Therapists in New York, NY

Like most human beings, you are doing your best trying to deal with the cards life dealt you. You are motivated and want to improve the quality of your life; only life hasn’t always provided you with the answers. If you are like most people, you have put in a lot of effort and often ended up disappointed in those ‘proven’ methods. However, your life and your brain are unique. Just like you can’t debate whether a hammer or screwdriver is ‘better’, there is no ‘best’ psychological method.

I am a Manhattan-based psychotherapist with more than two decades of experience working with adults, adolescents, children and their families. I have a strong passion and commitment to helping my patients improve the quality of their lives. I am trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy with training in play therapy, hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioral strategies. I provide compassionate care creating a hopeful and productive therapeutic environment and believe a good match between the therapist and patient is vital. My style is interactive and pragmatic. I help patients deepen their self-awareness, identify their concerns and establish realistic goals for therapy.

My name is Randy, and I am a Licensed Clinical Social worker that centers on co-creating safe healing spaces for individuals, families, and organizations. I have experience providing individual and family therapy from a relational and attachment-based lens. My sessions acknowledge and support healing from oppressive systems and forefront of the backgrounds, history, and traditions of BIPOC. My commitment is to support recovery from trauma and the subsequent challenges from traumatic experiences while foregrounding our intersecting identities.

On any given day, we can be impacted by people or events, creating ripples in our lives. But, the more deeply we connect with our own internal values and rhythms, the more solid our footing. With perception, humor and compassion, I value giving you the opportunity to safely explore your inner stories, fears and dreams. My hope is that you will find the validation, support and perspective necessary to create the change you so desire. I have extensive experience working with children, individuals and families with histories of trauma, facing difficult life transitions, such as creating and blending families, adoption, separation, divorce, death and loss.

I am a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) specializing in ADHD, anxiety, autism spectrum disorders, depression, and behavior management. My aim is to create a supportive therapeutic environment, grounded in evidence-based approaches. I work with children, adolescents, and young adults to manage emotions and navigate transitional life changes, as well as families seeking behavior management for their young children.

I am here to collaborate with you to find the best path forward, whether you're going through a difficult life transition, need to process painful events or trauma, want help managing anxiety or complex emotions, or want to strengthen your relationships with your family, friends, or yourself. Therapy illuminates the patterns we find ourselves in, and also provides ways of coping with the distress resulting from these patterns. Through understanding how our past and present circumstances affect us, we cultivate empathy for ourselves and those around us.

Trauma is something that can affect any person at anytime. It often leaves a person feeling lost on how to understand their trauma and best deal with it. Trauma informed therapy can include some very heavy topics, but therapy is so much more than just a place to be sad, it’s a place to better understand oneself and grow as a person. I prioritize creating an environment of trust, laughter, self-discovery and learning; I am not a therapist who will sit in a chair and nod my head for an hour. I strive to make my clients feel comfortable and at ease. If that means sitting on the floor for an hour while we speak, then the floor it is!

I am a child and family therapist. My specialties include work with children (0-10yrs), pregnant women and adults, providing care for clients experiencing emotional, behavioral, and relational difficulties. I have over 10 years of experience with trauma informed psychodynamic therapy treating adults and play therapy treating children. I am intensively trained and certified in Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) which has shown to be effective in supporting and strengthening the relationship between a child and the parents as a pathway for enhancing the child’s ability to cope stress, manage strong emotions, and learn with confidence.

Lauren primarily works with youth, teenagers, young adults, and family systems. She has extensive experience working with youth across diverse settings, where she supports and empowers clients struggling with anxiety, depression, behavioral challenges, self-worth, and additional psychological needs. Lauren's therapeutic approach is highly collaborative, with a heavy emphasis on parent/guardian involvement. Moreover, she helps children and their families improve their communication skills and create stronger connections.

