Eva Ash, Psychologist in Huntington, 11743

Eva M. Ash, Ph.D.

Profession(s):
Psychology, Coaching, Psychotherapy
License Status:
I'm a licensed professional.
Primary License:
Psychology - 014215

My Approach to Helping

If you are searching for a therapist right now, you have already taken a very brave step. I know how hard it is to make that first phone call to a potential therapist. It can be scary to say out loud to someone that you think you need some help to make changes in your life. I believe that the most important part of psychotherapy is the genuine professional relationship that develops between therapist and client. As we learn to trust each other, we can explore both how you are doing right now (in your relationships, at your job) and how your beliefs, behaviors, and patterns developed. Understanding the past can help in finding solutions to current problems. Therapy should provide a supportive, empathic environment in which you can make the changes in your life that you want to make. I was broadly trained in a variety of techniques, so we can choose what will work best for you considering your preferences and concerns. I am solution focused. I believe in setting attainable goals so that you can have a successful therapy experience. I believe that you have a unique set of strengths that we can put to work for us.

More Info About My Practice

In addition to individual, couples, and family therapy, I also provide coaching for parenting issues and for career or life change issues. Coaching is different from psychotherapy in that it is relatively brief (usually 1 to 5 sessions) and is focused on a specific issue that is immediately facing you. We can work together to assess the situation, evaluate options, and choose an action plan. I can also help you stay motivated as you put your plan to work. I can also provide career testing and pre-adoption psychological evaluation.

Specific Issue(s) I'm Skilled at Helping With

Professionally I have had a lot of experience working with adults who experienced varying levels of early childhood trauma, as well as a lot of experience with college age adults who are negotiating the difficult stage of late teens/early adulthood. Personally I have had experience with parenting and specifically adoptive parenting, so in the past five years I have been working more and more with families considering adoption or parenting adopted children.

Important Factors for Choosing a Therapist

Although strong academic credentials and years of experience are important, as are personal recommendations from your friends, family, or other healthcare providers, I believe that what truly makes for a successful client-therapist relationship is the "click" you feel when you just know the person sitting across from you "gets" you, listens to you, and genuinely cares about you. If you don't feel that "click," it is okay to shop around for another therapist.

What I Say to People Concerned about the Therapy Process

I always let my clients know that they will set the pace of our work. I once had a client tell me a complex story of her childhood in an initial session that directly impacted the serious symptoms she currently had. However, in that first session she also told me that she did not want to discuss her childhood. So we spent four months in weekly therapy simply working on the bothersome symptoms. As she began to feel better and she saw she had control over the symptoms, she began to discuss her childhood in therapy. This opened up a lot of new areas for her to explore, but it would not have happened had I "pushed" her to discuss those areas before she was ready.