Janine Cheng, LCSW

You’ve tried so hard to make things better.

Maybe your relationship feels caught in a loop—cycling through the same arguments that leave you both saying things you don’t mean, retreating into silence, or becoming defensive. It feels like you’re on opposite sides of a widening gap. The more you try to fix it, the more stuck and powerless you feel in finding your way out. 

Or maybe it’s not about a relationship, but the constant tension you carry inside yourself. You wage a daily, silent battle with yourself-questioning your choices, chasing perfection, feeling like you have to perform just to be accepted- but to the outside world, you present as competent, successful, thoughtful. There’s a loneliness about this contrast, one that may make it hard to feel connected and truly seen by those around you. 

These ways of being didn’t come from nowhere—they are learned ways of protecting yourself, of surviving your most difficult and frightening moments. In our work together, we’ll slow down and look at the full story of you.

I believe that healing happens when all parts of you are welcomed—your thoughts, emotions, body, history, and the ways you’ve learned to cope. With couples, we’ll look at the deeper cycles driving your conflict and help you both find new ways to reach for each other with more clarity, curiosity and mutual understanding. With individuals, we’ll explore how anxiety, self-doubt, or people-pleasing patterns took root and gently begin to untangle them so you can feel more grounded and aligned with your higher Self.

We’ll use a blend of methods to support both your mind and your body: somatic practices to regulate your nervous system, mindfulness to create space and presence, and therapeutic approaches like CBT, DBT, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Emotionally Focused Therapy, and the Gottman Method to bring new understanding and real, practical tools for change. For some clients, psychedelic-assisted therapy may offer an even deeper way to reconnect with themselves and to break through persistent patterns of thought and feeling that more traditional therapies have failed to challenge. 

Through all of this, we move with clarity, compassion, and intention.

Founder + Clinical Director

Education and RECENT Training

  • Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (Fluence)

  • Journey Clinical Training: Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) – Preparation, Facilitation, and Integration

  • The Complete Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy Competency Course: A Start-to-Finish Instructional Series for Professionals

  • Gottman Method for Couples Level 1 & 2

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I): Evidence-based Insomnia Interventions for Trauma, Anxiety, Depression, Chronic Pain

  • Anxiety Certification Masterclass: Brain-Based Strategies for Panic, Agoraphobia, Social Anxiety, GAD, OCD & PTSD

  • Mastering Polyvagal Theory for Trauma Professionals: A Start to Finish Trauma Certification Program

  • Masters in Clinical Social Work from Silberman School of Social Work

  • BA in Philosophy from Brown University

Specialities

  • Anxious people-pleasers, overachievers, perfectionists

  • Adult children of immigrants

  • Anxiously attached individuals

  • Adult survivors of childhood abuse and neglect

  • Individuals living with chronic insomnia

  • Couples preparing for marriage

  • Couples with differences in attachment styles

  • Couples contemplating separation or divorce

Licensed in

  • New York

  • California