Jennie Steinberg (she/her)

Self-esteem is not about always thinking you're awesome no matter what. Instead, it's about learning to speak to yourself kindly and acknowledge that you are a fallible human, like you would do with a best friend. My self-esteem work is grounded in self-compassion, and involves divesting from perfectionism and building shame resilience. It is also contextualized in the lived realities of our unjust society, especially for people who have marginalized identities.

I have ADHD myself, so I understand innately that this can be both an uphill battle and a tremendous gift. Traditional ADHD therapy tries to teach people to "fix" their brains to fit a society that wasn't built for them. Conversely, I take a strength-based approach. I help you recognize the ways ADHD is your superpower, and support you in building a life that is compatible with the brain you have. We also work through the depression and anxiety that are often secondary to ADHD.

Pregnancy and new parenthood can be magical, but they can also be deeply complicated by emotional and medical challenges, previous trauma, identity questions, and more. I work with pregnant and postpartum people who are trying to make meaning of some of these complications. I also welcome those dealing with infertility (I am IVF veteran) and decisions about whether to become a parent, seek an abortion, or make other reproductive health decisions. Queer and trans clients welcomed and affirmed.

The way I practice therapy is guided by an acute awareness of how strict adherence to gender roles negatively impacts people of all genders. My feminism is trans-inclusive and intersectional, which means that I understand that gender roles and expectations impact people differently based on race, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, age, socioeconomic status, and other features of your identity.

Underlying my approach to therapy is the idea that every client is the expert on themself. I bring my years of training, and probing questions that help bring your blind spots to light, but I will never know you as well as you know yourself. Because of this, I don't bring my own agenda; I want to know what YOU want out of therapy. The strengths that will help you heal are in you; my job is to help you unearth them use them to overcome your challenges.

So much of the way we walk through the world is driven by the stories we tell ourselves. When we tell those stories differently, it helps us make meaning of the things we have been through, which in turn helps us to heal. Through narrative therapy, we look at the stories you have been told, and the stories you tell yourself, from different perspectives in order to help you make meaning and move forward.

What do staying in a bad relationship, struggles with indecisiveness, and getting impatient in traffic have in common? They are all manifestations of our awareness that we will someday die. When you look directly at the idea that time is a limited resource, it helps you leave bad situations, make choices more easily, and find a calmer demeanor when you can't control things. Through existential therapy, we figure out what you want from your life, and set boundaries around everything else.