Founder + Clinical Director
Janine Cheng, LCSW
She/her
I work with people who are accustomed to managing demanding lives but are finding the personal and relational costs difficult to sustain. They often hold themselves to impossibly high standards and assume disproportionate responsibility in relationships, leaving little room for their own emotional needs.
I am interested in understanding how these patterns developed and what maintains them. The expectations you place on yourself may be closely connected to earlier responsibilities, family relationships, or ideas about what makes you dependable or successful. In therapy, we examine those connections alongside the situations you are facing now, paying attention to what you want to change and what makes that difficult.
My Philosophy
The goal of our work is not just insight, but also the development of skills that will improve your day-to-day living and relationships with self and others.
With individuals, I work with high performers and adult children of immigrants, including eldest daughters and sons navigating family responsibilities. You may be accustomed to being relied upon, feel pressure to achieve because of your family’s sacrifices or experience guilt when your priorities differ from what your parents expect. We examine how these expectations shape your relationships and the demands you place on yourself, with room to consider which responsibilities you want to maintain and which you would like to reconsider.
With couples, I work to understand why efforts to resolve conflict or restore closeness have not led to the changes either person hoped for. We look at how each of you interprets and responds to the other, including what happens when an attempt to express a need becomes another disagreement. This understanding informs the ways we practice communicating and responding differently.
My work with families includes examining roles and expectations that persist even as people’s lives change. A particular focus is filial obligation and cultural differences within families, including responsibility for a parent’s emotions, pressure to achieve, and guilt about making independent choices. I am interested in what these obligations mean to you, which values you share, and where your preferences differ from what your family expects.
I draw on relational and cognitive therapies, mindfulness, and body-based practices. Our work includes understanding your emotional and physical responses in difficult situations, alongside practical ways to address the concerns you bring to therapy. The goal of our work is not just insight, but also the development of skills that will improve your day-to-day living and relationships with self and others.
Population
People-pleasers, perfectionists & overachievers
Eldest, parentified daughters & sons
Children of immigrants; Asian & BIPOC clients
Survivors of childhood abuse & neglect
Couples — premarital through betrayal & separation decisions
Families with strained parent & sibling relationships
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Doctorate in Marriage in Family Therapy - Touro University (Expected graduation in 2028)
Masters in Clinical Social Work -Silberman School of Social Work
Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy - Brown University
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Gottman: Treating Affairs and Trauma
Gottman: Couples and Addiction Recovery
Gottman Method for Couples Level 1 & 2
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT)
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)
Discernment Counseling
Polyvagal Theory
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NPI: 1477927945
New York LCSW 090860
California LCSW 119465
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New York: In person and virtual
California: Virtual
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English
Specialties
Boundaries & people-pleasing
Self-worth & burnout
High-functioning anxiety
Anxious & avoidant attachment
Rebuilding trust after infidelity
Communication & emotional distance in couples
Family, cultural & intergenerational conflict
Work with me:
| Consultation | 15 minutes | Free |
| Individual session | 55 minutes | $350 |
| Couples and Family session | 55 minutes | $400 |
| Couples and Family session | 90 minutes | $650 |
Book a Free Consultation
Client Testimonials
Janine’s Writings
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