245 5th Ave #311, New York, NY 10016 / 80 Park St., Montclair, New Jersey 07042
(312)600-3775
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Ever feel like you’re living a version of womanhood that was scripted for you, not by you? Maybe the relationships in your life don’t reflect who you’re becoming, or you’re lying awake at night wondering if you’re meant for more than juggling roles—daughter, partner, mother, professional, caregiver—without ever really getting to just be you.
Women’s therapy is about pressing pause on all those external expectations and finally asking: What do I want my life to feel like? Because life is messy—beautiful, absurd, heartbreaking, and confusing—and you deserve a space that sees the whole of it, and the whole of you.
At Authentically Living Psychological Services, our approach to therapy isn’t about fixing you (because you’re not broken). It’s about creating space to rediscover the parts of yourself that have been drowned out by noise, expectations, and Instagram-worthy versions of “how life should look.” If you’re seeking therapy for women in Montclair that welcomes your questions about purpose, identity, and meaning, you’ve landed in the right place.
Meet your Montclair, NJ women's therapists
Jaclyn Paradise
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Offers therapy for women ✓
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Credentials: Licensed Associate Counselor, Certified Trauma Professional, Mindfulness Informed Professional
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Specialty areas: First responders, military personnel, trauma/complex PTSD, ADHD, codependency
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Location: Montclair, NJ
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Virtual therapy: Yes, across NJ
Dr. Cynthia Shaw
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Offers therapy for women ✓
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Credentials: Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Certified Grief Professional
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Specialty areas: Professionals (including lawyers and entrepreneurs), anxiety, grief, life transitions, self-esteem
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Location: Montclair, NJ
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Virtual therapy: Yes, across NJ & 40+ PsyPact states
Common reasons why women seek therapy
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Realizing some relationships feel less like “soulmates” and more like old clothes you’ve outgrown.
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Battling imposter syndrome at work while secretly wondering if everyone else got a manual you somehow missed.
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Carrying the weight of past trauma and trying to remember what your own voice even sounds like.
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Standing in the middle of a life transition—career pivots, motherhood, divorce—feeling like the GPS keeps saying, “Recalculating.”
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Spiraling into late-night “what does it all mean” anxiety, fueled by both existential dread and probably too much cold brew.
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Playing the role of caretaker/peacemaker/codependent extraordinaire until your soul is waving a tiny white flag.
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Sitting in grief and loss while simultaneously trying to reassemble your sense of self from the rubble.
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Performing perfectionism and people-pleasing like it’s your full-time job, except there’s no PTO.
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Peeling back society’s “good girl” labels and wondering who you are beyond everyone else’s script.
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Feeling crushed by caregiving responsibilities and wondering when you get to be a human with needs, too.
How women's therapy can support you
Rediscover your authentic voice
It’s way too easy to lose yourself in the endless noise of what everyone else thinks you should be doing. Therapy is where you get to turn down that static and actually hear your own thoughts again—the ones that feel like truth, not performance.
Cultivate relationships that actually feel good
Surface-level connections? Exhausting. Codependent patterns? Soul-sucking. Therapy is a space to figure out what you want, what you need, and where your boundaries live. From there, relationships start to feel less like energy vampires and more like mutual nourishment—a place where intimacy can actually breathe.
Navigate life’s plot twists without losing yourself
Career pivots, breakups, becoming a parent, leaving a marriage, questioning your identity—life is basically one giant “plot twist” after another. Therapy offers room to process the chaos, find clarity, and maybe even see change as an invitation instead of a threat. (Though yes, we can also acknowledge that change is annoying and inconvenient while we’re at it.)
Let pain become part of your story, not the whole story
Your past traumas and present struggles don’t get to be the author of your entire life. In therapy, we explore how to integrate those experiences so they don’t run the show. Pain can be transformed—not erased, but reshaped into wisdom, compassion, and strength you didn’t know you had.
Step into freedom and meaning
As you know, life doesn’t come with a manual. While wanting to make the “right” decision can feel overwhelming (trust me, I get it), therapy with us invites you to consider the radical freedom of that reality. By digging into what truly matters to you and learning how to own your choices, you can become empowered to craft meaning out of life’s glorious chaos.