Holistic Mental Health Counseling Services and Psychotherapy in New York and New Jersey

The purpose of counseling is to work collaboratively with a counselor so you can set goals, shed light on any emotional patterns or mental health challenges that aren’t serving you, and promote positive and sustainable changes in your behavior and thought processes by healing the trauma trapped within your body.

You see, our counseling services go so much further than talk therapy. It’s true that talk therapy is a great way to feel heard and understood. The thing is, talk therapy counseling isn’t ideal for truly healing from trauma or certain types of anxiety, and the way it impacts your life.

That’s why our counseling services focus on somatic modalities. This cutting-edge approach to counseling enables you and your counselor to engage in a holistic approach to counseling that incorporates your body, rather than the temporary surface level approach only addressing symptoms rather than getting to the root of the issue.

The success rate of counseling is approximately 75%. Said another way, around 75% of people who start counseling experience benefits as a direct result. These results can include more positive emotions, less self-sabotaging behavior, positive shifts in your body’s biochemistry, and even fewer medical illnesses.

Studies have also found that in many cases, using counseling to treat your depression, PTSD, or panic disorder is just as beneficial as medication. Moreover, there are no worries about becoming dependent on medication or experiencing hidden side effects.

In short, you’re likely to notice many improvements in your life—big and small—as a result of counseling.

The only potential risk or downside to counseling is the fact that sometimes, healing the trauma you’ve carried all these years can be uncomfortable. You may find yourself feeling your feelings more as you start to address your mental health head on.

But it’s important to understand the purpose of this potential pain. Just like a wound on your physical body, healing the wounds left by trauma requires taking a close look at the root cause. This can cause old pains and fears to resurface so that they can be addressed and resolved.

Antiseptic usually stings when applied to a wound, but the sting means you’re facilitating healing. In counseling, the initial encounter with treating patterns that aren’t serving you can be uncomfortable but it is so worth the clarity, relief and improvement. And once you’ve moved past that initial discomfort, you can start creating a strong foundation to support good health connections in your brain and body that will last.

Some of the different types of counseling we offer include:

• Anxiety therapy: Our anxiety counseling will help put you back in the driver’s seat of your own life. We all feel anxious sometimes, but you shouldn’t have to live your life around these feelings and worries. Our unique holistic approach blends somatic modalities to discover and truly release any trauma tied to your anxiety.
• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP): The foundation of AEDP counseling is the idea that humans are hard-wired for coping and resilience. AEDP will help you discover your innate skills and strengths in terms of coping, and use those skills to flourish in life. It uses your body as a roadmap to resolving unprocessed trauma and anxiety.
• Online therapy: Online therapy is meant to offer the proven results of counseling without any of the stress or inconvenience. We know how uncertain and constantly changing the details of life can be at any moment. With online therapy, you don’t have to worry about traffic, getting ready, or finding parking. Your therapist is always just a click away.
• PTSD counseling: Our PTSD counseling can help treat the original causes of your PTSD on a neurological level. Our counselors often blend a mix of somatic modalities so that you no longer have to live life around your trauma. You see, trauma is stored deep within your body. Our somatic counselors will lead you through the journey of releasing this trauma at your own pace.
• Psychotherapy: Psychotherapy can help with a wide range of mental health concerns and challenges. During these sessions, you’ll have the freedom to speak your mind in a judgment-free zone and feel truly heard and seen. It is helpful and effective to have a supportive counselor guide you through the process and help you come to terms with the conflicting parts of you that deeply desire positive change and the parts of you that may be holding you back.
• Depression counseling: Our depression counseling blends somatic and holistic modalities to help you take small sustainable steps to start enjoying life in a real, meaningful way. “Talking things out” with talk therapy is rarely enough to make a true impact on depression symptoms. Our counselors work to understand the deepest causes of your depression and help you piece together what recovery looks like for you.
• Brainspotting: Brainspotting therapy uses interventions that are focused on the brain’s capacity to rewrite itself for positive and safe connection. The idea is to help your brain and body stop associating past stressors with current situations. If you experience things like stress and anxiety in what seem like “common” or “standard” situations, brainspotting can help release that trauma from your body in a way that talk therapy can’t.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This modality helps you notice any unhelpful habits or negative thought patterns you’ve internalized. With your counselor, you’ll look closely at the thought patterns causing you distress and learn to choose a more empowering way to reframe your thought patterns.. Ultimately, CBT helps you feel confident in yourself and the decisions you make.
• Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy: Have you ever felt like there are two “sides'' to you, and you have to choose which you listen to? IFS therapy helps you get to know every facet of yourself. Understanding and being compassionate with each one will help you feel more whole and stop sabotaging yourself.
• Talk therapy: You talk with one of our knowledgeable counselors about your behavior, feelings, and thoughts. Through this collaborative therapeutic process you can get expert guidance in making sense of areas of life that might seem stressful to navigate alone. Our client’s often emerge feeling more confident and report that they feel that they have more trust in themselves and their decision making.
• Group therapy: Our group therapy sessions are enriched with like minded clients that empower each other to overcome shared life challenges. You’ll get authentic and helpful tips, feedback, and effective strategies for the topic your group is targeting. Most importantly it is a place to feel heard and understood, know that you are not alone on this journey and our therapists are here to help. If you desperately want to break out of your own limitations, make authentic decisions, and create the life you’ve always wanted, group therapy is a great choice.

