Dr. Jessica Pomerantz
About Me
My Story
Dr. Jessica Pomerantz specializes in working therapeutically with individuals and couples, who have experienced complex relationship challenges and are looking for healing and change. Her expertise stems from extensive research in cyclical patterns of trauma and abuse within the fields of domestic violence and workplace violence. She obtained her PhD in Clinical-Community Psychology at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Pomerantz has also works wit the food & beverage community, as she has experience as a bartender and various managerial positions, resulting in over a decade of experience in a wide variety of restaurant and bar settings in New York City, Florida and South Carolina.
Dr. Pomerantz also earned a Master’s Degree in Forensic Mental Health Counseling from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2018, concentrating in intimate partner violence, coercion and power imbalances. Throughout her masters program, as she learned more about relational power imbalances, Jessica began to rewire the lens she understood the hospitality industry through. It slowly became more clear that the hospitality industry was home to so many struggling with mental health challenges due to the familiarity that many experienced as a mirror to their home life. As Jessica gained clinical experience providing mental health services, it was a no-brainer that she could greatly contribute to strengthening the community through her unique expertise. She has a developed a strong commitment to education, training, advocacy and research devoted to the mental health of hospitality workers and.
To date, Jessica has presented about mental health in the hospitality industry at Tales of the Cocktail, Heaven Hill Bartender of the Year Initiative, and Health Pour's yearly symposium. She has also provided sexual harassment training at Tales of the Cocktail and in various bar settings through OutSmartNYC.
My Clinical Approach
I approach the therapeutic process as a collaborative and mutually committed journey between the therapist and client. I primarily use a psychodynamic approach to understand clients, which I combine with an emphasis on other evidence-based practices for treatment. Embracing flexibility, I find it most useful to integrate techniques from a variety of models (e.g., DBT, ACT, Compassion-Focused Therapy) to work collaboratively to meet the client’s needs.
Further, drawing from social psychological research, I believe a sense of belonging is central to our human existence—involving formative sources of pain and suffering, as well as offering a meaningful mechanism for healing. I use the therapeutic relationship as both a means to illuminate areas of challenge in my clients’ lives and to facilitate acceptance, change, and growth.
I value deep and genuine connection to the present moment feelings, thoughts, and sensations. Additionally, I emphasize meaning making in narrative constructions of past, present, and future. I take great care in establishing an authentic working alliance and creating spaces in which clients feel “seen” and “heard” as well as culturally, emotionally, and physically safe. I have found that this sense of safety, authenticity, and visibility—coupled with a shared focus on the therapeutic relationship—is what is most needed in the journey toward meaningful change.
Education and Training
June 2024-June 2025
August 2019 - May 2025
August 2015 - May 2019
August 2011 - May 2015
Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Health Care
Psychology Internship
University of South Carolina
PhD in Clinical-Community Psychology
Dissertation: Emotional Experiences of Women Seeking Protection Orders
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Masters of Arts in Forensic Mental Health Counseling
Thesis: Linguistic Patterns within Coercive Control in Sex Trafficking
Florida Gulf Coast University
Bachelors of Arts in Psychology
Bachelors of Science in Forensic Science
