We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jessica Steinman, LMFT CSAT a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jessica, thanks for joining us today. Looking back at internships and apprenticeships can be interesting, because there is so much variety in people’s experiences – and often those experiences inform our own leadership style. Do you have an interesting story from that stage of your career that you can share with us?
When someone gets a Masters Degree to be a therapist in California, they have to do 3000 clinical hours as an intern to build the skills and receive the training before becoming a Licensed therapist. For 2 years, I was an intern at an incredible organization called The Maple Counseling Center from 2013 to 2015. The Maple Counseling Center offers very low fee counseling for people who are unable to afford therapy and the interns providing that therapy get to receive excellent training from skilled and elite clinicians in the field. As an early therapist, I was struggling with a client and not finding a lot of empathy for him. My first clinical supervisor, Harold Young gave me some of the most important advice and guidance that I still use (not nearly as often) and also teach and share with upcoming interns; If I am struggling with having compassion and empathy for a client, Harold suggested that I imagine that client as a baby in a play pen- neglected, with a full poopy diaper, empty bottle and can’t reach his or her toys. An inclination for most would be to scoop of the baby, hold it, care for it, give it love and support and make sure it is ok. That thought process, image, and way of viewing the client has given me so much ease in being able to be present and empathetic with many clients with many issues and concerns.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Before my interest in a career as a therapist, I was a voice major at New York University with dreams of Broadway stardom. After that adventure and a change in future goals, I worked in New York City as a Salon and Spa Manager, PR rep and Event planner. Life hurdles within relationships and personal life planted the dream of returning to school for a Master degree to be a therapist. I attended graduate school in Pasadena, California at a wonderful school called Pacific Oaks College. After completing there, I worked in many different internship opportunities before becoming a licensed therapist. I received my additional Certification as a CSAT (Certified Sex Addiction Therapist) through IITAP- International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals. Outside of private practice, I work as a Primary Therapist with Seeking Integrity, an intensive inpatient program for male sex addicts. Prior to that, I was the Clinical Director for Create Recovery Center, a substance abuse treatment center specializing in Dual Diagnosis. Before that, I spent over four years as the Clinical Director for Westwind Recovery where I created their three treatment programs from Detox/Residential, Day Outpatient and Night Outpatient. Before that, I worked as a Primary Therapist seeing individuals and facilitating Group Therapy for KLEAN Treatment Center, a residential treatment center for people struggling with substance abuse and addiction.
As it can be seen, one of my biggest passions is working with people that struggle with addiction. It is a population of people that our country doesn’t seem to consider as important and I have made it a mission to make sure they do realize they matter and can get the help they need,
One of the most exciting things I was able to do in my career so far was work as the Addiction Consultant on the hit TV show, HBO’s “Euphoria.” I worked side by side with Zendaya and Director and Creator Sam Levinson on creating the addiction withdrawal portrayal for Zendaya’s character “Rue” in Season 2 of the show.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I have been very lucky to be in my field and continue to progress and grow with my practice. Most of my clients are either word of mouth or referrals from other contacts and colleagues. I believe people know they can count on me, utilize me, and refer me because I make sure that I go to the Nth degree with clients, friends and people in general. I want to make sure people feel seen, heard, understood and experience me as genuine and authentic. I don’t “bullshit” anyone and I “call it like I see it” which I think people appreciate and value. I also think is incredibly important that the people I connect with know know or start to know that they matter, and they matter to me. I strive always to just be me, be authentic and I think that has helped people continue to want to work with me.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
In this field, it is important to be connecting with people, networking, attending events, and finding like minded colleagues that can be used a referral and resources. I have found the connections I have made have been not only enriching for my practice in retaining more clients, but I am also able to connect with others to seek and offer consultation on difficult cases and connect regarding anything in the field.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jessicasteinman.com
- Instagram: @jessicasteinmanlmft