About Jennifer
Dr. Jennifer De Costa is a licensed marriage and family therapist with more than two decades of clinical experience. She practices from Hawaii and focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, grief, trauma, and other life changes.
Her approach is straightforward and respectful, and she aims to help people build on their strengths rather than focus only on problems. In sessions she listens first and then works collaboratively to set goals that matter to the client.
Background and approach
She uses client-centered techniques to keep the conversation focused on what the person wants to change. Motivational interviewing helps when someone feels stuck or unsure how to begin making changes. Narrative therapy is part of her work too, helping people look at the stories they tell about themselves and consider new meanings.
She also pays attention to systems and relationships when those factors are shaping a person's stress or coping. This can be useful for issues linked to family patterns, adoption and foster care, blended families, caregiving strain, and aging concerns. Her background includes long experience with addictions, compassion fatigue, intimacy-related issues, anger, self-esteem, career questions, and bipolar-related concerns.
She brings a practical style that aims to empower people to try small changes and notice what helps. People who reach out will find a therapist who values dignity, respect, and collaboration. The work moves at a pace chosen by the client and focuses on real-life skills and clearer thinking.
How client-centered and narrative methods work online
Dr. De Costa uses client-centered care to keep sessions focused on each person's needs and goals. That means the therapist listens closely, reflects what she hears, and helps the person decide what to change and when to act. Motivational interviewing is useful when someone feels stuck or uncertain about change; it helps uncover personal reasons to move forward and build small steps toward new habits.Narrative work helps people examine the stories they tell about themselves and consider alternative ways to understand difficult events. Together the therapist and client look at problems in context and test new meanings that can reduce distress and open up different choices. Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process - Dr. De Costa will work with the client to try methods that match their goals, values, and preferences and adjust as needed.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, which make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life. Video sessions are helpful for face-to-face conversation, phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited, live chat suits quick check-ins, and text allows shorter ongoing support between meetings. These options give flexibility and make regular contact more manageable for many people.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Addictions
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Family conflicts
- Forgiveness
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Self esteem
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 22 years
- Licensed
- Hawaii
- Languages
- English
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