INDIVIDUAL THERAPY

Burnout therapy for the person everyone else relies on

You don't need a dramatic reason to be here. Most of the people I work with had been holding it together for years, and something in that started to give.

Maybe the exhaustion stopped lifting on weekends. Maybe someone asked what you needed and you realized you had no idea.

Online sessions across New York, Florida, and Washington D.C. for first-generation adults who are burned out from holding it all together.

No waitlist. Most people start within a week.

HOW THE WORK GOES

How I actually work

I'm trained in Somatic Therapy and Internal Family Systems. Those are clinical words, so here's what they mean in a session.

We pay attention to your body

Your body has been carrying this the whole time, usually without much thanks. So we make room for it. When something shifts while you're talking — your throat, your shoulders, your breath — we slow down and get curious instead of moving past it. You've done enough moving past things.

Sometimes that means just naming what you notice. Sometimes we'll do something with it like breathe together or stretch to help your system settle. I do it alongside you, not from across the screen.

We get curious about your parts

The one who performs. The one who scans the room. The one who says "I'm fine" before checking. In IFS we treat these as parts of you that took on jobs, usually young, usually for good reason. We don't fight them. We find out what they're protecting, and what it would take for them to stand down.

We go at the pace your nervous system can handle

Not the pace you think you should be moving at. Those are different speeds, and the second one is usually the problem.

I'm active in sessions

I ask questions. I follow the thread. I'll tell you what I'm noticing. If you've had a therapist who mostly listened while you ran out of things to say, this won't be that. I also check in about what's working and what isn't, and I mean it when I ask.

YOUR TOMORROW

What changes in therapy for burnout and over-functioning?

Therapy doesn’t hand you a different life. Some of what’s hard will still be hard. What changes is your relationship to it, how much you’re carrying alone, and how much of it gets to run you.

Here’s what clients describe over months of this work:

  • Recognizing the over-functioning while it’s happening, instead of after your body forces the stop
  • Saying no without a paragraph of justification attached
  • Physical things easing — the jaw, the sleep, the mornings that started with a jolt
  • Being able to name a want, which sounds small and is not
  • Less time replaying conversations
  • Relationships where you’re a person, not a service
  • Telling the difference between discomfort and danger, so you stop bracing for both
  • Noticing whose voice the self-criticism is actually in

In your relationships

People-pleasing stops looking like kindness and starts looking like what it’s been — a way to avoid conflict that cost you the conflict and yourself. Over time, the anxious or avoidant pattern you’ve been running has room to shift toward something steadier, and you get better at telling healthy love from familiar love.

In what’s actually yours to carry

You get more precise about the difference between what you control, what you can influence, and what was never in your hands at all. That sounds like a thinking exercise. It isn’t. It’s the thing that decides how much of a week you spend on situations that were never going to move.

The part nobody expects

Somewhere in this work, you grieve. The emotional neglect. The parent who was present and unavailable at the same time. The childhood where you were the responsible one before anyone asked. You start decentering the family that shaped the over-functioning — not cutting them off, just no longer organizing your nervous system around them.

This isn't a quick fix, and I want to be upfront about that. Most people come in for one thing and find that it opens a door to something older. There isn’t a get-better-quick version of this, and I’d rather say so now than let you find out in month three.

No waitlist. Most people start within a week.

READINESS

Are you ready for this kind of work?

Being a good fit for me isn't only about what you're carrying. It's about how you want to work on it.

This tends to go well when you

  • Are willing to meet weekly, and to stay with it past the point where the immediate crisis eases
  • Want to understand why the pattern formed, not only how to manage it
  • Can tolerate slowing down, even when slowing down feels unbearable
  • Are open to noticing what your body is doing, not just talking about what happened
  • Will tell me when something isn't working — I ask, and I mean it

It tends to go badly when

  • You need relief this week (If you're in crisis, call or text 988.)
  • You want tools without the context — there are good therapists who work that way, and I'll point you toward one
  • Weekly isn't realistic right now. Not a character flaw. Just information.
  • You need to use Medicaid or Medicare

If you read that and thought I don't know if I can slow down — that's not a disqualification. That's usually the thing we end up working on.

FormatOnline video, on a HIPAA-compliant platform
Length45–60 minutes
FrequencyWeekly or biweekly to start
Fee$225, with a sliding scale from $140
WhereAnywhere in New York, Florida, or Washington D.C.
LanguagesEnglish and Haitian Kreyòl
First stepA free 20-minute consultation

WHAT TO EXPECT

What sessions look like

Your first few appointments, we start with what brought you in, what you've already tried, and what you want to be different. You don't have to tell the whole story on day one and if you've never done therapy before, you don't need to know how to do it. That's my job.

FEES

What it costs

Sessions are $225 for 45–60 minutes.

