Dr. Jennifer Guttman
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, MOTIVATOR, AUTHORSpecializing in Sustainable Life Satisfaction® and cognitive-behavior therapy.
MISSION STATEMENT:
Specializing in cognitive-behavior therapy featuring the Sustainable Life Satisfaction® brand (SLS®)
My mission is to use my experience, expertise, voice, and pen to help motivate and empower people to realize there is “a path to achieve sustainable life satisfaction and inherent loveability.” I have been researching and specializing in cognitive-behavior therapy and positive psychology for 30 years. I formulated the Sustainable Life Satisfaction® brand based on my therapeutic success with my clients. SLS® utilizes six techniques; avoiding assumptions, reducing people-pleasing behaviors, facing fears, making decisions, closing out tasks, and active self-reinforcement. When coalesced these techniques assist individuals in believing in their personal effectiveness in the world, as well as giving them a sense of personal control of outcomes to the best of their ability. Therapy isn’t for everybody. However, if you’re motivated, you are the only tool necessary because you are the change agent.
The brain is wider than the sky.
Meet the Doctor
“Society instills in us that being happy is binary. But happiness isn’t a mindset—it’s a feeling, and like any other emotion, it comes and goes.” Dr. Jennifer Guttman received a doctorate in clinical psychology from Long Island University. In her debut book, BEYOND HAPPINESS, THE 6 SECRETS OF LIFETIME SATISFACTION she lays out a roadmap on how to move beyond happiness to achieve authentic life satisfaction by becoming more confident, self-empowered, self-reliant, and resilient. Dr. Guttman uses six strategies to empower people to gain control over their lives by focusing on an enduring mindset, not a transient feeling.
Dr. Guttman fuses traditional cognitive behavioral therapy with her own core methods, which she developed during her thirty-plus years of practice working with clients from diverse backgrounds. She encourages people to stop chasing something that is fleeting and focus on an attainable goal: sustainable satisfaction. She demonstrates how moving beyond happiness to contentment is achievable.
Over the past five years Dr. Guttman has launched a motivational brand platform Sustainable Life Satisfaction® with four SLS® YouTube web series which have cumulatively netted over two million views and published a workbook with the same title. She is a regular contributor to Psychology Today, Thrive Global, MindBodyGreen, and written in articles for the Washington Post, NBC.com, Readers Digest, Redbook, Health, TeenVogue, among others. Dr. Guttman has been a guest on over two dozen podcasts including “Unshakeable Self-Confidence,” “Harvesting Happiness,” “Resilience Unraveled” and “The Hidden Why.”
Dr. Guttman is a mother of two and resides in New York.
Read More
Not everybody experiences a watershed or anointed moment in their life when they discover and decide what they want to be, but for Dr. Jennifer Guttman it happened when she was a shy, timid, alienated 13-year-old wallflower during sleep-away camp. While conversing with an inquisitive camp nurse, she was asked, “What do you like doing?” Jennifer replied, “I like listening to people.” The nurse informed her there was a profession for doing just that, and from that day on, the attentive and avid listener made psychology her mission and passion.
Today, that awkward and unassuming teenager has morphed into Dr. Jennifer Guttman, a leading Cognitive Behavioral therapist, clinical psychologist, and motivator, with over 30 years of experience in the field of mental health. She has built thriving practices in New York City and Westport, Connecticut. Since the COVID pandemic 100% of her services to roughly 120 clients are being exclusively offered virtually. Currently, roughly 40% of her clientele suffer from some serious form of mental illness: bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and major depressive disorder. The other 60% come to see her for transient or developmental life issues and most recently she has been treating clients suffering from trauma using EMDR. (She works with children as young as seven years old through individuals in their eighties.) Primarily her clients are 17-55 years old. Her clientele is also a homogeneous cultural and religious mix of people from all walks of life and sexual identities.
About five years ago, while her business was experiencing thriving success, and she had reached an equitable co-parenting arrangement, she was beset by two unforeseen life-altering events. Following a trip abroad she was suddenly diagnosed with multiple pulmonary embolisms that almost killed her. During her recovery, her father died six months later. Devastated by both occurrences, the truth to the proverbial cliché, “life is short” resonated with her. In that moment of awakening, she became defiantly resilient.
