Specialties

We have developed expertise in working with adults, adolescents, and couples from diverse backgrounds. We utilize a variety of treatment modalities including cognitive behavioral (CBT), psychodynamic, and dialectical behavioral (DBT) therapies* to treat the following issues:

• Mood disorders - depression and postpartum depression

• Anxiety - stress management, panic attacks, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder

• Relationship issues

• Dating issues

• Grief

• Family planning

• Parenting Issues

• Life transitions

• Low self-esteem

• Trauma

• Academic and occupational difficulties

• Feeling stuck

• Chronic illness

We offer Individual therapy (45 minutes), Group therapy (60-90 minutes), Couples or Family therapy (60 minutes),

Consultation

During the first session (consultation) we will talk about what you would like to work on and ways in which we can help you. We will also determine if we are a good match. A consultation may be useful if you are not sure whether you need or want therapy or if you are looking for a second opinion.

Typical Session

Individual, Couples and Group sessions are typically weekly, however, depending on your needs we may meet twice a week or twice a month. Each session will be tailored to your needs, with a focus on your goals, difficulties impeding your progress, and strengths. 

Treatment Modalities Definitions

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Psychodynamic psychotherapy changes your relationship with yourself through a process of self-examination. The focus is on internal conflicts that you may or may not be aware of or know how to resolve. The goal is to resolve these conflicts through gaining a greater awareness of yourself. Through this process, you will resolve obstacles that interfere with your goals and feel less fearful. Further, you will gain clarity and a deeper understanding of what you feel and want. Awareness will allow you to develop a more empathetic approach to thinking about yourself and, in turn, you will feel more connected to yourself and others and your ability to deal with problems will be more effective. 

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a problem focused and action oriented therapy that focuses on the relationship between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The goal is to identify patterns of thinking (i.e., self-judgment, catastrophic thinking, and all or nothing thinking) that lead you to feel unhappy and lead to less effective coping skills (i.e., withdrawal and avoidance) that may interfere with your life. By addressing these patterns, we can work together to develop more constructive ways of thinking that will lead to healthier and more flexible approaches to solving problems. You will feel less overwhelmed and more in control of your life. Further, you will develop specific tools that you can effectively use when life is stressful.  

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

Dialectical-behavioral therapy (DBT) combines cognitive-behavioral techniques and mindful awareness derived from Buddhist traditions. This form of therapy focuses on developing skills to cope with stress, reducing mood swings and distress, and improving relationships with others. Through mindfulness and skills training, you will develop a stable sense of self, learn to regulate your emotions, and effectively interact with others. 

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) 

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is an evidence based, time-limited treatment for depression and views symptoms of depression to be the result of ineffective interpersonal relationships. The goal of treatment is to decrease symptoms by increasing one’s interpersonal effectiveness thereby developing stronger and more fulfilling relationships in one’s life. Treatment emphasizes current, rather than past relationships, and focuses on various themes such as interpersonal conflicts, role transitions, grief and loss, and social skills.

Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT)

Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) is an evidenced-based approach that focuses on the ways interpersonal interactions with our partner get organized into patterns and cycles. EFT teaches couples to access core emotions and share them with one another effectively, thus restructuring negative patterns into more positive ones. EFT is based on the theory of attachment and how we need others to survive. The goal of this model is to establish a secure attachment bond between partners in a relationship so we can feel strong independently and with our partner.

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a method of mental health treatment informed by psychoanalytic theory that emphasizes unconscious mental processes and dynamics, such as anxieties, conflicts, distortions, and repetitions that have formed over a person’s life time that continue to impact and impede the present day emotional and relational functioning of the person in a way that is largely outside of their awareness. As an in-depth intensive treatment, psychoanalysis requires at least three weekly treatment sessions for a number of years with a professional trained in this treatment modality.  The person in treatment, in time, moves from the chair to the couch, as the supine position facing away from the psychoanalyst facilitates the freedom of speech and solidifies the focus on inner life -thoughts, feelings, fantasies and dreams- that are emotionally difficult to access and bring up when one sits up facing the psychoanalyst. If interested in pursuing psychoanalysis, an initial consultation period of a month, over four sessions, is needed to determine the goodness of fit, clinical appropriateness and potential benefits of this modality for the person. 

Psychodynamic Group Therapy

This group is for people who want to work on their difficulties in accessing/regulating their emotions, struggle with issues of self-care and self-esteem and experience a manifestation of these personal difficulties in establishing and/or sustaining intimacy, appropriate boundaries and achieving fulfilling relationships.  The participants have a chance to express and experience their difficulties in the group, a microcosm of the external world, albeit within an empathic safe space, where these expressions will be contained and worked through together with the group members and the therapist towards increased self awareness and adopting new and rewarding expressions and patterns of being with and relating to others. This is a weekly 60-minute year-long group limited to six participants. If interested in pursuing this group, an hour-long initial consultation is needed to determine the goodness of fit, clinical appropriateness and potential benefits of this modality for the person. 

Clinical Supervision

This 45-minute session is geared towards licensed mental health professionals (LCSW, Psy.D., Ph.D.) on an as needed basis or as an ongoing weekly engagement to introduce and/or to enhance their psychodynamic/psychoanalytic knowledge and clinical skills as well as helping the therapists get through instances of acting out, set-backs, impasses in their clinical work with the goal of facilitating their increased effectiveness as a therapist towards positive treatment outcomes.