Black / African American therapists in Fort Salonga, New York NY

I believe healing takes place when the core of the emotions/feelings is identified and then expressed. Our emotions and behavior are mostly covered and protected to avoid pain. There is no healing without feeling the pain but it's only temporary. Once the pain is felt and released the door for Joy has opened. I also use EFT, Spirituality and Energy Healing as it complements the process of therapy.  

I am privileged to be a Long Island psychologist, working with both individuals and couples that have challenges in their lives. If you struggle with depression, anxiety, relationship issues, addictions, and more, my personalized approach will enable you to take steps towards a successful future.  

Justine Astacio, LMHC, is a licensed Mental Health Counselor and CEO of Lotus Theory, a company committed to helping you achieve holistic health and overall balance. Lotus Theory’s mission is to inspire healthy living by engaging the mind and the body in our approach to therapeutic wellness. We believe in the powerful connection between the mind and body, and we are committed to treating our clients as whole individuals with unique needs. Justine and her team of dedicated clinicians at Lotus Theory provide therapy services designed for anyone seeking positive change from issues like low self-esteem, self-forgiveness, difficulty letting go, or feeling unclear about their life’s path.  

Starting therapy for the first time can be an overwhelming experience, and it’s completely normal to feel a mix of emotions. My priority is to create a safe and welcoming space where you feel both comfortable and understood. Together, we’ll focus on your unique strengths and explore how you can harness them to navigate challenges and find solutions that resonate with you. We’ll work on building your resilience by developing a toolbox of coping skills that you can rely on during tough moments. In addition to a strengths-based approach, I incorporate Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques, which can help you identify and modify thoughts and behaviors that may be holding you back. Our sessions will be tailored to your specific goals, incorporating elements like problem-solving, stress management, relaxation techniques, and even role-playing exercises to enhance your assertiveness/communication skills. I have experience working with adults aged 18-65 on a variety of issues, including grief, racial trauma, self-esteem, anxiety, career counseling, life transitions, relationship challenges, college and graduate school concerns, communication difficulties, and women’s issues. If you're feeling unsure about how to start, anxious about past experiences, or worried about being judged, I encourage you to reach out. You can click the Headway booking link located in my contact info on my profile to schedule your first appointment. I’m here to support you on this journey, every step of the way!  

I am a New York based LCSW with a passion and a vigor for helping others on their mental health journey. My therapy approach comes from a place of compassion where one of my main goals is making sure my client feel as supported, heard and empowered as possible. Therapy is not a one size fits all and the approach used with each client individually should reflect this. I help each client articulate their thoughts and feelings in order to get a better understanding of what is causing their depression/anxiety/stress/unhappiness. I approach therapy from an integrative perspective, taking interest in the clients cultural background and experiences and tailoring a therapeutic modality that is the best fit for them. Just like therapy, healing is also not a one size fits all and I understand that making the first steps into therapy, and towards that healing, may have been a difficult decision and I applaud your courage for making that first step. With your desire for change and my commitment to support and empower you, we will navigate a pace that works best for you to strengthen all aspects of your body and mind and the connection they have to each other.  

As a licensed therapist and first-generation Dominican-Cuban American, I bring a distinct cultural perspective to my practice, helping clients balance their diverse backgrounds. My background includes school social work with elementary-aged children, Applied Behavioral Analysis for toddlers with autism, and virtual sessions with adolescents and adults in private practice. I focus on providing valuable resources, reinforcing parents’ successful techniques, and empowering individuals in their journeys. To discuss your needs and explore whether we’d be a good fit, email me to schedule a free 15-30 minute phone consultation!  

For forty years as a respected and trusted psychologist in the Queens and New York regions, Dr. Joel Stukalin has provided quality couples counseling, marriage counseling and individual psychotherapy and psychoanalysis to his clients from many cultures, religions and ethnicities.  

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.  

Discovery Mental Health Counseling is a beacon of light for those looking to discover more about themselves. We strive to direct our clients to their own resilience, and we do so by beginning to deconstruct systems of oppression in our lives and from our histories. We are Latina woman owned, and our clinicians are mostly BIPOC and LGBTQ community members. Discover yourself. Discover your world. ¡Nosotros hablamos español!