Frequently Asked Questions

The Sassy Shrink is for any woman who is seeking to improve her mental health and well-being in these 3 areas: anxiety, confidence/self esteem and grief/loss. These concerns can show up in relationships, in work and at home.

I can help you identify anxiety in all areas of life, help you build confidence and comfort in your own head and body, and support you in navigating tremendous loss.

I can teach you to use coping skills to manage life’s ups and downs and develop a more positive outlook on life and your sense of control.

You must be 18 or older.

Mostly, we talk, and you get to feel out what it's like to be in a room with me. No couch, no clipboard of judgment, no pressure to perform your pain perfectly. I'll ask what brought you here and what you're hoping changes. You ask me anything you want. Together we start turning the big vague ache of "something feels off" into something we can actually work on. You don't have to arrive with it all organized. Showing up is the whole assignment.

Most clients start weekly, because momentum matters and patterns this old rarely loosen on a monthly check-in. As things settle, some move to every other week. How long you stay is genuinely up to you. Some women come for one focused season of work, others stick around for the longer unraveling. My goal is never to keep you forever. It's to get you to the point where you trust yourself enough to not need me.

They overlap, and they are not the same thing. Therapy is clinical care. We can go into your history, your mental health, and the old wounds the patterns grew out of, and it's available to women who live in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Coaching is forward-focused and skills-based, for women who already understand their pain points and their attachment style and want support putting new tools into practice. Coaching is open to women anywhere in the world. Not sure which fits? That's exactly what the free consultation is for. Tell me what's going on and I'll point you to the right door.

I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor, so I don't prescribe medication. Plenty of my clients do beautifully with therapy alone, and plenty combine therapy with medication managed by their doctor or psychiatrist. When medication seems like it could help, I'm glad to coordinate with your prescriber so everyone in your corner is on the same page.

My therapy license covers women who live in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, so that's who I can see for counseling. If you're anywhere else in the world, we can still work together through coaching. Same brain, same sass, same care, structured a little differently. Reach out and I'll tell you honestly whether coaching is a good fit for what you're carrying.

My work centers on the quiet stuff that runs capable women ragged. Perfectionism. Imposter syndrome. The mother wound. People-pleasing and the inability to say no. Boundaries you were never taught you were allowed to have. The specific exhaustion of being the eldest daughter and everyone's emergency contact. And the attachment patterns sitting underneath all of it. If you look fine on paper and feel frayed underneath, that is my whole specialty.

1. Book a free consultation.

   This involves a brief conversation about your current stress, what kind of support you need, and assessing for connection. If we are the right fit for one another, we’ll know it quickly in how we spitball your concerns into actionable steps.

2. Complete the paperwork and schedule your first session.

   Read, review and sign the consent forms in Simple Practice. Once completed, you can schedule your first session with me (Jaclyn) right in Simple Practice.

3. Start working towards your goals.

   Show up for your first session and begin developing that connection with me. Receive ongoing support via secure messaging and live video sessions from the comfort of your chosen safe space.

My rate is $200 per session. Check out the package options to learn how to save 20% on ongoing therapy and coaching services.

I also offer 30 minute Sassy pep talks. If you’re on budget and also need a quick convo to boost morale, address an anxiety flare up, or receive validation, this discounted service is perfect for you. See pricing

We are considered out of network so we do not contract directly with any insurance panels. We have created a great resource page that tells you how to learn more about out of network coverage and our boundary on insurance support.

If you need to cancel or reschedule your appointment, please do so at least 24 hours in advance. I encourage clients to text with me to reschedule that week without financial penalty.

If you do not show up for your scheduled appointment or cancel with less than 24 hours notice, you will be charged the full session fee.

Especially you. High-functioning often just means you've gotten very good at hiding how much it costs you to keep everything running. You don't have to be falling apart to deserve support. So many of the women I work with are the ones holding everyone else together, quietly wondering when it's their turn to be held. It's your turn.

The mother wound is the lasting imprint of growing up with a mother whose love felt conditional, critical, inconsistent, or tangled up in her own unhealed pain. It teaches a girl that she has to earn her worth, manage everyone's feelings, and never take up too much space. I talk about it constantly because it sits underneath so much of what brings women to me: perfectionism, people-pleasing, shaky boundaries, the sense of never being enough. Name the root and the rest starts making sense.

Yes, because these are not fixed personality traits. They're patterns you learned, usually early, usually for good reason. Anything learned can be understood and loosened. We trace where it came from, separate the genuine care from the fear driving it, and practice new ways of working that don't run on dread. You get to keep your high standards. We're just going to unhook them from your sense of safety and worth.

An emotional support animal letter is a document from a licensed mental health professional stating that your animal provides support connected to a diagnosed mental health condition. Under the federal Fair Housing Act, a valid ESA letter can let you live with your animal even in housing with a no-pet policy, usually without pet fees. One thing a lot of outdated information gets wrong: since 2021, airlines are no longer required to accommodate emotional support animals in the cabin, so an ESA letter generally does not cover air travel anymore. You'll always get the honest, current version from me of what your letter can and can't do.

I can't promise a letter before we've talked, because a responsible ESA letter has to be based on an actual clinical assessment. What I can promise is a fair, honest process. We meet, I evaluate whether an emotional support animal is clinically appropriate for you, and I tell you the truth either way. Anyone advertising a guaranteed letter with no real assessment is selling something I won't put my license behind.

The ESA letter is available to my counseling clients. Writing one responsibly means I actually need to know you and understand your mental health, not meet you once and sign a form. If you're interested, bring it up in your consultation or in session and we'll talk it through.

Coaching is for women who already have some self-awareness and are ready to build. You know your pain points. You have a sense of your attachment style. You don't need to excavate your whole history so much as you need structure, support, and accountability to apply what you already know. Therapy tends a wound. Coaching trains a skill. Some women do one, some move from therapy into coaching once the deeper work feels steadier.

Coaching works best when you already know roughly what you're dealing with and what you want to change. You understand your patterns, you have a sense of your attachment style, and you're ready to practice new skills rather than start from the very beginning of understanding yourself. If you're still in the "I don't even know what's wrong, I just know I'm exhausted" stage, therapy is probably the better place to start, and I'll tell you so honestly.