Feel more grounded in yourself.
Virtual, trauma-informed therapy for self-esteem, confidence, imposter syndrome, and self-trust, throughout New York State.
Therapy for self-esteem, confidence, imposter syndrome, and self-trust
You can run the meeting, plan the trip, and talk everyone else through their crisis. Then someone gives you a compliment and you deflect, or you make a decision and spend three days second-guessing it. From the outside you look sure of yourself. On the inside, you’re waiting to be found out.
Low self-esteem rarely starts as a personality trait. It usually starts as a lesson: that your needs were too much, that love depended on being useful, or that being quiet was safer. Therapy is a place to find out where those lessons came from and which ones you can put down.
You might relate if you:
Doubt yourself
Second-guess decisions, even small ones, and ask other people what to do
Don’t trust your gut, or don’t know what it’s telling you
Feel like a fraud when you succeed, or can’t take in a compliment
Replay conversations for hours, looking for what you did wrong
Assume you’re the problem when something goes wrong
Shrink yourself
Say “it’s fine” or “I don’t mind” when you do
Struggle to say no, ask for what you need, or take up space
Stay quiet, play it down, or stay out of the spotlight so no one notices you
Feel like you’re “too much” and “not enough” at the same time
Compare yourself to other people and always come up short
Earn your worth
Feel valuable only when you’re useful, productive, or taking care of someone
Feel guilty when you rest or put yourself first
Feel like you have to be perfect before you’re allowed to speak up
Learned early that love, praise, or safety depended on being “good” or easy
Have a harsh inner voice that you would never use on someone you care about
therapy for cultural reclamation
therapy for mixed race women
Therapy for identity uncertainty
therapy for feeling like an outsider
therapy for mixed family women
therapy for gender identity exploration
therapy for sexuality exploration
therapy for finding belonging
I’m Gina Sacino, MS, LCAT, a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist in Rochester, NY, providing virtual therapy throughout New York State.
Therapy for self-esteem
Your sense of worth was shaped by the people and places around you. We look at what you were taught about yourself, who taught it, and what’s actually true.
Therapy for confidence
Confidence isn’t a personality type. It’s built from small moments of trusting yourself and surviving the result. We practice those moments, at a pace that feels safe.
Therapy for self-trust
If it was never safe to rely on your judgment, it makes sense that you don’t. We work on hearing your gut, making decisions, and tolerating the discomfort of choosing for yourself.
Therapy for imposter feelings
You can have the credentials, the track record, and the praise and still feel like a fraud. We look at what’s behind that, including who you learned to be afraid of disappointing.
Therapy for people-pleasing and boundaries
You can be kind without being on call. We work on saying no, asking for what you need, and handling the guilt that follows.
Therapy for the inner critic
Your inner critic usually has a history. We get curious about where it learned its voice and what it’s afraid would happen if it quieted down.
What we do in session
I’m warm, direct, and relational, with a little humor, and we go at your pace. Together we:
Look at where your beliefs about yourself came from, including the people and roles that taught them
Get to know your inner critic, and whose voice it sounds like
Separate what you were told about yourself from what’s true
Practice listening to your gut and acting on it, in small steps
Practice saying no, asking for what you want, and surviving the response
Make room for grief about what it cost you, and anger you may not think you’re allowed to feel
Work with the body as well as the thoughts, using a trauma-informed and creative approach, since shame and self-doubt live in the body too
Build the kind of confidence that doesn’t depend on being perfect, useful, or liked
I won’t tell you to just believe in yourself. We build it from evidence, and from the experience of being seen as you are.
What feeling better can look like
You make a decision and move on. You take a compliment without arguing with it. You say what you want, and the world doesn’t end. Your inner voice is kinder, and you can still do your best work. You trust your read on people and situations. Your worth stops depending on how useful you are.