Licensed Psychologist · West Hartford, CT

When patterns persist,
clarity is possible.

To live authentically is not to be free of the world’s constraints —
it is to know yourself well enough to move through them with grace.

For individuals ready to understand the deeper forces shaping their lives — and willing to do the real work of becoming more grounded, more present, and more fully themselves.

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Dr. Joslyn Cruz, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist
Ph.D.Penn State University
Licensed CT · NY · MI
Depth-Oriented • Evidence-Informed • Non-Judgmental
Licensed in CT, NY & MI
Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University
In-Person & Telehealth
Free 15-Minute Consultation

The Approach

Understanding the why
changes everything.

Many of us repeat patterns — in relationships, in behavior, in the ways we respond to stress, intimacy, or pressure — even when those patterns cause us real pain. We try to stop. We try to be different. And we find ourselves back in the same place, sometimes without fully understanding how we got there.

These patterns are rarely random. They have histories — rooted in early experiences, family dynamics, trauma, or deeply held beliefs about ourselves and others that operate largely outside our awareness.

Understanding yourself deeply is not the same as being free of the world. It is knowing yourself well enough to engage with reality as it is — with realistic expectations, genuine resilience, and the capacity to find meaning and peace within the life you actually have.

Real change requires more than insight. It requires practice — learning to respond differently in the moments that matter, with the honest feedback of a skilled clinician alongside you. This is not a quick-fix practice. It is a place for serious, in-depth work with people who are ready to invest in something lasting.

Understanding Before Action

Before lasting change is possible, we need to understand what drives the pattern — the unconscious motivations, early experiences, and schema that keep it in place even when we desperately want to be different.

Feelings as Information

Emotional overwhelm is often a signal, not a flaw. Learning to tolerate, understand, and work with difficult emotions — rather than around them — is central to this work and to living more fully.

Authentic Living Within Reality

Authenticity is not the absence of constraint. It is knowing yourself clearly enough to navigate the world as it is — with realistic expectations, groundedness, and genuine peace rather than perpetual disappointment.

Practice, Not Just Insight

Understanding alone rarely changes behavior. The real work happens between sessions — trying new ways of responding, noticing what shifts, and building new patterns with support over time.

Therapy as Investment

Meaningful change takes time. This practice is built for people who understand that and are willing to commit to a real process — not a series of coping strategies or quick fixes.

About Dr. Cruz

Deep expertise.
Genuine discretion.

Clinical Leadership in Sexual Behavior Assessment & TreatmentExtensive senior-level experience in public-sector clinical programming — including hundreds of risk assessments and forensic evaluations — in the assessment and treatment of problematic sexual behavior.
Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology — Pennsylvania State University (2007)Doctoral training with advanced focus on complex behavioral, relational, and forensic dynamics.
Licensed in Connecticut, New York & MichiganCT License #2982 · NY License #017857 · MI License #6301015208
Over 15 Years of Clinical ExperienceWorking with high-functioning adults, adolescents, and families across complex behavioral and relational presentations.

You may be someone others rely on — capable, accomplished, and holding more than most people know. A parent stretched to the limit. A professional running on fumes. Someone who has tried therapy before and found it didn’t go deep enough, or didn’t quite fit. Whoever you are, something has brought you here that has not resolved on its own.

My practice draws on years of work with people navigating complex, often deeply private concerns — from trauma and emotional dysregulation to compulsive behavior, relational rupture, and the invisible weight of patterns inherited from family systems. I bring a psychodynamic foundation, a calm and unshakable clinical presence, and a genuinely non-judgmental approach to each person I work with.

After hundreds of forensic risk assessments and years of senior clinical leadership, there is very little I haven’t encountered. What that means in practice: whatever you bring to this work, you will be met with careful attention — not alarm, not judgment.

I accept a limited number of private clients to ensure the quality and attentiveness each person deserves.

Areas of Expertise

Specialized work for
complex concerns

My practice centers on a focused set of clinical areas where I bring genuine depth of knowledge and experience. These are not peripheral interests — they reflect the full arc of my clinical career. Click any area to learn more.

Trauma leaves its mark in the body, in relationships, and in the ways we move through the world — often long after the event itself. Whether your trauma is acute or developmental, named or unnamed, I offer a steady, attuned clinical space to feel what needs to be felt, understand what needs to be understood, and begin to build a life that is not defined by what happened to you.

Core Specialty

This may resonate if you feel overwhelmed by feelings you cannot explain, or if the past seems to keep interrupting the present in ways you cannot control.

Persistent anxiety, low mood, and questions of identity and self-worth are often symptoms of something deeper — unresolved loss, relational patterns, or beliefs about the self that formed long ago. I offer depth-oriented work that addresses the roots, not just the surface, helping you move toward a more grounded and authentic sense of who you are.

This may resonate if you have managed anxiety or low mood for years and sense that something deeper is driving it — something that coping strategies alone haven’t reached.

For parents stretched beyond capacity, professionals running on empty, and high-achievers carrying more than others see — burnout is rarely just about workload. It is often a signal that something deeper needs attention: boundaries, values, identity, or the accumulation of unprocessed stress. This work helps you find your footing again — not just rest, but genuine renewal.

This may resonate if you love what you do — or who you love — but no longer recognize yourself in it.

Hormonal shifts across a woman’s lifespan — including PMDD, postpartum depression, and perimenopausal mood changes — can be profoundly destabilizing and deserve to be taken seriously. I offer informed, compassionate support for women navigating these transitions alongside the broader emotional and relational changes that accompany them.

This may resonate if your moods feel tied to your body in ways that are hard to explain — or if you feel like a stranger to yourself at certain times of the month or stage of life.

