Compassion Focus Therapy therapists in Cold Spring Harbor, New York NY

Working with adult survivors of sexual assault, child abuse, domestic violence and other crimes, I’ve helped people overcome unspeakable atrocities. I'm a board-certified psychotherapist specializing in trauma and PTSD. Using EMDR, among other trauma-informed psychotherapies, I help clients just like you leave the past behind them, and live a happy, fulfilling life.  

I am a fat, queer, neurodiverse, cisgender therapist who knows the importance of feeling seen and understood by your therapist. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community I want to offer gender and queer-affirming services to those who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, TGNC, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, gender fluid, intersex, CNM, polyamorous, kink, and questioning. I also believe in the importance of sharing space for multiple identities and being a culturally competent provider.  

Natalie believes in creating a safe space, free of judgment, where you can explore your thoughts and feelings. Natalie wants to help you reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and overall distress. Natalie also wants you to feel as though you have a plan after each session with specific action steps that you can take to improve your overall well being. Asking for help shows a lot of strength, and can improve one’s confidence and ability to meet challenges.  

My goal as a therapist is to create a warm, supportive, genuine and safe environment where you alone or with your significant other feel comfortable sharing with me your negative repetitive pattern that prevents you from from sailing through your relationship more smoothly. I want to help you to reinvent your marriage or long term relationship so that your lives intersect in the same space so I can get the opportunity to teach you how to respect each other's differences and teach you how you can agree to disagree and yet you are still able to say "I love you." I can help you both to come up with a common love language when you are home and happy or not so happy; and I can also teach you another love language that works well publicly. One works well in the bedroom and the other works well in front of strangers. All couples must develop love languages that work well privately and publicly. I want your relationship to maintain the love that brought you together in the first place. You may wonder why your love is not consistent, and you may notice that the respect you once had for one another has dissipated and the personal meaning once attached to your relationship is no longer there.. Most couples in your situation have what I refer to as their own "dance of anger" that happens again and again and again. By this, I mean couples fight about different issues but the way that they fight takes on a repetitive negative pattern and that pattern is their way of expressing anger and/or rage, regardless of the argument at hand. I refer to the way that most couples argue and fight as their "dance of anger". Remember, you can't change your partner and that is why you need professional advice. I can be your "go to person" who can teach you how to effectively communicate when you once again have disagreements that can be a threat to the survival of your relationship. I only accept accept couples who really want to preserve their relationship and can tell me that they are willing to put in the hard work, because married monogamous relationships are difficult to sustain, but by taking your marriage vows seriously, you both signed up for a loving partnership for a lifetime. Taking your vows and dancing at your wedding is just not enough because everyone's life is difficult. Life is more like "a bowl of cherries" and despite the succulent juice from the cherries, you will still have to deal with "the pits." We can't always dance through our problems. Despite making yourselves an expensive wedding or having gone to the court to take your vows,-what all married couples dwell on is trust. Is one person feeling like they don't trust the other or both feel the same way when it comes to trust, then pick up your phone to call Lorna Hayim-Baker at Riverdale Therapy & Counseling Services. I offer a free phone consultation before accepting new couples. I tell the truth when I counsel couples, and therefore, I vet each couple before I agree to meet with them in an "in person session" to avoid sessions where one partner or both can blow up my session because their personality does not mesh well with mine. My heart goes out to everyone who is about to experience "a bad breakup" or "a disastrous divorce.". I go many extra miles for each and every couple who comes into my office. I try to understand their shared stories and having a shared story is a lot easier to problem solve because they are in sync; but more often than not, I have to hear out each partner because they each have different stories to tell. I decipher their own personal stories because, in reality, there are two different versions of the same presenting problem and then their is the third version which is the most realistic story. It is only fair to hear each partner's voice as they often come to session offering their own point of view, but if one pays close attention, it often seems like there are 2-3 different problems; but in reality, there are two different sides about he same problem and sometimes even a third side that the therapist discovers and is being presented by each person. All three stories are different versions of the same problem. All sides are carefully listened to and It takes time to hear each person's interpretation of the same arguments. All stories are aired and I do my best to come up with possible solutions by providing lots of feedback. Couples can disagree with me about possible solutions that are offered. I have become very attuned to my couples because I have been doing this type of therapy for a very long time. I listen carefully to their presenting problems before providing feedback. I am not always right but I am pretty intuitive at this point in my career. Someone must try to understand the couple who came in to preserve their relationship and the hope is that I, as their therapist will remain neutral and unbiased in order to shed light on why the couples are not hearing each other as they each struggle to voice their complaints. More often than not, one or both partners become very defensive and neither one is listening to the other and their fight escalates. That's why they need an unbiased and caring therapist to intervene and help the couple deescalate by having them share the details of the original complaint that turned into a communication breakdown. Couples begin fighting right in front of me & my job is to stop their dispute and call a halt to their bickering so we can examine why their communication pattern broke down in the first place. Both partners are acting out and becoming nasty and defensive. Each partner had the same wish, which was to have their voice heard as he or she expresses their own complaint. I need to point out when their wheels are spinning but they are getting nowhere and they are in fact, stuck. Couples need to stop and listen to each other so I can help them come up with a plan that can get them "unstuck." To be an effective couples' counselor means that at the end of the session, the couple walks out with a sense of having a shared understanding of their problems and with a shared sense of hope because they learned how to tackle the types of ineffective communications that lead to "blow out fights" Hopefully, I will be your therapist who teaches you how to not add fuel to the fire. I want to be part of the solution and teach couples how to stop turning molehills into mountains. I am the therapist who loves watching love as it grows and makes both partners seem so much more mature.  

