitive” — your system is simply tuned in. Therapy gives us room to understand how your sensitivity can become a strength rather than something you feel you need to hide.

People navigating trauma, overwhelm, shutdown, or emotional numbness

Many clients come to me carrying long-term effects of trauma, chronic overwhelm, or emotional shutdown. These experiences aren’t signs of weakness — they’re signs that your nervous system has been protecting you. In therapy, we work gently with the parts of you that feel stuck or numb, helping them feel safer and more connected. If you’re exploring trauma, emotional numbness, or patterns of overwhelm and shutdown, you’ll have space to move at your own pace without pressure.

Neurodivergent adults (ADHD, big feelers, sensitive nervous systems)

I support many neurodivergent adults, including those with ADHD, big feelers with intense emotions, sensory sensitivity, or a nervous system that responds strongly to stress. Therapy is affirming, not corrective — we focus on understanding your wiring, not fixing it. If you’re navigating identity, shame, masking, or emotional regulation, our work will respect and honor your lived experience. You can explore more about ADHD support here if it resonates.

Clients seeking depth-oriented therapy

Some people want more than coping skills or crisis management — they want to understand themselves on a deeper level. I work with clients who are ready to explore the emotions, patterns, and histories that shape their internal world. This process is gentle, relational, and paced with your nervous system. If you’re drawn to depth-oriented therapy, we’ll move beyond surface-level strategies into meaningful, embodied change.

What Matters to Me as a Therapist

Compassion Without Sugarcoating

Compassion, to me, means taking your inner world seriously — not minimizing your pain, rushing you toward positivity, or glossing over what’s hard. I approach your emotions with care and respect, especially the ones that feel confusing, contradictory, or uncomfortable to admit.

At the same time, compassion doesn’t mean avoiding truth. Together, we gently explore the patterns that shape your life — how you protect yourself, how you relate to others, and how certain responses may have once helped you survive but now feel limiting. This isn’t about judgment or “fixing,” but about understanding yourself more honestly so real change has room to happen.

Depth Without Pressure

I believe meaningful therapy goes deep — but never at the expense of safety. Depth doesn’t come from pushing harder or moving faster; it comes from staying present with what your system is ready to engage.

Our work is paced according to your nervous system, not a timeline or expectation of what “should” happen. Some sessions may feel quiet and exploratory, others more emotionally rich — both are valuable. By honoring your internal signals and slowing down when needed, we create conditions where deeper experiences can unfold naturally, without overwhelm or shutdown.

Science-Grounded Work That Honors Your Lived Experience

My approach is informed by neuroscience, attachment theory, and trauma research, but it is never reduced to theory alone. Science offers helpful frameworks for understanding how the nervous system works — how stress, connection, and safety shape our inner lives.

At the same time, your lived experience matters just as much as any model. Rather than using theory to explain you away, I use it to support curiosity and compassion for what you’ve already been living with. Your internal wisdom — what your body knows, what feels true to you — remains central in the work we do together.

A Relationship That Feels Real, Safe, and Human

Healing happens in relationship. For therapy to be meaningful, it needs to feel genuine — not clinical, distant, or performative. I aim to show up as a real person: present, engaged, and emotionally attuned.

This is a space where you don’t have to impress, explain yourself perfectly, or hold it together. We build trust over time through consistency, honesty, and respect for your boundaries. When the therapeutic relationship feels safe and human, it becomes a place where new ways of relating — to yourself and to others — can begin to take shape.

A Little More About Me as a Person

My personality and energy

People often describe me as steady, thoughtful, and quietly attuned. I tend to bring a calm, grounded presence into the room — the kind that doesn’t rush, overwhelm, or demand anything from you. I’m not a “big energy” therapist, and I don’t rely on intensity or pressure to create movement.

Instead, I focus on being consistently present and responsive. I listen closely, notice subtle shifts, and stay engaged with what’s happening beneath the surface. Many clients find that this steadiness helps their nervous system settle, making it easier to stay connected to themselves and explore difficult experiences without feeling flooded or pushed.

How I stay grounded outside of sessions

Because this work asks for presence and emotional availability, I’m intentional about how I care for my own nervous system outside of therapy. I value slowness, time with family and friends, and rhythms that allow me to reset and stay regulated.

I spend time reading to deepen and refine the work I do, but I also enjoy getting lost in a good science fiction or fantasy book. I like playing all kinds of games — board games, card games, and video games — and I value reflective, meaningful conversation with the people closest to me. Staying connected in these ways isn’t separate from my work as a therapist; it supports it. Being grounded in my own life allows me to show up more fully, steadily, and responsibly for the people I work with.

The way I work is shaped by a small set of values that I return to again and again:

Integrity — showing up honestly, practicing within my scope, and being transparent in the work we do
Humility — holding curiosity about your experience rather than assuming I already understand it
Presence — staying emotionally engaged and attentive in each session
Curiosity — approaching patterns, symptoms, and defenses as meaningful rather than problematic
Respect for complexity — honoring that people are layered, adaptive, and shaped by context
Emotional honesty — creating space for what’s real, even when it’s uncomfortable or hard to name

These values aren’t ideals I try to perform; they’re touchstones that guide how I listen, how I pace the work, and how I relate to you in the therapy room.

If You’re Wondering Whether We’re a Good Fit

Questions clients often ask before reaching out

Will I feel understood here?
Will therapy feel safe, or will I be pushed too fast?
Will I have space to be myself without masking?
Will this actually help me feel something again?

Signs that therapy together may help

You’re overwhelmed or shut down
You feel disconnected from yourself
You’re tired of “functioning” while feeling numb inside
You want someone who really gets the nervous system
You want depth, not surface-level support

What to expect in a free consultation

You can take your time deciding. No pressure, no obligation. The consultation is a short, low-pressure video call (15–20 minutes) where we discuss:

What’s bringing you in
What you’re hoping for
How I might support you
Whether we feel like a good fit

Ready When You Are

You deserve a space that feels safe enough to soften, explore, and reconnect with yourself.

When you’re ready, I’m here.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Do we have to talk about my past?

Only when you want to. We focus on what feels safe and relevant.

What if I don’t know where to start?

That’s completely okay. Most people don’t. We’ll discover the starting point together. I know exactly how to get us to where we need to go.

Will therapy be emotionally overwhelming?

Our work is paced around your nervous system. We go as slowly and as comfortably you need to.

I’ve had negative therapy experiences — how is this different?

I prioritize emotional safety, relational repair, and genuine connection — not performance or pressure. Many people I have talked to have had negative therapy experiences, and they come to me to find something different.

I welcome all concerns you may have, and this is something we should definitely cover in the free consultation.

Do you work with religious trauma?

Yes. I approach all forms of trauma with respect for your lived experience, without imposing belief systems.

Is online therapy effective?

Absolutely. Research shows online therapy is just as effective as in-person work, and many clients feel safer opening up from their own space.

Research supports the effectiveness of online therapy for a wide range of mental health concerns
— see this overview from the American Psychological Association.