Catherine Jakobsze, MS, LPC, NCC, CCTP

Owner and Psychotherapist

YOU can call me Cathy. In so many ways, there is still a stigma around receiving mental health services. For some, their previous experience (or experiences of those close to them) has made it difficult to reach out for help. I’m here to tell you the field of mental health has evolved, much like I have as a psychotherapist throughout my career. During my studies at Monmouth University (2012-2018) where I earned my BA in Psychology and MS in Mental Health Counseling, I learned to pride myself on being authentic with clients, in and out of session. 

I am an experienced Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC), and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP). Over the last almost decade, I have worked in various professional mental health settings, including intensive outpatient programs, partial hospitalization programs, community-based settings, and private practice. Most of my professional experience is working with adolescents, emerging adults, and adults managing trauma, including vicarious trauma, burnout, employment abuse, and complex trauma, dissociative disorders, depressive and other mood disorders, anxiety disorders, neurodivergence (ADHD, ASD, OCD, etc.), personality disorders, gambling disorder and other behavioral addictions, nonsuicidal self-injury, chronic illness, clients who have previously struggled to connect with therapists in the past, sexual dysfunction, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ populations, and more. I am also an adjunct professor at several community colleges throughout NJ, where I teach psychology.

As a board-certified counselor, I continuously strive to remain culturally responsive when working with populations of different backgrounds. My clinical approach with clients is collaborative. I meet clients where they are emotionally because you are the expert on your own experience.  Although my therapeutic approach is client-centered, I recognize the necessity to draw from a diverse, evidence-based toolkit to meet individual needs, including but not limited to Existential Therapy, Liberation Psychology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Exposure and Response Therapy (ERP), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Solution-Focused Therapy, Attachment-Focused Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Motivational Interviewing, as well as mindfulness and somatic-based therapies.

In my free time, you can catch me hanging out with my 3 hairless (yes, hairless) munchkin cats,

attending any live comedy show or concert and serving as facilitator for my alma mater's peer consultation group!