Ten years in the room
I started my clinical career in 2013, right out of my undergraduate psychology degree, working on an acute inpatient psychiatric unit in Philadelphia. From there I moved through outpatient work, therapeutic boarding schools, and eventually became Clinical Director at a residential treatment program for adolescent girls in North Carolina — a role I held for two years while also doing direct therapy with a full caseload.
What I learned across those settings is that the most important thing in therapy isn't any particular technique. It's the relationship — the quality of attention you bring, the willingness to sit with someone in hard places without flinching, and the discipline to keep looking for what's actually driving the problem rather than what's easiest to treat.
In 2021 I returned to school to complete my doctorate in clinical psychology at Adelphi University's Derner School of Psychology. My research there has focused on how social experiences — particularly rejection and exclusion — shape the way we make decisions and assign value to things. That work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national conferences, and it has sharpened the way I think about the role of relationships in clinical change.
I am currently completing my doctoral internship at the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where I provide long-term psychotherapy in a specialized women's health clinic, working with Veterans dealing with PTSD, perinatal mental health challenges, reproductive health concerns, and the particular complexity of women's experiences in military environments.
I'm currently building DeJoie Psychology as a private telehealth practice — a space where I can offer the depth of clinical attention I believe people deserve, without the constraints of an institutional setting.
My Approach
I draw from cognitive-behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, psychodynamic theory, and attachment-based approaches. I'm not rigid about any of them. I use what works for the person in front of me, and I stay curious about why something isn't working when it isn't.
My doctoral research background means I take the science seriously — I stay current on the clinical literature and I integrate evidence-based practices deliberately. But I also know that what the research shows on average doesn't always apply to the specific person I'm sitting with, and good clinical judgment means knowing the difference.
Education & Training
- PhD, Clinical Psychology (Expected 2026) Adelphi University, Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology · Garden City, NY
- Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology (2025–2026) Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center · Women's Health Clinic
- MSW, Master of Social Work — Clinical Concentration (2015) University of Pennsylvania · Philadelphia, PA
- BA, Psychology — Cum Laude (2013) Franklin & Marshall College · Lancaster, PA
Licensure & Certifications
- Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) North Carolina · License No. C011302 · NY transfer in progress
- Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) Certified, 2015
- Theraplay — Certified Practitioner Theraplay Institute, 2018
- Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy — Levels 1 & 2 The DDP Network, 2018
- Brainspotting — Phase 1 2020
- Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) — Level 1 2022
Selected Publications
- Social rejection amplifies the value of choice Dejoie, J.M., Ruiz, M., Brudner, E., & Fareri, D.S. — Emotion, 2024
- Common and distinct drug cue reactivity patterns associated with cocaine and heroin: An fMRI meta-analysis Dejoie, J.M., Senia, N., Konova, A.B., Smith, D.V., & Fareri, D.S. — Imaging Neuroscience, 2024
- Reward Learning in a Social World Nicastri C., Dejoie J.M., Fareri D.S., Delgado M.R. — Cambridge Handbook of Human Affective Neuroscience, 2025