My Approach to Helping

Have you been feeling unmotivated, depressed or anxious? Perhaps you are struggling with unwanted habits or addictions. I am experienced in helping children, adolescents, and adults to overcome social anxiety, panic attacks, low self-esteem, obsessive behaviors, and depression. I provide a warm, supportive environment, and my approach is active, collaborative, and results-oriented. I am a trained cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist certified in the highly effective Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and CBT-based T.E.A.M. therapy developed by Dr. David Burns, MD at Stanford University. T.E.A.M. therapy is a short-term, highly effective approach focused on the "here-and-now". I will help you learn state-of-the-art tools to eliminate anxiety, depression, habits/addictions, and relationship difficulties. This includes relapse-prevention skills which prevent the recurrence of the problem in the future. T.E.A.M. therapy improves on CBT by adding motivational tools to increase the individual's commitment to change. Often patients experience significant improvements in just a few months. If you want effective and rapid results and feel ready to get to work, I am the therapist that you are looking for!

More Info About My Practice

I am the Founder and Clinical Director of The Feeling Good Center for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (FGC) located in White Plains and Manhattan. The FGC is home of my private group-practice where with my team of CBT trained therapist we provide individual, group and intensive psychotherapy to children, adolescents as well as adults and parents.

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

Therapy With Children:

As parents, it is painful to see your child struggling at home or at school. It is essential that children learn important social-emotional skills such as making friends, interacting positively with others, solving problems and working in a structured environment in order to be successful. Research has shown that appropriate early diagnosis and intervention are associated with rapid improvement and prevention of later difficulties.

My approach with children considers the significance of development, cognitive abilities, and family systems on their daily functioning. For the therapy to be successful it is important that the relationship between the child and their therapist takes place in a safe and supportive environment, and I adjust my treatment to the child's needs and family structure. The treatment is CBT based with an important family/parental involvement.


Therapy With Adolescents And Young Adults:

I believe that to work successfully with this age group, respect for the adolescent/young adult desire for confidentiality and autonomy is extremely important. I love and have had great success helping adolescents and young adults overcome anxiety, depression, social anxiety, shyness, life transitions, substance abuse, and OCD. Significant progress is achieved WHEN the adolescents or young adults perceive themselves as wanting to make a change.

The Duration and Frequency of Therapy

When we first meet, there will be an initial assessment and evaluation period which will last between two and three sessions. During these sessions, I will serve as a consultant while I familiarize myself with your needs and goals, and assess whether my skills and experience match your need. During this stage, we will also get to know each other and we will mutually decide if working together is a good fit. We will jointly develop the treatment plan that will best enable you to reach your goals. In the case of children and teens, I will also meet with one or both parents in separate sessions.

Intensive Treatment:

Intensive therapy provides more frequent concentrated doses of therapy by combining multiple sessions into one longer session. It is the optimal use of therapeutic time and is suitable for a wide variety of patients. If you want quick and profound change or if you have unsuccessfully tried long-term therapy, Intensive therapy might be the best solution for you. We would meet 3-4 hours a day every day during one week or several days a week for several weeks. Most intensive patients have rapidly reached their therapeutic goals and acquired lasting relapse-prevention skills which prevent the recurrence of the problem in the future.

If you are interested in seeking my services, feel free to contact me for a 10-15 minute free phone consultation. You can also send me an email.