You don’t have to carry the weight of this relationship. Let Jessica help.

Therapy for Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents (ACEIP)

My parents are driving me crazy!

No matter what you do, you can’t just have a normal relationship with your parents. You’ve tried and tried throughout your life to talk with them about all the things they did to you, all the ways they didn’t support you, but you’re met with defensiveness, anger, gaslighting, criticism, and invalidation. When you’ve gotten them to listen, you’re often met with doubt - told that you had a roof over your head, that you’re ungrateful, that “you’ve changed!”. You’re wondering whether it’s even worth it to keep trying at this point. You’ve watched all the TikToks, read all the blogs, been in all the subreddits, and aren’t sure how to salvage this.

Why am I so irritated with my parents?

It’s normal to want your parents to act like, well, parents. You’re expecting adult empathy and emotional intelligence from them, but they can’t (or won’t) provide it. Of course you feel irritated! You’d hoped that once you became an adult, shared your feelings, and was independent from them, that your parents would start treating you with respect, empathy and kindness. All of that is natural and normal.

The problem lies in the fact that you can’t change your parents yourself - they have to want to change, too. I’m willing to bet that they don’t want to change, or they’d be the one reading this - not you. As literally infuriating as this is, unfortunately, there’s not much we can do to make them listen.

So how do I stop being annoyed by my parents?

You’re thinking to yourself, “Why am I the one who needs to go to therapy? My parent is the one with the problem!” You’re right. It’s not fair that you’re stuck holding the bag for a parent who refuses to take responsibility for their actions. The ideal situation would be for them to wake up one day, realize how badly they fucked up, and profusely apologize…but this world isn’t ideal.

The power is in your hands. You can’t make them apologize - but you don’t have to go along with this relationship as if everything is fine. You can choose to change how you interact with your parents - or even if you interact with them. You can talk with a therapist who is here to support you in whatever you choose, for whatever reason.

Ready to make a change?

You’re probably debating if therapy will just make things worse, to be honest. Your parents have long told you that “we don’t air our dirty laundry” or that therapy is just paying someone to listen. They couldn’t be more wrong. You will feel a difference after we work together. My goal for my clients is to help you identify what type of relationship you want with yourself and your parents, and implement it in a way that feels genuine for you. I support all of my clients, whether they want to dig in deep and fix their relationship with their parents, go low/no contact, or just find a way to put up with their parents’ craziness while they decide.

We’ll meet for your initial intake session to get a sense of what your needs are, and where I can help. Our first session will consist of answering any questions about intake paperwork, getting to know each other, and learning more about what you are looking for - you’re in the driver’s seat here. Each session will be 50-55 minutes, and I recommend in the beginning, we meet once a week for the first month to get you in the swing of things and build up some momentum. Payment is collected the day of your session via credit or debit card.

I’m excited to help clients who want to have healthy relationships with themselves (and their parents, if they want to), despite some of the bad things that they’ve been through. I’m eager to foster your desire to dig in, do the work, and get excited about what the future has in store for you. What we process in counseling is completely confidential; even though it may be vulnerable and uncomfortable for you to open up at first, you will notice right away that you deserve validation - you’re not “crazy” or “weak”, and you’re certainly not alone. I will challenge you - that’s what you’re here for, right? - but I will also support you, and help you learn what you need to be your authentic self.