Jessica Adler

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Registered Art Therapist who is interested in helping people grow, learn, and heal. I am especially passionate about working with children, adolescents, young adults, and new parents/caregivers as they navigate the challenges that can come with entering a new phase of life.

My approach

I view therapy as a collaborative experience. You're the expert on your life, and it's my job to get curious about your thoughts, feelings, and history, and then work together to come up with new understandings, perspectives, and coping skills. Since I'm also a trained art therapist, we can achieve these goals through a combination of talk and art (but just talk is fine too if you're not interested in art!). When working with young children I also utilize play therapy and present myself as a friendly person whose job it is to help kids learn about and manage big feelings--a valuable skill at any stage of life.

My focus

With a strong background in early childhood mental health, I have found that I most enjoy working with children, teens, young adults, and caregivers. Topics that often come up are attachment issues, trauma, anxiety, and depression. Since many of the emotional difficulties we face as adults are often rooted in childhood experiences, I have found this background to be extremely useful in working with adults as well as children.

My communication style

My communication style is warm, open, and grounded. Everything is welcome in this space, with no judgment. I like to listen and ask questions to be sure I understand where you're coming from. I also happen to think humor is a great therapeutic tool, so I like to bring that in too when it's right.

My journey to mental healthcare

I feel fortunate to have a career where I get to help people move toward greater self-knowledge, compassion, and acceptance. I truly believe that therapy is not only a gift to ourselves, but to those around us and our communities at large, and this is why I do what I do.

My goals for you

Establishing the right goals makes sure that we both know what we're working on, and how we'd like to get there. Often a starting place will be me asking: "How do you feel right now, and how would you like to feel differently in the future?" When working with young kids this is usually a collaborative process with caregivers. With teens, caregivers may be involved but I believe the teen should be the one in the driver's seat in terms of what we're working toward.

My first session with you

In our first session, I will gather information about your history, your goals, and what it is that's bringing you to therapy. You don't need to feel pressure to give me every bit of information in that first session; I expect that new and relevant information will present itself over time, and not everyone feels comfortable pouring their heart out right away--after all, we've only just met. Subsequent sessions will be much more driven by what you want to talk about--what's been going on, how have you been feeling, what have you noticed since our last session? With kids, it is usually helpful to have caregivers join the first session, and we can decide if future sessions should be conducted with or without caregivers depending on the age, maturity level, and comfort of your child.