The Lighthouse Journal

Who am I?

It's a question I help my patients explore every day. But before I can walk alongside you in that exploration, it seems only right that you know something about who I am and why I do this work.

The short answer is that I'm Dr. Jessee Valentine, an integrative psychiatrist specializing in depth-oriented care for adults. I attended Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine for medical school, completed my psychiatry residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and then went on to the Yale University School of Medicine for my fellowship training.

A child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship might seem like an unconventional path for someone focused on adult psychiatry. But here's why it matters: it's like the difference between an architect who only sees the finished building and one who understands how it was built from the ground up.

This isn't just a philosophical approach. It's grounded in evidence. Research consistently shows that half of all mental health conditions begin by age 14, and 75% begin by age 24. A major meta-analysis of 192 studies found that the average age of onset across all mental disorders was 14.5 years. This means that when I'm working with adults, I'm often seeing conditions that took root decades earlier during critical developmental periods.

My developmental training means I don't just see where you are now. I strive to understand the entire blueprint of how you were built. I understand how these patterns formed, how they evolved, and why they persist. This gives me a fundamentally deeper understanding of human behavior that directly benefits my work with adults.

I've also led treatment teams, received the Gold Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award, the Outstanding Medical Student Education Award, mentored early career psychiatrists and nurse practitioners, and published research.

That's the résumé. But credentials only tell part of the story.

My training brought me book knowledge; my life experiences brought me wisdom. The combination of the two is what truly allows me to help others.

Many of the experiences my patients share are ones I have encountered in my own life. I have known grief, losing my best friend to suicide during my teenage years, and the sadness that accompanies the loss of a parent, grandparents, and beloved pets. I have faced the challenges of major life transitions: changing careers, navigating relationships, and moving around in search of a place where I felt I belonged and fit in. I have encountered bullying and trauma, unexpected health challenges, periods of anxiety and fear, and times of not feeling good enough. I have wrestled with family dynamics that felt impossible to untangle, as well as struggles with trying to find meaning and purpose. For most of my life, I've tried to understand who I really am underneath all the expectations that others placed on me. The real shift came when I realized the change I needed wasn't outside me, but within.

These experiences do not define me, but they have deeply shaped how I listen, how I understand, and how I show up for others, with humility, compassion, nonjudgment, and care. Adversity has taught me resilience, has allowed me to grow and step into my power, and has given me greater wisdom than I could have ever achieved by reading books or listening to others' stories alone.

I share this because when you sit across from me, whether in person or on a screen, I'm not observing your challenges from a clinical distance. I've been in that place myself. I understand what it feels like to be uncertain, to need to begin again, to grow through adversity. And that understanding shapes everything about how I approach this work.

Like all people, I am continually evolving; with each new experience and lesson learned, I become more authentic, more refined, and more deeply aligned with the work of helping others heal and grow.

Symptoms Are Signals

One of the things I've come to believe deeply is that symptoms are signals.

When you're experiencing anxiety or depression, when you find yourself stuck in patterns you can't seem to break, those symptoms and experiences are only part of the picture. They are like warning lights on your dashboard. If you took your vehicle to a mechanic and they simply turned off the warning lights without ever looking under the hood, you'd be concerned. The underlying issue would still be there, just hidden from view.

That's what happens when we only address symptoms. Medication can be incredibly helpful. I prescribe it and it does help people function, get through their days, and feel more stable. But medication alone is incomplete. I'm also interested in what's actually going on under the hood.

A lot of what we struggle with comes down to beliefs. Beliefs we inherited from our family, friends, society, painful experiences, and so on, without ever questioning them. We carry these beliefs without even realizing they're running the show behind the scenes.

And here's what I've found to be true: when you change someone's beliefs, which is part of their inner world, you can change the reality they live in or their outer world.

