A place for reverie.

Psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapy considers the patterns that happen that often are outside of our conscious awareness. Rather than focusing on our ideas, thoughts, cognitions of our lives and teaching techniques to manage symptoms, we try to understand what those symptoms are expressing and where they come from. It tends to be more open-ended and can be experienced as depth-oriented since it often draws from our oldest experiences of our lives rather than recent short-term, skills-based approaches like CBT which draw upon our ideas about our lives. Many people come to this work because quicker fixes haven't reached what actually troubles them.

Yes. Psychodynamic psychotherapy has been studied in controlled trials and meta-analyses, and it performs about as well as other established treatments, including CBT, with gains that tend to hold or even grow after therapy ends. Two honest qualifications, though. The strongest evidence is for time-limited, weekly psychodynamic therapy; for intensive, long-term analysis specifically, the controlled research is thinner and still developing. And the research does not show that any single approach is right for a particular type of person: fit, your own engagement, and the relationship between us predict outcomes more reliably than the name of the method. That is why I encourage anyone new to therapy to meet a few clinicians and choose the connection that feels right, rather than the label.

Sources: Steinert et al., Am J Psychiatry, 2017 · Abbass et al., Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2014

No. They're different licenses. In New York, "psychologist" is a protected title held by clinicians with a doctorate in psychology. In New York, "psychoanalyst" is also a protected term; internationally, through the IPA, those who complete psychoanalytic training can be considered psychoanalysts. I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), trained to provide psychotherapy, and a candidate in psychoanalytic training at IPTAR, so someday I will hold the psychoanalyst title, but for now I am a psychoanalytic candidate. I do psychoanalytically informed psychotherapy, not psychological testing or neuropsychological evaluations; if you specifically need testing, I'm glad to point you toward a colleague.

Yes. I'm bilingual and see patients in English y en español, in person and by telehealth. My family is from Colombia and Ecuador, and much of my work has been with Spanish-speaking patients, caregivers, and injured workers. Mi voz en español es diferente, pero mi conexión con su experiencia es una labor de mi corazón: nace de mi experiencia apoyando a personas de diferentes circunstancias y también de mi formación. Aquí todos somos bienvenidos.

Yes. I see patients in person in Manhattan's West Village and by secure telehealth anywhere in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, where I'm licensed.

Individual sessions are $250. I'm out of network with insurance, but I can provide a monthly superbill (a medical receipt) you can submit for out-of-network reimbursement. A sliding scale is available depending on need and circumstances. I do accept NY Workers' Compensation Board and Washington L&I workers'-compensation cases.

Yes. I have years of experience supporting people through open workers'-compensation claims, in English y en español, and I accept NY Workers' Compensation Board and Washington State L&I cases.

We usually begin weekly and adjust as we learn what you need; some work benefits from meeting more than once a week. Depth-oriented therapy is an open-ended process rather than a fixed number of sessions. It takes the time it takes. If you're looking for brief, structured, short-term treatment, I'm happy to help you find a better fit.

The simplest way to begin is a short email or phone call. Tell me you're looking for a consultation and a few times you're free, and we'll find a time to talk. New patients are welcome.