Dr. Lauren Tobing-Puente designed her private practice, renamed Connected Growth & Wellbeing (CGW), to carry forth her mission of supporting individuals’ development, including clients as young as toddlers through adulthood, and their families. We have grown since 2006 to meet the needs of the neurodivergent community, now as a dynamic group of licensed psychologists, postdoctoral psychologist, and mental health clinicians. Our specialties include assessing and supporting individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and learning challenges.

Psychotherapy is a practice of deep listening and understanding. I help people develop insight into their troubles and look into habitual patterns that may create obstacles to their life goals. Together, we identify these patterns, explore feelings, and put effective coping skills into practice. When working with children, my approach invites the family in. Parent coaching, which involves a neurobiological understanding, and psychodynamic insight are integral. Through play therapy I help children discover ways to communicate their experience. The purpose is to establish a connection that encourages growth and the sense that children have a positive impact in their world.

I am a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist with experience in treating children, adolescents, and their families. I received my doctoral degree from Fordham University and have a masters in Therapeutic Interventions. I completed my clinical training in a variety of therapeutic settings including the Kennedy Child Study Center, NYU Child Study Center, Joan Fenichel Therapeutic Nursery School, and Cooke Center Grammar School. In addition to private practice, I am the early childhood and lower school psychologist at the Stephen Gaynor School, a school for children with language-based learning differences.

Thanks for taking a moment to find out more about my services! I enjoy working with individuals (including adolescents) and couples and specialize in Premarital, Interfaith, Multicultural, and Infertility work. I strive to create a safe space for my clients to share, be heard and witnessed, explore, heal, and grow. My style of working with clients is relational, holistic, collaborative, and creative. I deeply believe in a client-centered and strengths-based approach. My counseling technique is a combination of depth oriented, family systems, and experiential therapies (i.e., art/play therapy, mindfulness) with the goals of insight, healing, and behavior change.

I specialize in working with young children and their caregivers who are experiencing a variety of behavioral and developmental challenges resulting from trauma, autism spectrum disorders, depression, anxiety and other social-emotional concerns. I work closely with caregivers to help understand the underlying problems in order to find strategies to address the challenges they are facing.

Cristina Spataro has worked with children and families in crisis for the past 17 years. If there is one thing she has learned, it is that everyone has the capacity for change if they truly want it. Life is hard, and the “right” choices are not always so apparent. Our decisions and their consequences leave us questioning ourselves.

Whether working with you individually or within a family system, my goal is to foster a warm and nonjudgemental space for you to feel heard and free to explore difficult feelings. I specialize in working with children, adolescents, young adults, and families on a variety of issues including anxiety, peer and family conflict, behavioral challenges, mood disorders, and LGBTQ+ related issues. Regardless of what has brought you into treatment, I work closely with you to reduce shame and deepen your understanding of your relationships, behaviors, thoughts and feelings. Such insight is the foundation for change and growth.

I am a trained psychotherapist specializing in working with children, adolescents, and young adults. My primary treatment techniques are psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, and supportive. My approach is warm, thoughtful, and collaborative. I work hard to ensure each of my patients gain the self confidence and coping skills they need to reach their goals. I am always working on improving communication skills within the family and schedule ongoing parent and or family meetings when indicated. I have extensive experience with all of the issues young people face today such as academic stress, social anxiety, divorce, and depression.

People seek my support for a variety of reasons, including anxiety, depression, ADHD, relationship- and work conflict, parenting, life transitions, and more. I work with adults, adolescents, and children using an integrative approach, offering a unique balance in response to the needs and preferences of each client. When working with children, I collaborate closely with their parents to ensure consistency.

I work with individuals, couples, and families who are struggling in loud and quiet ways. I have a warm, down-to-earth style and years of experience with a range of issues including trauma, mood and anxiety disorders, relationship and intimacy difficulties, personality disorders, and emotional disturbance in children and adolescents. Recognizing that insight is sometimes not enough, my approach combines exploration with more active interventions. I have an extensive background in psychodynamic, DBT, family systems, play and couples therapy, and carefully tailor treatments to each patient's needs.