There are wounds that do not show up on an X-ray, fractures that cannot be set in a cast. They are the invisible injuries of the human experience, the complex architecture of trauma, grief, and loss that shapes who we are. To navigate this internal landscape requires a special kind of guide, someone who is not only a skilled clinician but also a systems architect, a person who can see both the individual’s pain and the organizational structures that can either exacerbate or heal it. Jennifer Redding is this kind of guide. For over 28 years, she has worked at the intricate intersection of healthcare, education, law enforcement, and social services, not as a bystander, but as a builder.
As the founder of Harford Counseling and the visionary behind Pebbles Throw Consulting, Redding has moved from treating the individual to transforming the very systems designed to support them. She is a leader who understands a fundamental truth of our time: the health of a community is inextricably linked to the well-being of its helpers. Her work is a quiet revolution, a shift from asking “What is wrong with you?” to understand “What has happened to you?” and, most critically for the organizations she guides, “How can we build a culture that acknowledges this reality?” Her story is not one of a sudden epiphany, but of a lifetime of observation, a journey that began with a single, simple act of empathy and has culminated in a national mission to build more compassionate, resilient, and profoundly human institutions.
The First Pebble
Some people find their calling; others seem to be born with it already encoded in their DNA. For Jennifer, the evidence of her life’s purpose surfaced before she could even form complex sentences. The story, a piece of family lore, takes place when she was around three years old. Her mother mentioned that the trash man’s little boy did not have a pacifier. Without hesitation, young Jennifer walked to the trash can and placed her own pacifier inside. “I wanted to help him,” she recalls, “and the rest is history.”
This simple act was the first pebble dropped in a pond, the origin point of a ripple effect that would define her entire career. That innate desire to alleviate another’s need was nurtured by a curiosity about the human condition. “I was drawn to behavioral health out of curiosity about why people do the things that they do,” Jennifer says. But this curiosity was not purely academic. It was sharpened by personal experience, by witnessing within her own family the devastating, generational toll that untreated mental illness, substance use, and trauma can take. She saw how these struggles could define a person, could shrink their world, and dim their potential.
Her path was set. She would not be a passive observer. She wanted to make a difference, to help people rewrite their stories so that these issues were a chapter, not the entire book. Her journey began on the front lines, working in a variety of direct care settings. She immersed herself in the realities of her clients’ lives, gaining a deep, firsthand understanding of their needs. But as she worked, she began to see the limitations of individual intervention. To create lasting change, she realized she had to influence the system itself. “Gradually I shifted into leadership,” Jennifer explains, “as I recognized I wanted to impact change on a larger scale, through creating skilled behavioral health professionals and programs that addressed gaps and needs in the communities I served.”
Building a Sanctuary of Care
In 2009, this desire to build something better took a concrete form. Jennifer founded Harford Counseling based on a critical observation. At the time, the worlds of mental health care and substance use treatment were often separate, siloed institutions. A person was treated as if they were two different people with two distinct sets of issues, with one often needing to be addressed before the other could even begin. “Harford Counseling was created after recognizing that there was a real need in our local community to care for the ‘whole’ person,” she states.
From its inception, the practice was built on a foundation of integrated, trauma-informed, and person-centered care. The philosophy was simple but profound: humans are impacted by the world around them, and treatment must acknowledge this interconnectedness.
For over sixteen years, Harford Counseling has been a fixture in its community, providing accessible, quality care for children, adolescents, adults, and families. It operates on principles of trust, respect, and compassion, becoming a tangible part of the solution for improving community health. But the ripples of Jennifer’s work were destined to travel further. Under the umbrella of her practice, she created Pebbles Throw Consulting, a venture designed to take the lessons learned within her clinic and apply them to other organizations nationwide. Through consulting, training, and strategic planning, she began to help other leaders build the kind of safe, connected, and resilient environments she knew were possible.
The Compassionate Leader
Central to Jennifer’s entire body of work is the concept of trauma-informed leadership. This is not a soft skill or a passing management fad; it is a fundamental reorientation of how leaders view their workforce. “Trauma-informed leadership revolves around many of the same tenets used in trauma informed care,” she explains. The core principles are about creating a sense of emotional and physical safety, fostering trustworthiness and transparency, encouraging collaboration, and empowering team members by giving them voice and choice.
The rationale for this approach is grounded in stark reality. “Research shows that approximately two-thirds of team members have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) and/or other traumatic event in adulthood,” Jennifer notes. “These experiences come to work with your staff.” After the collective trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, this reality became impossible to ignore. Priorities shifted. The conversation around work-life balance and mental well-being became urgent. “Leaders who think it’s not their problem to address this for their team members are naïve and short-sighted,” she states with clarity.
To ignore the emotional lives of employees is to ignore the very engine of productivity and creativity. As Jennifer points out, the human need to connect is one of our most vital drivers. When that need is met in the workplace, when people feel safe and supported, they thrive. To this end, she implements practical, effective strategies with the organizations she consults.
Jennifer champions low-impact debriefing, a method for conducting one-on-one or small group “autopsies” of a project or situation to analyze what worked and what did not, without resorting to blame. She also advocates for gathering intentionally, respecting people’s time by only holding meetings that are necessary and add real value. These are not grand, sweeping gestures, but small, consistent actions that, like a pebble dropped in water, create powerful ripples of trust and respect.
The Woman in the Arena
As the owner and executive director of a thriving practice and a national consulting firm, Jennifer’s responsibilities are vast. She oversees a healthcare portfolio, ensures the quality of care at her clinic, and serves as an active problem solver in her community, tackling issues like suicide and drug overdose prevention and supporting the mental health of first responders. She has served on numerous boards and chaired committees, always with the goal of improving the health of her community.
Yet, when asked what she is most passionate about, her answer is not about metrics or growth. “The thing that I currently value the most about my role is being able to be part of the solution,” Jennifer says. “I’m a firm believer that as humans we are all responsible for making the world a better place.” This belief manifests in her dedication to mentoring other leaders, to helping them on their own journeys, and to creatively developing solutions to the complex challenges of behavioral health.
Her measure of achievement is similarly human-scaled. It is not found in a balance sheet, but in the lives she has touched. “My most meaningful achievements have come from prior clients and team members whom I have served, indicating that they have healed, grown, and are the person they were born to be,” Jennifer shares. “Not that I was responsible for their growth, but that I earned their trust and was allowed to be a part of their journey is such a genuine privilege.”
This perspective is encapsulated in a quote she holds dear, from Theodore Roosevelt’s famous “The Man in the Arena” speech. It speaks of the credit belonging not to the critic, but to the one “who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly.” This is where Jennifer Redding lives and works: in the arena. She is not a timid soul on the sidelines; she is on the ground, doing the difficult, messy, and essential work of healing.
As Jennifer looks to the future, her focus remains on this work. She is exploring new opportunities that will allow her to continue growing and mentoring leaders, creating spaces where innovative behavioral healthcare can flourish. Her journey, which began with a pacifier in a trash can, has become a testament to the power of a life spent daring greatly in a worthy cause. She is an architect of compassionate systems, a mentor to resilient leaders, and a living example of the profound and lasting impact of a single person who decides, again and again, to be part of the solution.
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Also Read: The 10 Most Visionary Behavioral Health Leaders of 2025
