Hi, Im Jess Whitney
about me
i’m a therapist, chronic overthinker, sensitive person, dog mom, homebody, and someone who has spent a lot of her own life learning that being deeply affected by things isn’t necessarily something that needs to be fixed.
which (unsurprisingly!) has a lot to do with the work i do now.
i tend to work best with women who are self-aware enough to know all of their patterns and still find themselves repeating them anyway.
you know you’re people-pleasing.
you know you’re overthinking the text.
you know you probably don’t need to replay that conversation for the 47th time.
you know your childhood has something to do with why disappointing someone feels a lil life-threatening.
and yet, knowing all of that hasn’t magically made it stop.
that’s usually where i come in.
you probably don’t need more insight into your patterns. you already know why you people-please, overthink, shut down, or second-guess yourself.
the work is learning how to actually respond differently when those patterns show up.
together, we’ll turn awareness into action by practicing boundaries, building self-trust, tolerating discomfort, and making choices that feel more like you.
because understanding the pattern is only the beginning.
My Approach to Therapy
what i’m actually like as a therapist
i’m warm, pretty conversational, and very much an active participant in therapy.
i’m not going to stare at you silently while you wonder whether you’re saying the “right” thing. i ask questions. i point out patterns. i’ll tell you when i notice you minimizing something or taking responsibility for something that probably isn’t yours.
sometimes we’ll go deep.
sometimes we’ll talk about your nervous system.
sometimes i’ll ask you what you actually want and you’ll realize you have absolutely no idea because you’ve spent most of your life thinking about what everyone else wants first.
and sometimes we’ll laugh about the absurdity of being a person with a brain that can a text message without an exclamation point into a full-on spiral.
i don’t think therapy has to feel overly clinical to be meaningful.
why I care so much about this work
a lot of what i talk about professionally is personal to me too.
i know what it’s like to be an anxious overthinker.
i know what it’s like to be sensitive in a world that loves telling sensitive people they’re “too much.”
i know what it’s like to look back at family dynamics with adult eyes and realize that some of the things you thought were normal actually shaped you pretty profoundly.
and i know that grief and major life changes have a way of rearranging who you are.
my own life experiences have made me especially interested in the places where anxiety, attachment, family relationships, grief, and self-trust overlap.
they’ve also made me less interested in helping women become less sensitive, less emotional, or easier for everyone else to deal with.
i’m much more interested in helping you understand yourself well enough that you stop treating every feeling like evidence that something is wrong with you.
the women i usually click with
you might be someone who has been called “too sensitive.”
someone who can read a room in approximately three seconds.
someone who feels responsible for everyone else’s comfort.
someone who can make a pros-and-cons list and then overthink the pros-and-cons list.
someone who is incredibly compassionate toward other people and absolutely ruthless with herself.
or someone who has spent years trying to understand a complicated relationship with her mother and is tired of being told to “just let it go.”
you probably don’t need another person telling you to take a bubble bath, think positively, or stop caring what people think.
you might need help understanding why these patterns developed in the first place, figuring out what you want to do differently now, and navigating how exactly to do that.
that’s the work i love doing.
a few therapist-y details
i graduated from NYU with a master’s degree in counseling for mental health & wellness in 2011, and have been in private practice since 2014.
i’m a licensed therapist in new york and south carolina, and my work is informed by EMDR, CBT, IFS, and nervous system regulation.
i use those approaches when they’re useful.
but i’m not really interested in squeezing you into a therapy acronym or a box.
i care more about understanding how your particular brain works, what happened to you, what you learned from it, and what keeps showing up in your life now.
from there, we’ll apply the evidence-based stuff to support your healing journey in a well-rounded way that goes beyond understanding into deep, long-lasting change.
because ultimately, i want therapy to help you trust yourself more.
not to help you become a completely different person.
I also help fellow therapists start and grow virtual practices & professional social media accounts, with clarity, confidence, and support every step of the way.
If you’re ready to expand without burning out, learn more about my business consulting services below.
Consulting For Therapists
You don’t have to stay stuck.