Subsequently, she began contemplating a path to realize a dormant dream to motivate and help people become more self-reliant. She fused traditional Cognitive Behavior therapy techniques with some of her own core techniques which were developed and refined over years of personal interaction with her clients. In the fall of 2017, she started specializing in cognitive-behavior therapy featuring the Sustainable Life Satisfaction® brand, (also known as SLS®) which she created.
The Sustainable Life Satisfaction® brand is comprised of six (6) strategies; avoiding assumptions, reducing people-pleasing behaviors, facing fears, making decisions, closing out tasks, and active self-reinforcement. Her techniques are designed to assist individuals in believing in their personal effectiveness in the world. When coalesced, they can empower people to feel a stronger sense personal control and influence on their ability to achieve positive outcomes to the best of their ability.
SLS® was launched to the public via a six-episode web series, “A Path to Sustainable Life Satisfaction,” which premiered on YouTube in September of 2017. Last year the same series was remastered and broadcast a second time on YouTube. The cumulative views for both have exceeded three-quarters of a million views. In between, she authored, “A Path to Sustainable Life Satisfaction Workbook.” It’s independently distributed by Amazon/Kindle. She recently published “Beyond Happiness: The 6 Secrets of Lifetime Satisfaction” with Post Hill Press.
Most recently, the third video series premiered on YouTube. Titled H.E.A.R. the series is comprised of four episodes that discuss, (H) Hope, (E) Empowerment, (A) Adaptation, and (R) Resilience. Dr. Guttman is a regular contributor to PsychologyToday.com and a VIP Contributor to ThriveGlobal.com (VIP Contributor). She has been a contributor to MindBodygreen.com, and served as featured expert in articles published in the Washington Post, NBC News, Health Magazine, Teen Vogue, Well + Good, First, Redbook, Readers Digest, Insider, The Hill, Family Education, Your Teen, EverUp, and TheList. She has also made guest appearances on many popular podcasts and radio shows including: The Hidden Why, This Is Why You’re Single, Unshakeable Self Confidence, Food for Fitness, Grit and Grace, Harvesting Happiness, Intuitive Practice, Laurie’s Lemonade Stand, A Positivity Podcast for Women, Anxiety Slayer, Beyond Our Past, QED Personal Resilience (based in the UK), Quora, Good Health & Happiness in Today’s World.
Her range of expertise covers a gamut of topical issues: overall mental health, self-empowerment, self-confidence, the workplace, relationships, divorce, death, anxiety, addiction, teen suicide, and navigating potentially tricky holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day.
While Dr. Guttman has been prolific and is continually advancing her knowledge and areas of expertise to help motivate and support her clientele, her own path to success hasn’t been what one would refer to as smooth sailing. In fact, it has been quite the opposite, mired by a myriad of roadblocks, rejection and sometimes an ominous sense of adversity. She grew up in Scarsdale, NY, the older of two siblings, and her parents, (her father was an attorney and general counsel of Time Inc., and her mother has a doctorate in medieval literature) divorced when she was five years old. She lived with her mother in Scarsdale and visited her father in Manhattan on weekends.
Upon graduation she applied and was accepted at Drew University. Drew is well known for its psychology department and it was the only school to which she applied. Her goal was to earn her Bachelors ‘degree and move straight on to a doctoral program in Clinical Psychology. After graduating from Drew University, she applied to numerous Clinical Psychology doctoral degree programs, but was rejected by all of them. Refusing to fuel her disappointment, she secured a job working for Planned Parenthood and took doctoral level classes at St. John’s University.
During the spring term of that year, she reapplied to Clinical Psychology Doctoral Programs and was accepted to the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at Long Island University. It was the only acceptance letter she received. While there, she met the noted professor Dr. Eva Feindler, whom she not only credits as her mentor, but also for steering her in the direction of Cognitive Behavior Therapy.
Dr. Feindler was also the first person to really push her beyond her limits, which proved to be valuable to her future personal and professional growth. Dr. Feindler is a renowned expert in Cognitive Behavior Therapy and specializes in Anger Management in Adolescents. Jennifer also admired Dr. Aaron T. Beck’s work on Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, Albert Bandura’s work on self-efficacy and loved Heinz Kohut, who is considered a theoretician of self-psychology (which involves a person’s self-concept or beliefs about themselves).