Many of my patients come to me stuck in patterns. The same types of relationships keep appearing. The same conflicts arise. The same cycles of anxiety or self-doubt play out over and over again. Traditional therapy often focuses on the situation right in front of you, which is valuable. But I'm also interested in understanding and addressing what's at the heart of the matter: the core issue that keeps bringing similar circumstances into your life.

Because when you finally address that root cause, something shifts. Those same painful experiences stop showing up with such regularity. You become more empowered. You begin to take charge of your own life in a way that might have felt impossible before.

Excavating Your Authentic Self

There's something else I see constantly in my work, and it's this: people have forgotten who they are.

It's not their fault. It happens gradually, almost imperceptibly. From the time we're young, people tell us who we should be. What to like and what not to like. How to behave. What success is supposed to look like. What we should want from life. Layer after layer gets piled on top of us over the years. It's like being slowly buried in mud until you lose your own form and cannot recognize yourself anymore.

And then one day you wake up and realize you don't know what you actually want. You follow the same routines. You struggle to make decisions because you've lost touch with your own inner voice. You've been living someone else's version of your life without even knowing it.

The work I do is a kind of excavation. Together, we remove the mud, layer by layer, until you can see yourself again; until you reconnect with the unique qualities that set you apart and the authentic self you were born to be. And when you begin to understand who you are and what you truly want, something quite magical becomes possible. You can experience life on your own terms, rather than going through the motions until you reach the end and realize you never really knew yourself at all.

How I Work

Let me tell you a bit about how I work, because it's probably different from what you might expect.

All of my follow-up sessions are 45 minutes. While shorter, medication-focused visits are common in many psychiatric practices, I have chosen a different approach. For some individuals, brief check-ins are what they are looking for, and I respect the physicians who provide psychiatric care in ways that best serve their patients.

My work is guided by the belief that meaningful, sustainable change benefits from time, reflection, and collaboration. Longer sessions allow space for discussion, individualized treatment, and integration of skills into daily life. I also encourage intentional work and activities between sessions, supporting deeper learning, personal growth, and progress that continues well beyond the therapy session.

This model is designed for patients who value depth, engagement, active participation in their care, and who are interested in a more connected and intentional treatment experience.

I combine medication management with in-depth psychotherapy. My work is grounded in understanding the whole person, including your mental and medical history, family relationships and dynamics, developmental experiences from childhood through adulthood, your inner world, core beliefs and values, life circumstances, relational patterns, and the broader context that shapes who you are. I draw from depth psychology, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and trauma-informed inner child work, along with integrative methods I've developed over years of practice, to support healing of mind, body, and spirit.

For those who are interested, I also incorporate spiritual practices and principles into our work together. And we talk about the lifestyle factors that matter more than most people realize: nutrition, sleep, movement, your environment, the people you surround yourself with, and the places you spend your time.

This work is collaborative. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life. I'll share options and make recommendations, but ultimately, you're the one in charge of your growth and development. My role is to help you develop the tools to become your own guide, to learn to trust your own voice and your own intuition.

Is This Right for You?

If you're wondering whether this practice might be right for you, here's who I work with:

I see patients ages 18 and older. The people who tend to be the best fit are those who are genuinely interested in getting to know themselves, people who are willing to dive deep rather than look for quick fixes, who are ready to engage in a process of growth and development, to do some reflection and practice between our sessions, and to examine patterns and try new approaches.

If you find yourself asking questions like "Who am I? What do I want? Why am I here? Where do I belong? How do I fit into this world? What's important about me? How can I make a difference? Why does this keep happening to me? Why do I feel this way? What medication and other treatments can help me to feel better?" then we might be a good fit for each other.

If what I've shared here resonates with you, I would be honored to work together.

You can reach the office by calling (212) 655-1345, or visit DrJesseeValentine.com to schedule an appointment or get in touch.

This newsletter, The Lighthouse Journal, will arrive in your inbox periodically. I'll share insights, perspectives, and ideas related to self-empowerment, deepening self-awareness, healing aspects of the self, and discovering new ways of being in your life.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Thank you for being here.