Jacqueline Canovan, LCSW

I help adults untangle anxiety, people-pleasing, and the patterns that come from growing up in unpredictable homes.

If you grew up in a home where you had to read the room before you could read books—where love felt conditional, moods shifted without warning, or you learned early that being "good" meant being small—a lot of what feels broken in your adult life probably makes a lot of sense.
You might be the friend everyone leans on but no one checks in with. The partner who can't tell where their feelings end and someone else's begin. The high-functioning professional who looks fine on paper and feels exhausted in private. People-pleasing, anxiety, conflict avoidance, the nagging sense that you're somehow "too much" and "not enough" at the same time—these aren't character flaws. They're old strategies that kept you safe once and stopped working a long time ago.
I'm Jackie, a licensed therapist with about 20 years of experience working with individual adults. My approach is conversational, relational, and skills-focused—meaning we'll actually talk like humans, we'll get curious about the patterns underneath what's bothering you, and you'll leave sessions with practical tools you can use between them. I bring warmth and a fair amount of humor to this work, alongside the willingness to gently push back when something needs a second look. I also tend to recommend a book now and then—reading has a way of making the invisible visible.
I specialize in anxiety, trauma, relationships, and the big life transitions—career shifts, breakups, becoming a parent, becoming yourself—where old coping patterns tend to surface loudest. Sessions are telehealth across New Jersey and New York, with in-person availability in Matawan, NJ.
If any of this sounds like you, I'd love to talk. The next chapter doesn't have to look like the last one.