Fresh out of graduate school, Jennifer accepted an offer to work for the Mental Health Association of Westchester County and was assigned to work off-site as a clinician at WestHELP-Greenburgh, a family homeless shelter. The shelter was personally endorsed and supported by Andrew Cuomo and was housed on the campus of Westchester Community College. WestHELP was a haven for minority and disenfranchised mothers with children under the age of five. It was a challenging and exciting task, but Jennifer was undeterred. She helped to empower the women and broke the traditional protocol that mandated all appointments needed to be requested in advance. Instead, she offered every woman carte blanche access to meet and talk to her about anything and everything.
While she was working at WestHELP she tried to spread her wings and launch her own start-up practice as a Clinical Psychologist in Tarrytown, NY. She relied mostly on referrals from insurance companies for clients. She was attempting to refine her treatment approach with a different client demographic then the demographic she was seeing at the shelter. Although she was fulfilling her goals, within the year it became clear her business model was not sustainable, so it was shuddered. In 1995, she married and four years later had her first child, a son. In 2001, she gave birth to her second child, a daughter. That year, she resigned from the Mental Health Association of Westchester County to parent full-time.
However, during her eight-year tenure she had secured a staff, serviced close to 1000 women, and was promoted to several positions including Assistant Executive Director of the Mental Health Association. In that role, she was responsible for all clinical care throughout the agency and supervising over 200 mental health staff including social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists. After taking a professional hiatus for a year, she opened a private practice in Westport, CT (2002). Within the first six months she was introduced to numerous psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers within the Fairfield community that she grew to admire and respect.
After 15 years in Fairfield County, Jennifer expanded her practice to include a location in Midtown Manhattan. Before the pandemic, she fully embraced and immersed herself into city life in Manhattan, and networking with other professionals.
Dr. Guttman balances an energizing work-life with parenting two young adults. In the little spare time her daily regimen allows, she has been an avid theatergoer and world traveler. She hopes to renew both when the prevailing circumstances will allow for it.
“I embrace and cherish human flaw as an opportunity for growth, redemption, and education. It’s a path forward, a path toward hope. That’s what allows me to motivate people. And no one is exempt from that possibility.”
-Dr. Jennifer Guttman
“Many therapists assume the role of teacher, guru, ‘objective listener’. Dr Guttman is similar in this respect, yet simultaneously different. She shares herself. She is open, giving, real. She guides with words and deeds. Most importantly, she has helped me emerge into the person I was meant to be.”
“I resisted many of Jennifer’s attempts to help me since middle school–but she never gave up on me. I remember the very conversation when I finally accepted her help. With her guidance, I rediscovered myself: the jubilant childhood me I thought we all give up to become adults. Today, I am the happiest, most content version of myself and I owe it all to Jennifer.”
“Jennifer has been instrumental in helping both myself and my family handle my anxiety. She is incredibly responsive and always accommodates my needs. I cannot imagine where I would be right now without her help, and could not recommend her more highly!”
TREATMENT STYLES
SLS® Brand Techniques
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Diagnoses
Guided Meditation
Treatment // Sustainable Life Satisfaction®
These six core techniques assist individuals in believing in their personal effectiveness in the world, as well as giving them a sense of personal control of outcomes to the best of their ability.
Sustainable Life Satisfaction® techniques:
1. AVOIDING ASSUMPTIONS: Avoid making assumptions about what other people think or feel about you. Your actions should be based on fact and not assumptions. Making decisions about how to proceed in a given situation based on guessing instead of facts is a dangerous exercise.
2. REDUCE PEOPLE PLEASING BEHAVIOR: Avoid situations of co-dependency and enmeshment. Learn to live an authentic life without living in “service” of others. Watch people pleasing behaviors which secure feelings of indispensability while averting fears of abandonment.
3. FACING FEARS: Do not be afraid to be afraid. Use your fear as positive motivation to propel and compel you to move forward.
4. DECISION-MAKING: Feeling confident in decision-making, without fearing mistakes or ramifications improves self-confidence and in turn improves chances for “closing.”
5. CLOSING: Learning the importance of closing tasks-not just starting. It’s imperative not just to start, but to also finish and close.