I offer a sliding scale from $140 to $225, based on an anti-oppressive rate structure, for clients experiencing financial hardship. There's a short questionnaire on the Fees page that tells you where you land — no negotiating, no explaining yourself.

I'm out-of-network with all insurance plans. Many plans reimburse a portion of an out-of-network session once your deductible is met. Mentaya verifies your benefits and submits claims for you, and most clients see reimbursement within a week of the session. I also provide superbills.

I accept debit, credit, ACH, HSA, and FSA. I'm not able to accept Medicaid or Medicare.

See Full Fee Details →

FROM A COLLEAGUE

What other therapists say

"It is so easy to talk to Jessica. She is a compassionate, well-trained therapist for anyone facing burnout, anxiety or trauma. Her culturally-informed, respectful approach is perfect for adult children of immigrants."

Monica Polanco, LCSW — New York, NY · Verified endorsement, Psychology Today

DURING THERAPY

What We Can Work On Together

Burnout is usually the front door. What's behind it varies. These are the areas I work in most — follow whichever one sounds like your life.

I also work with people navigating family conflict, emotionally immature parents/emotionally unavailable parents, infidelity and betrayal, recovery from narcissistic abuse, substance use, addiction, neurodiversity, spirituality, identity, and grief. If it's affecting how you live, it belongs here.

MyMindset is a BIPOC-affirming practice — welcoming across genders, racial and ethnic identities, countries of origin, sexualities, relationship orientations, religions, abilities, and body sizes. You do not have to translate yourself here.

WHERE MY CLIENTS ARE

Burnout therapy across New York, Florida, and Washington D.C.

All sessions are online, which means the only thing that matters is where you are during the appointment — not where you live, where you work, or where your mail goes.

Most of my clients are in New York. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, Long Island and Westchester. A lot of them are the person their team leans on, and they book the hour that used to be the commute.

In Florida — Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Jacksonville, and anywhere else in the state.

In Washington, D.C. — anywhere in the District.

No commute, no waiting room, no sitting in a lobby hoping you don't see someone you know. When you're already running on empty, an hour of therapy that costs an hour is a different proposition from one that costs three.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Questions people ask

How do I know if I need therapy or if I'm just tired?
If you're asking, that's usually worth a conversation. Ordinary tiredness responds to a weekend. What I see most often is exhaustion that's stopped responding to anything — and that's less about sleep than about how much you're carrying.
What is somatic therapy?
Somatic therapy is talk therapy that also pays attention to what's happening in your body — tension, breath, posture, the physical signals that show up before words do. It's especially useful when stress is showing up physically, or when talking about something hasn't changed how it feels.
Will I have to do breathing exercises or movement?
Sometimes, and never on a script. What we do comes from what your body is asking for in that moment, not from a worksheet I hand you.

That might look like breathing together when things start to feel overwhelming. It might be tapping to help you settle, or resting your own hand on the place you're feeling tension or warmth. Some days it's standing up and stretching to get back in the room.

Whatever we do, I do it with you. I'm not watching from the other side of the screen while you try something alone.

And you can decline any of it, at any point, without explaining why. That won't derail the session — it's useful information on its own.
What is IFS therapy?
Internal Family Systems is an approach that treats your mind as made up of parts, each with a job. The part that overworks, the part that people-pleases, the part that shuts down. Rather than trying to eliminate those parts, IFS helps you understand what they're protecting so they can ease up.
Do I have to talk about my childhood?
Not on any schedule but your own. Most people find their way there eventually, because that's often where the pattern started. But we begin where you are, not where I think the story begins.
My last therapist just listened. I'd run out of things to say and sit in silence. Do you do that?
No. I'm active in sessions — I ask questions, I follow the thread, I say what I'm noticing. If silence isn't useful, I'm not going to leave you in it.
I've never been in therapy. Will I know what to do?
You don't need to. Plenty of my clients start here having never done this before. You talk, I ask, we figure out the shape of it together.
What if I don't think I have "real" trauma?
Many of my clients say some version of this. Their childhood wasn't dramatic — it was just a lot, early, and nobody named it. You don't need a qualifying event to deserve support.
Can I do this if my schedule is unpredictable?
Tell me on the consult. Sessions are online with no commute, and we can talk about what's realistic. I'd rather find a rhythm you can keep than book a slot you'll cancel.
How do I know if you're the right therapist for me?
That's what the free 20-minute consultation is for. You'll get a sense of how I talk and how I think, and you can ask me anything. If I'm not the right fit, I'll tell you, and I'll help you find someone who is.

WHENEVER YOU’RE READY

You've read this far.

That probably means something here landed.

The next step is smaller than it feels: twenty minutes, free, on the phone. You tell me what's going on. I tell you how I'd work with it. Nobody signs anything.

If I'm not the right person, I'll say so, and I'll help you find who is. You've spent enough of your life sorting things out alone.

No waitlist. Most people start within a week. Prefer to write first?