Welcome to
The Community Couch.

I earned my undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and my master's degree in social work from New York University, with a specialization in evidence-based practices. Prior to opening my private practice, I worked in New York City public mental health settings including Bellevue and Kings County Hospitals, where I held clinical and leadership roles in adult psychiatry. I later became the director of a mental health shelter for older women experiencing homelessness and co-morbid medical conditions including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other serious chronic illnesses.

My approach to psychotherapy and developing treatment goals is always through a biopsychosocial lens that gives attention to race, culture, gender identity and expression, general health concerns, socioeconomics, medical wellness, and phase of life.  I use a combination of clinical modalities derived from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), which I learned as a clinical trainee at Bellevue Hospital's Intensive Personality Disorders Program. I believe that helping people understand the relationship between negative thoughts, self-judgment, emotional suffering, and unhelpful patterns of behavior can be transformative across a broad spectrum of mental health problems. And the scientific studies agree!

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My style in session is collaborative and dynamic. I enjoy actively participating and will challenge you when appropriate. While of course it's important to ask you, "How does that make you feel?", there is so much more to the therapeutic experience than this question alone. I want to move you forward with new insight and new ways of coping and thinking that will last long after therapy ends.