6. ACTIVE SELF-REINFORCEMENT: Providing tangible self-reinforcement for “closing” or a job well done. Make a cognitive shift from aspiring and needing reinforcement and praise from others to be willing to accept self-praise.
SLS®
Treatment // Cognitive Behavior Therapy
CBT Treatment is available for
Children, Adolescents, Adults and Couples.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is a goal-oriented psychotherapy treatment that takes a strategy based, practical approach to problem-solving.
CBT Treatment is available for
Children, Adolescents, Adults and Couples.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is a goal-oriented psychotherapy treatment that takes a strategy based, practical approach to problem-solving.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy focuses on:
- Challenging maladaptive assumptions and thinking errors
- Cognitive Re-framing
- Thought stopping strategies
- Mood modulation
- Imagery
- Imaginal and In Vivo Desensitization
- Assertiveness Training
- Anger Control
- Social Skills Training
- Coping Skills Training
- Communication Skills Training
- EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
- Reprocessing traumatic memories trapped in the right side of the brain using bilateral stimulation (usually rapid eye movements) to dampen the emotional charge to the memories.
Treatment // Diagnoses
Dr. Guttman’s therapeutic approach enables her to positively impact individuals struggling with the following issues:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Separation Anxiety Disorder
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Phobias
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Acute Stress Disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Schizoaffective Disorder
- Bipolar Disorder
- Asperger’s Syndrome
- Dissociative Identity Disorder
Treatment // Guided Meditation
BOOKS, VIDEOS & COURSES
Beyond Happiness: The 6 Secrets of Lifetime Satisfaction
HARDCOVER
Change the Goal, Not the Feeling
A psychologist’s six-step roadmap to a life beyond happiness—one of sustainable lifetime satisfaction.
How often do you find yourself asking “Am I happy?” and do you struggle to answer the question? Don’t worry—you’re not alone. Society instills in us that being happy is binary. But happiness isn’t a mindset—it’s a feeling, and like any other emotion, it comes and goes. So stop chasing something that by definition is fleeting, and start focusing on an attainable goal: sustainable satisfaction. Beyond Happiness is a roadmap that utilizes various techniques and skills that are easy enough to use in everyday life but challenging enough to make a meaningful impact. When you move beyond happiness to achieve authentic life satisfaction, you become more confident, self-empowered, self-reliant, and resilient.
Beyond Happiness: The 6 Secrets of Lifetime Satisfaction
AUDIBLE ORIGINAL
A friendly, practiced approach to not only surviving life’s pitfalls but to thriving with a sustainable level of contentment.
Are you happy? Nearly half of adults worldwide—40 percent—would say “no”. Even when we possess it, happiness can be a fleeting emotion. It’s natural that we should desire something longer lasting.
In Beyond Happiness: The 6 Secrets of Lifetime Satisfaction, psychologist Dr. Jennifer Guttman guides listeners in living a deeply fulfilling life by aiming for a kind of contentment that is more sustainable than happiness.
SATISFACTION REVOLUTION Virtual Course
Based on the Book “Beyond Happiness”
This course is for anyone who wants to become more resilient and experience an improvement in overall well-being.
Sustainable Life Satisfaction® Digital Series
In 2017, Dr. Guttman launched the first of three Sustainable Life Satisfaction® (SLS) digital series on YouTube.
A six-episode series focusing on all of the Sustainable Life Satisfaction techniques: avoiding assumptions, reducing people-pleasing behaviors, facing fears, making decisions, closing out tasks, and active self-reinforcement.
Subsequently, Dr. Guttman released the H.E.A.R Series. This focuses on the importance of four core skills: (H) Hope, (E) Empowerment, (A) Adaptation, and (R) Resilience.
In her next series, Dr. Guttman released an eight-episode SLS series, which focuses on four of her techniques: Facing Fears, Decision Making, Avoiding Assumptions, and Reducing People Pleasing Behaviors. In this series, Dr. Guttman discusses how to use these strategies At-Work and At-Home.