You should also know that we weave somatic modalities into our different types of counseling wherever possible. Talk therapy, for example, can’t repair trauma on a body/brain level. Our somatic counseling services help your body and brain to attain long-lasting and sustainable changes towards balanced mental health.

Each counseling session typically takes 45 to 60 minutes, and on average you’ll notice signs of lasting recovery within 4 - 6 sessions for somatic therapy and 12 - 20 for traditional talk therapy.

The length of your therapy will be determined by what you want to work on in therapy and how consistent you are. Being consistent and committed to your mental health and wellness journey will require you to make yourself and therapy a priority. The more consistent you are the quicker you’ll see results. Length of stay with a therapist varies depending on what you want to work on. Some clients will come in to help resolve one key issue for example fear of driving over bridges or at night and they might engage in focused somatic therapy for 6-12 weeks, resolve it, and decide that’s all they want to work on and begin the termination process.Others might come in for troubling relationship dynamics, make certain shifts and see major improvements over a 6 - 12 week period and then decide they want to work on something else like perfectionistic and critical thought patterns and decide to shift their focus onto that. It’s all about what you need and working collaboratively with your therapist to target what is most important to you to resolve.

Yes, your counseling is 100% confidential thanks to the APA’s code of ethics and HIPAA. Any counselor who breaks this confidentiality answers to their state licensing board.

Without your express, written consent, no staff member of our clinic can give out any information about your treatment.

The only exceptions to these laws come in situations where your counselor is legally obligated to share, such as:

• Sharing detailed plans or concrete signs of a future suicide attempt
• Explaining planned acts of violence towards others, including children or elder abuse
• Sharing details of past child abuse you’ve committed
• For minors under our care, we have a responsibility to disclose some information to a parent or guardian, this will be reviewed with you prior to any disclosure
• Or sharing information with parties you have agreed to share it with such as your insurance company (for billing purposes) or a relative you have granted permission

Otherwise, everything you think, feel, say, and do stays between you and your counselor. Not only is this legally required—we also feel it’s right according to our own code of ethics.

During a counseling session, you can expect your counselor to ask questions about your experiences and goals to serve you better. The first session or two will focus more on why you decided to start counseling, background info about your life, and whether you’ve ever tried counseling before.

With this in mind, your counselor will discuss with you which types of therapy will benefit you most. All in all, our staff is passionate about helping you find happiness and joy in your life. But your needs are completely unique to you—there’s no “one-size-fits-all” counseling roadmap.

That’s why during your counseling sessions, you and your counselor will discuss the best path forward. All of us specialize in a variety of modalities so we can offer you a truly effective strategy to support your journey towards wellness.

When talking to your family or partner about your decision to start counseling, a bit of strategic thinking can go a long way.

The first thing to ask yourself is, why do you want to share this decision with these people in your life? Is it because they’ll be supportive and you could use a cheerleader? If so, then share the news by all means. Just be sure to frame it in terms of your needs. “I think I need help with a few things, so I’ve decided to talk with a counselor. Working these things out is important to me.”

When your partner and family can clearly understand your reasoning for starting counseling, they’re more likely to be on board with the idea.

But what if you’re starting counseling specifically because of a certain person?

Well, sharing this decision is completely your call. If you decide to share the news, say something compassionate like, “It’s important to me that I can heal and move past these issues because they’re holding me back. I understand you don’t feel like these are major issues. But making these changes is a high priority for me, so I hope you come around and eventually accept this decision.”

Developing a healthy and supportive relationship with yourself is key in having fulfilling relationships with others. You deserve to feel supported, prioritized, and well. Wellness is your birthright! And seeking therapy is a courageous act of self love.

The process for starting counseling begins with scheduling a session. But outside of taking this step and showing up for your appointment, you won’t need to prepare in any special way. Just be yourself!

In the first session, your counselor will want to learn more about you and your goals with counseling. From there, you’ll work together to craft a plan and help you reclaim wellness. Each of our counselors is trained in several different somatic modalities. That’s why we’re able to offer you a new experience in therapy that goes beyond just talk therapy!

When it comes to payment, we typically charge at the beginning of each session. You’ll also have access to our client portal, where you can view dates and bills for past sessions.

We understand that for many people, starting counseling is the hardest step. Our staff is here to help you with this hurdle in any way possible. Whether you’re ready to schedule your first session or still have a few questions, contact us to schedule a free consultation.

We’ll do everything possible to support you in rebuilding wellness and rediscovering your most authentic self!

Okay.. so you’ve been thinking about reaching out to a therapist or returning to therapy but you’re not sure if it’s going to help. You don’t want to sit there and re-live your entire childhood or have someone stare at you blankly while you don’t get any results. Opening up to someone about the personal details of your life and not knowing what to expect can be daunting, we get it!

That’s why our team of trauma informed therapists have completed advanced training in somatic (mind-body) therapy interventions that work in tandem with traditional talk therapy. It doesn’t require you to go over every detail in depth, (you can if you want to), it only requires willingness and your body does most of the work. What’s great about it is that you see results much quicker than traditional talk therapy. We’ve honed in on the areas in which this type of treatment is most effective: anxiety, trauma, self-esteem, eating disorders, and interpersonal relationships. We want you to know that we work with these symptoms day in and day out and that THEY CAN BE RESOLVED. We offer convenient online sessions from the comfort of your own home.