Being “mature for your age” isn’t the flex you were told it was.
Virtual, trauma-informed therapy for women in New York who had to grow up too fast and are ready to stop abandoning themselves.
You learned how to read the room and everyone in it before you learned how to read yourself.
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I’m Gina Sacino, MS, LCAT, a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist based in Rochester, NY, providing virtual therapy throughout New York State.
You’re intuitive, capable, and independent. People know they can count on you, and when you walk in, they exhale. You’re the problem solver at work and the “mom” of the friend group. In your family, you may have been the helper, the unofficial family therapist, the peacekeeper.
That role kept you safe for a long time. You just didn’t get to choose it.
Now you’re tired. You pack your schedule so you’re never alone with yourself. You dread calls from family and feel guilty about that. You resent people you love, and setting a boundary feels like a betrayal. Your siblings remember your childhood differently than you do. Your body hurts in ways no one has been able to explain. And when the anger shows up, you don’t think you’ve earned it.
You know how to handle everyone else’s emotions. Your own feel like an inconvenience. A voice in you says it wasn’t that bad, that other people had it worse, that you should be over it by now.
What you want is for the bad feelings to go away and to feel in control again. What I can offer is room to feel them, to grieve what this cost you, learn to trust your gut again, and to help you discover what your body and emotions have known the whole time.
You don’t have to fix anything this time. Nothing about you is broken. You’re human, a good one, and you’re exhausted and hurting. You can learn to soften in a world that has tried to harden you. You can be all that you are and still belong. You don’t need to have the answers all the time. You’ve tiptoed long enough.
When you’re ready, I’m here.
We might be a great fit if you are navigating:
Complicated Family Dynamics & Relationships
Have been the “fixer,” a perfectionist, a people pleaser, family scapegoat, or described as “difficult”
Had a difficult childhood and aren’t sure if it still affects you
Have a difficult relationship with your mother
Want to improve your relationships
Are afraid of conflict
Feelings & self-trust
Know how you feel but aren’t sure what to do about it
Feel annoyed by your own emotions and don’t know how to stop feeling them
Are dealing with shame or guilt and aren’t sure why or what to do with it
Are rebellious but afraid to let that show
You feel angry, even rageful and are not sure what to do with that
Feel like you’re constantly abandoning your needs
Want to feel more grounded in yourself
Want to build self-trust and communicate with confidence
Enjoy diving deep into your story to learn more about yourself
Stress, grief & trauma
Daydream about FMLA because it’s the only way you can imagine finding time for yourself
Jam-pack your schedule to keep busy
Are living with chronic stress, chronic illness, or disability, or suspect you might be
Are experiencing grief or bereavement
Have experienced institutional, religious, sexual, or interpersonal trauma
Identity & belonging
Hold one or more marginalized identities (LGBTQIA+, People of the Global Majority, disabled, neurodivergent)
Are a child of immigrants trying to reconnect with or reclaim your ancestral roots
Feel like you’re never 100% of anything
Feel like you’ve lost control of how people see you, or are always trying to say the right thing
What is a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist?!
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A licensed creative arts therapist, in the state of New York, is a Master’s Level clinician who graduated from an accredited program and has attended supervision and completed internship requirements. They have all the same training as a mental health therapist, but they can use creative arts interventions (such as art making, music, drama, and dance) as part of treatment, and as a complimentary resource in diagnostics. They are trained specifically to utilize art as a form of expression and as well as a modality for treatment. Additionally, they have completed years of experience under the supervision of a licensed supervisor and participate in continuing education (36 hours per registration period). They are trained to use metaphor, symbolism and pay close attention to the little details as we are highly observant and great at recognizing patterns.
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Nope! The majority of the work I currently do is traditional talk therapy. This just gives us the option to have another tool at our disposal should you be interested or find it useful. This modality has made it so that I can be a little more creative in how I serve my clients. If you enjoy art, I will assign a prompt in between sessions to process in the next session, but it is never mandatory!
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Nope! Not even a little. We aren’t art critics. It’s just a tool if you should choose to use it.
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This is really up to you! If you find it helpful, you can let me know and I will assign some. Otherwise, I may just ask you to toss something around in your brain between sessions. the homework I do assign is never mandatory.
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Individual therapy is generally 45 minutes.
There is no formula for sessions. I don’t operate through the lens of creating and sticking to rigid goals, as the process of therapy is slow and non-linear. However, if you require structure, I encourage you to mention that to me and I can create more of that in our sessions.
Relationship therapy is 55 minutes.This process is a little more structured. The first session is all of us together and this is where I gain insight on your history within the relationship. The next few sessions will be just me and one of you so I can get a solid idea of family history and dynamics. Then we all join back together for sessions and begin with talking about attachment styles. Occasionally, I will meet individually with each person for a process check in. I do this to ensure everyone is on the same page and can speak candidly. Please note: I do not keep secrets from partners, and encourage everyone to be honest and candid in session so we can work through the really hard things.
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It complete depends on what you are working on. I will often give a few different ones and they can be interpreted and changed to fit your needs. I ask my clients to send me photos in my privacy compliant portal so I can look at it before session and then we can process it together. Clients are welcome to use whatever materials they prefer. I may challenge folks to try new things as well if they are able!