A PATH TO SUSTAINABLE LIFE SATISFACTION Workbook
In her workbook, “A Path To Sustainable Life Satisfaction,” (released in June 2018 independently and available on Amazon.com/Kindle) Dr. Jennifer Guttman explains her six core techniques; avoiding assumptions, reducing people-pleasing behaviors, facing fears, making decisions, closing out tasks, and active self-reinforcement. When coalesced together, they serve as a blueprint to motivate and make you feel more empowered and self-reliant. The workbook also features several fun and complementary exercises that are designed to challenge and help you think about happiness in a more realistic way. Instead of chasing happiness, she encourages people to focus on achieving sustainable life satisfaction.
THE LATEST FROM DR. GUTTMAN’S BLOG
Breaking the Habit of People Pleasing
Improve your self-confidence and life satisfaction.
Why Achieving Satisfaction Is Worth Taking a Leap of Faith
Happiness is an emotion that we can’t always control.
Have You Found Anything Beyond Happiness That’s Attainable?
Is the perception of being happy why 40 percent of people are unhappy?
Eradicating Labeling People With Mental Health Issue
Nearly 600 million people worldwide are dealing with anxiety and depression.
Avoiding the Slippery Slope of Making Assumptions
How to break the pattern and build more solid footing at home and at work.
10 Ways to Limit People-Pleasing
Give yourself permission to communicate transparently.
PRESS & PODCASTS
Since the summer of 2016, Dr. Guttman has been featured as a Contributor and/or has written articles in over twenty nationally recognized publications and blogs including; The Washington Post, Redbook, Reader’s Digest, The Hill, Family Education, and Thrillist, among others. She has talked about a wide range of subject matter, from health/wellness, relationships and dealing with adolescent issues to coping with divorce and has reached a cumulative audience of over 130 million impressions.
PRESS & PODCASTS
Since the summer of 2016, Dr. Guttman has been featured as a Contributor and/or has written articles in over twenty nationally recognized publications and blogs including; The Washington Post, Redbook, Reader’s Digest, The Hill, Family Education, and Thrillist, among others. She has talked about a wide range of subject matter, from health/wellness, relationships and dealing with adolescent issues to coping with divorce and has reached a cumulative audience of over 130 million impressions.
A Therapist Debunks The Top Myths About Depression
5/23/23
Contributor
Is the Loneliness Epidemic Making Us Susceptible to Wellness Scams?
4/20/23
Contributor
10 Best Mental Health Podcasts of 2023
4/5/23
Contributor
The Difference Between Happiness & Satisfaction: A Psychologist Explains
8/11/20
Contributor
How To Tackle Your Work Goals Like A Boss
2/7/19
Author
I Love The Oscars, But Why Do We Seek Approval From Total Strangers?
1/23/19
Contributor
The Most Miserable Day of the Year Is Upon Us—Here's How to Survive It
1/17/19
Contributor
How to Let Go of Your “Need to Please” Attitude
11/19/18
Author
Simple Self-Care Routines That Could Help Benefit Your Mental Health
11/12/18
Contributor
Surefire Ways to Beat Mommy Brain
11/1/18
Author
5 Lessons My Stepkids Have Taught Me About Unconditional Love
10/30/18
Contributor
7 Important Things Therapists Wish Everyone Knew About High-Functioning Anxiety
10/17/18
Contributor
How to Cope With Stress After Election Day
11/8/18
Contributor
Siblings Sharing A Bedroom: There Are More Benefits Than You Think
05/17
Contributor
Always in a Hurry? 12 Ways to Stop Being in Such a Rush
01/24/17
Contributor
20 Expert Tips for Dating after Divorce
01/19/17
Contributor
We Need to Talk to Kids about Suicide without Glamorizing It.
01/11/17
Contributor
What To Do When Your Child Has Separation Anxiety
01/17
Contributor
6 Pieces of Expert Advice to Follow When Your Child Starts Lying
01/17
Contributor
How Carrie Fisher was an Advocate for Mental Health
12/29/16
Author
Here’s Why You Can’t Seem to Remember Anything
08/18/16
Contributor
What Really Happens to Your Body When You Feel Stressed Out
08/11/16
Contributor
Cutting, Binging, Drinking: A Case Study
01/28/16
Author
PODCAST APPEARANCES

...that you don't need to be happy all the time. With Dr. Jennifer Guttman
7/26/23
This Is Why You're Single
11/28/18
Harvesting Happiness
3/13/19
Contact
All Dr. Guttman’s photos by Mike Ruiz.