Jennifer Szopinski, LCSW
Works With: Ages 15+ | Teens & Adults
Focus Area: Trauma & Emotional Processing, Anxiety & Coping Skills and Relationships
Experience: 14+ years
About Me & My Approach
I believe therapy is most effective when it balances genuine emotional safety with actionable, real-world change. As a therapist, I don't sit in silence nodding along; I show up as an engaged, collaborative, and authentic partner in your healing. My therapeutic framework is deeply integrative, tailored to meet you where you are. I draw heavily from evidence-based modalities to help you understand both why you feel the way you do, and how to move forward:
- Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) & Attachment Theory: We look at the deeper emotional patterns and relational blueprints that shape how you connect with others, helping you move from reactive loops into secure, meaningful relationships.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) & ACT: We target entrenched cognitive rumination, shifting focus from historical regrets or future anxieties toward values-aligned, present-moment actions.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills: We build concrete toolkits for distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and mindfulness to help you navigate acute stressors without feeling overwhelmed.
Who I Work With & Specialty Areas
I work primarily with adults and couples navigating complex interpersonal dynamics, life transitions, and internal emotional blocks. My practice has a strong focus on the following areas:
Adults and Young Adults: Individuals struggling with workplace burnout, professional identity shifts, chronic self-doubt, or persistent rumination regarding past career choices.
Couples & Relationship Navigation: Partners looking to break destructive cycles of conflict, repair trust after a systemic fracture, or better understand how their individual attachment styles (such as avoidant or anxious patterns) interact under stress.
Caregivers & Parents: Individuals balancing the acute emotional weight of parental responsibilities or family-of-origin caregiver dynamics while trying to maintain their own mental wellness and identity.
Symptoms & Concerns Treated
In my practice, we actively target both internal symptoms and their external functional impacts. I specialize in treating:
Anxiety & Chronic Rumination: Breaking the exhausting cycle of overthinking, retrospective regret, and hypervigilance.
Relational Distress: Addressing communication blocks, emotional withdrawal/silence, insecurity within partnerships, and the pain of unresolved interpersonal conflict.
Emotional Dysregulation: Helping you manage intense emotional waves, somatic tension, and reactive behavioral responses to triggers.
Life & Systemic Transitions: Navigating the complex grief, stress, and identity adjustments that come with family illnesses, new additions to the family, or major lifestyle pivots.
What You Can Expect
In our work together, you can expect a warm, supportive, and direct environment. I don't believe in rigid, textbook lecturing; instead, I speak like a helpful peer who happens to have deep clinical expertise.
Our initial sessions will focus on mapping your current stressors, identifying your core triggers, and understanding the unique negative cycles holding you back. From there, we will work together to build practical coping mechanisms, increase your cognitive flexibility, and deepen your insight. You will leave sessions not just feeling heard, but equipped with a clearer understanding of your internal world and concrete steps for your day-to-day life.
I participate with the following Insurance plans:
- Aetna
- Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Cigna
- Cigna EAP
- Fidelis
- Highmark WNY
- Highmark Medicare
- Independent Health
- Nova
- Oscar
- Oxford
- United Health Care
- United Health Care EAP
- United Health Care Student Resources
- Open Path Collective
- Out of Network
- Self Pay
- Univera
Empathetic support for diverse life obstacles
