Hello! My name is Jessie (they/[any pronoun is fine]), and I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) practicing in Pennsylvania, based out of Philadelphia. I received my Master's Degree from Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and have been in practice full-time for over four years. My passion is supporting the growth and development of children, adolescents, and families--especially LGBTQ+ youth.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
I will start by briefly introducing myself, sharing a little about my background, and explaining what you can expect from therapy with me as well as how I view my role as a therapist. I leave space for any questions you might have--then spend the remainder of the session getting to know you, your strengths, whether you've had any previous experiences in therapy, what brought you into treatment, and your current therapeutic goals. I will collaborate with you to develop a plan that will focus our work together in future sessions.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
Adjectives I would use to describe my strengths as a therapist are: humble, relatable, empathetic, caring, honest, attentive, creative, playful, humorous, and ethical. I listen deeply, love people for who they are and who they could become, wear my heart on my sleeve, challenge people, normalize their struggles with my own experiences, and share moments of joy, humor, levity, and connection in a manner that makes trauma more bearable to approach. I am comfortable with discomfort and uncertainty and readily able to validate that we are all works in progress while simultaneously drawing attention to clients' progress and resilience. Clients feel safe and at ease to be vulnerable sorting through their muck in my presence because they can feel that I care about them and and am with them, because I have a knack for making that process fun despite what it is, and because I am never vain enough to pretend that I have the answers.
About Jessie Arian
Identifies as
Specializes in
Licensed in
Accepts cash
Appointments
VirtualMy treatment methods
Eclectic
I individualize treatment by drawing from a variety of theoretical perspectives and tools for intervention to address clients' goals depending on their contexts, needs, and preferences. I believe that therapeutic frameworks are different languages for navigating what is ultimately a client's own process towards change, and any one given language will resonate with some more than others depending on past experiences and future goals. My Master's-level training was primarily in psychodynamic theories, which I utilize for conceptualization of core issues, and I also have formal training in Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT) and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). My overall disposition towards clients is person-centered, humanistic, strengths-based, trauma-informed, culturally humble, and deeply rooted in alignment with social justice values.
Structural Family Therapy
ESFT, which is an offshoot of Structural Family Therapy, is primarily an approach for treating children and adolescents, but it can also be applied to adults who are struggling with stressors related to parenting, adults who are struggling in their relationships with aging parents, LGTBQ+ individuals struggling in relationships with partners and chosen family, etc. The general idea is that people are individual parts of larger interconnected systems of relationships, and mental health symptoms are manifestations of unhealthy patterns of interaction between individuals and the other people within their family system and larger ecosystems. I am a deeply systemic-thinker and always theorizing big-picture about people’s roles within their families, communities, cultures, societies, and historical contexts at the same time as closely listening to whatever an individual is experiencing in the present. In the ESFT model, change occurs not through an individual-focused reduction of mental health symptoms, but rather through sustained effort to reflect upon and change unhealthy default patterns of interacting in relationships to others.
Psychodynamic
I utilize different psychodynamic theories roughly to conceptualize *how* people have learned over the course of their development to be in relationship with others--including but far from limited to examples such as: Is the world fundamentally safe or unsafe? Do you expect others to meet needs for you, or would reliance on somebody else feel dangerous? Are you fearful of abandonment, or does it feel threatening to be in connection? Do you see yourself as somebody who is deserving? Capable? Worthy?
Humanistic
I believe that people are their own best resources for growth and change and the expert on their own experiences--my role is to be a highly enthusiastic, attentive, and caring mirror who believes in drawing out and facilitating the growth of something that is already innately within each of us.
Trauma Informed Care
I have extensive experience working with individuals and families who have survived and are surviving from complex trauma, and my clinical practice is first and foremost centered in principles of trauma-informed care. I am also currently in the process of being officially certified in TF-CBT, which is an evidence-based practice utilized to support children and families through the process of developing an awareness of the ways in which trauma has impacted them, how to cope with the impact, and how to regain some sense of control through a process of de-sensitization to their narratives of the trauma. Clients can expect from me that I will do everything that is within my power to maintain a therapeutic space that is conducive to healing because I actively practice in accordance with values of safety, respect, openness, honesty, transparency, accountability, collaboration and partnership, empowerment and choice, humility, attention to diversity and social justice, and empathy.