I'm here to help you both solve your immediate concerns and live more fully into the strength and beauty of yourself. I'm a compassionate and culturally-competent therapist and counselor, with an interest in working with individuals and couples including on all kinds of issues I believe we can all experience helping people move towards a better and healthier life. I'm trained in DBT, CBT, compassion focused therapy and couples work, and I especially enjoy working with people bringing issues concerning race, culture, religion and spirituality. I offer a free 15-minute consultation with anyone interested in working with me, and I look forward to speaking with you about what you want to accomplish in therapy.  

EK Mental Health Counseling specializes in treating OCD, including pure O, anxiety, trauma, and relationship issues. Anxiety can feel debilitating making you avoid all the things you enjoy the most in life. Intrusive thoughts can plague your mind and lead to a downward spiral of repetitive thoughts and actions. The therapists at EK Mental Health Counseling have specialty training in evidence based practices such as exposure response prevention (ERP), acceptance commitment therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy to help you find the relief you are searching for. We are a diverse group of mental health counselors with experiences in helping people of various cultural backgrounds.  

Mind Therapy is dedicated to help people overcome obstacles and empower them to live happier, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. We specialize in substance use and general mental health for adults and teens and focus on compassionate care while teaching skills and techniques to manage challenges. Please take a look at our therapist's biographies to find someone that can help you today!  

I founded Manhattan Mental Health Counseling after discovering that many New Yorkers struggle to find competent psychotherapists. Our mission is to provide knowledgeable, compassionate and effective psychotherapy in the intimate setting of a warm and inviting private practice while also accepting many of the insurances which are popular in New York. Our therapists. Our practice is composed of a team of licensed mental health counselors with multidisciplinary expertise including: anxiety, depression, trauma, PTSD, grief, self esteem and LGBTQ among others. Our mission is to help our clients build the tools needed to cope with a variety of mental health conditions, allowing them to pursue their dreams while living a balanced and healthy life.  

I approach my work with a spirit of openness and curiousity, as I firmly believe that therapy is a lateral relationship, rather than a hierarchical one. I feel that it is my job create a safe space in which to explore your experiences, and to then utilize my professional experience, education, and personal authenticity to help guide you in the direction you want to go. Also, I like to address the social, cultural and systemic issues that surround my clients rather than purely viewing problems they're facing through an individual/pathological lens.  

Do you long for greater love and purpose in your life? Do you feel lonely? Stuck in your struggles? Sad or down? Stressed or anxious? Group therapy can help you find deeper meaning and connection through the practice of authenticity: "letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we are" (Brené Brown). By helping you bring your full authentic self into connection, Group can help you transcend loneliness to find more fulfilling relationships. Group can help you lean into your life with more courage, compassion and vulnerability. Group can support your unique journey as you find your way home to where you belong, and to the relationships that sustain you.