Compulsive sexual behavior, pornography addiction, and compulsive spending on sex-related content are concerns I treat with evidence-based care and without judgment. These behaviors are almost always connected to deeper emotional needs, attachment patterns, or attempts to manage pain that have never been addressed. This work is for therapeutic purposes only.

This may resonate if you have tried to stop — possibly many times — and cannot quite explain why you keep returning to something that causes you harm.

Whether you are the person who strayed, the partner who was hurt, or a couple attempting to rebuild — infidelity fractures trust in ways that require skilled, individualized support. I work with individuals and couples navigating the aftermath of betrayal, helping them understand what happened and make clear-eyed decisions about the path forward.

This may resonate if your world has been upended by a discovery — or by the weight of a secret — and you need a space to make sense of it.

Young people today face pressures that previous generations did not — among them, the particular weight of a digital world that measures worth in views, followers, and curated images. I work with adolescents and college students on anxiety, depression, identity, and the challenge of building a meaningful life in the real world: one grounded in their own values rather than external validation.

This may resonate if you are a young person trying to find your footing — or a parent watching your child struggle and unsure how to help.

Adults and adolescents with ADHD, high-functioning autism, or other neurodivergent presentations often struggle in ways that traditional therapy doesn’t fully address. I bring genuine clinical experience and an understanding of the specific dynamics at play — in self-regulation, relationships, identity, and navigating a world not built for their minds.

This may resonate if you have always felt slightly out of step — and suspected that the issue was never really the things everyone told you to work on.

When indicated, I offer couples therapy using an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) framework, and family therapy drawing on transgenerational and Structural approaches. This work is best suited for couples and families ready to examine the patterns shaping their relationships — not simply to manage conflict, but to genuinely understand it. $300 per session.

This may resonate if the same arguments keep happening, or if you sense that something inherited — from your family, your history — is shaping how you connect with the people you love most.

Important Note Regarding Legal Matters: My private practice is for therapeutic support only and is not intended for legal, forensic, or court-related purposes. Due to my public-sector clinical responsibilities, I am unable to accept clients in Connecticut who are currently justice-involved or facing pending criminal charges in CT. I can work with clients in New York regardless of case status, and am also licensed in Michigan. Please reach out directly if you have questions about your specific situation.

Clinical Approach

Insight-driven.
Evidence-informed.

My work is primarily psychodynamic and attachment-based — focused on understanding the deeper patterns, relational histories, family-of-origin dynamics, and unconscious processes that underlie present-day struggles.

This foundation is integrated with evidence-based methods when clinically indicated. I draw on schema therapy, somatic awareness, ACT, and trauma-focused approaches as the work requires. No single method fits every person or every problem.

The first session is an exploration: what brought you here, what has and hasn’t worked before, and whether this is the right fit. I work thoughtfully and at depth, which is why I keep my caseload intentionally small.

  • Psychodynamic & Depth Psychology
  • Attachment-Based Therapy
  • Schema Therapy
  • Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
  • Trauma-Focused & Somatic Approaches
  • Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
  • Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
  • Motivational Interviewing
  • Transgenerational & Structural Family Therapy

On the Process

Therapy is an
investment in your future self.

Meaningful psychological change is not something that happens in eight sessions. The patterns that bring most people to therapy have been years — sometimes decades — in the making. Unmaking them, and building something genuinely different in their place, takes sustained effort and time.

This practice is designed for people who understand that. Who are willing to show up consistently, engage honestly, and tolerate the discomfort that real growth requires. In return, you will receive careful, skilled, individualized attention — not a protocol, not a template.

The work is the investment. The return is a life that is more grounded, more authentic, and more at peace with the reality of being human.

On Confidentiality

Your privacy is not a courtesy.
It is the foundation.

Using insurance for mental health care requires a formal psychiatric diagnosis — one that enters your permanent medical record and may be accessible to insurers, life insurance underwriters, and in some circumstances employers or licensing boards.

For concerns of a sensitive or personal nature, many people — executives, physicians, attorneys, educators, public figures, and parents seeking help for a child — have compelling reasons to keep this work entirely private.

Private pay means no diagnostic label attached to your name, no records shared with third parties, and confidentiality protected to the full extent permitted by professional ethical and legal standards.

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Fees & Payment

$250

per individual session (50 min)

$300

per couples or family session

Why private pay?

Insurance requires a formal psychiatric diagnosis that becomes part of your permanent medical record. Private pay keeps your records entirely your own.

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Office & Location

West Hartford Center68 South Main Street, Suite 200
West Hartford, CT 06107


A private, comfortable office in the heart of West Hartford Center — accessible and discreet.


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Getting Started

I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation to determine whether my practice is a good fit for your needs.


This is a confidential conversation — no obligation, no pressure. I will answer your questions and help determine appropriate next steps.



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Client Forms

New Client
Documentation

The following forms are provided for your convenience. Completing them prior to your first appointment allows us to make the most of our time together. All documents are handled in accordance with HIPAA.

HIPAA Privacy Notice & Acknowledgment

How your protected health information is used and your rights under federal law.

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Informed Consent & Practice Policies

Full informed consent for psychotherapy services including fees, cancellation policy, and telehealth terms.

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Adult Intake Form

Comprehensive intake information for adult clients (18+). Please complete before your first appointment.

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Adolescent Intake Form

Intake information for adolescent clients (14–17) and their parents or guardians.

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Begin

The work begins
with a single conversation.

A free, confidential 15-minute consultation is the first step. No obligation — simply an opportunity to ask questions and determine whether this is the right fit.

Call (860) 325-2349 JoslynCruzPhD@gmail.com
(860) 325-2349

Free 15-minute consultation · Confidential · No obligation