Therapists for college students near New York University

Starting college is a major transition, and it can bring a mix of excitement, pressure, stress, and uncertainty. You may find yourself feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or unsure of how to navigate relationships, academics, and the growing expectations of independence. I work with students to better understand their emotional experiences, build confidence, and develop more effective ways of managing stress. Together, we focus on helping you feel more grounded, more connected, and better able to navigate both your inner world and your relationships. I am also licensed to provide comprehensive in-person testing. This may be for your personal understanding of yourself or it could be to support applications for accommodations for academic work at your college or for standardized testing (e.g. GRE, LSAT, MCAT etc).

I’m Lily, a therapist who works with young adults, professionals, and LGBTQIA+ individuals who are tired of living small, anxious, or disconnected from themselves. I believe therapy works best when it’s a real relationship, no blank stares, no “how does that make you feel?” on repeat. I show up as my full self so you can feel safe showing up as yours. In our sessions, we might: -Untangle anxious thoughts so they stop running the show -Explore the beliefs about yourself you didn’t even know you’d been carrying -Learn how to quiet that relentless inner critic -Heal the ways you relate to food, your body, and your worth -Strengthen your boundaries and self-trust I use tools from mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), narrative storytelling, and Intuitive Eating, but always in a way that fits you.

Do you ever feel like no matter what you do, it’s never enough? Maybe you find yourself picking apart your reflection in the mirror, replaying awkward conversations in your head, or wondering why relationships always feel harder than they should. You might feel caught between wanting to change and fearing it will always feel this way. I creates a space where you don’t have to go through it alone. My approach is compassionate, curious, and free of judgment. With warmth and a touch of humor, I help clients unpack the pressures and self-criticism that weigh them down so they can start building self-trust, healthier relationships, and a kinder connection to themselves.

Do you ever feel like your relationship with food, your body, or your emotions has quietly taken over more of your life than you ever intended? Maybe you have spent years managing it alone, turning to restriction, rigid rules, or old coping habits to feel some sense of control, only to find yourself exhausted, disconnected, or wondering if things can actually be different. I know how heavy that can feel. I bring both specialized clinical training and genuine compassion to my work with clients navigating eating disorders, body image, and the emotions that often live underneath both. With experience at The Renfrew Center for Eating Disorders, one of the country's leading eating disorder treatment programs, I've worked with adolescents and adults across a wide range of presentations and levels of care. I specialize in eating disorders, body image, OCD, ADHD, anxiety, and depression, and brings a relational, trauma-informed approach to every session. My goal is to create a space where you feel truly seen rather than assessed, where the work moves at a pace that feels safe, and where healing feels possible rather than out of reach.

Do you ever feel weighed down by emotions you can’t seem to shake, like anxiety that keeps you up at night, or shame that lingers long after the moment has passed? Maybe you’re navigating the highs and lows of relationships, struggling with self-worth, or trying to break free from old coping patterns that no longer serve you. Whatever you’re carrying, it can feel overwhelming to face it on your own. I creates a space where you don’t have to hide or minimize your feelings. With warmth, empathy, and creativity, I help clients sit with difficult emotions, unpack painful experiences, and begin rewriting the story they tell themselves. My goal is to help you feel respected, heard, and empowered to live more authentically.

I am a New York Licensed Mental Health Counselor with over 10 years experience providing services to those who are in need. It is my pleasure to help you define and identify your unique path towards wellness and quality of life. Through our collaboration, we will build a space consisting of comfort and trust and I will encourage you to safely explore your innermost thoughts and feelings My therapeutic approach consists of an integration of Psychodynamic and Psychoanalytic theory. Through the exploration of unconscious processes, your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors; we will discover your potential for significant and positive change.​ My specialties include, but are not limited to: Anxiety, depression/mood disorders, interpersonal challenges, anger management, significant life transitions, and supporting those in long term recovery from addiction. Our therapeutic alliance will help in developing a mindful approach to identifying, feeling, and expressing your emotions.

We offer compassionate, comprehensive care through psychotherapy, cognitive coaching, medication management, and neuropsychological services. Our goal is to help you better understand and address a wide range of concerns, including ADHD, autism, learning differences, and other emotional or cognitive challenges. Using evidence-based evaluations, we examine how emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and personality factors impact daily life, helping you uncover the root causes of difficulties at home, school, or work. Our mission is to provide clarity and practical guidance so you can develop strategies to thrive. We accept both in-network and out-of-network plans. We handle claims directly—so you never have to pay upfront. To make care accessible, we also offer sliding scale fees and flexible payment plans, ensuring support is available to anyone who needs it. Take the first step toward understanding yourself or your loved one better. We’re here to support you every step of the way.

I am a licensed therapist with 15 years experience - I have extensive experience working with young adults who are navigating anxiety, depression, relationship issues (peers + intimate partner relationships), and exploring parts of their identity. My intention is to provide you with a safe, nonjudgmental, and affirming therapeutic space. We will identify your strengths and explore strategies that can facilitate the effective changes that you are seeking. I am trained in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). I will help you understand your patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. We will reflect on those and identify which habits work and which may no longer serve you. We will work together to identify and develop insightful and practical tools that can help you reach your goals and I will support building self-compassion through this process. I provide individual psychotherapy services for adults and adolescents in New York. I also, offer documentation for gender affirming procedures depending on client need. You made a big step! Reach out to me by email and we can set up a time to talk (I offer free 15 minute consult calls). I take a friendly and warm approach to getting to know you. We will discuss if I could be a good fit for your needs.

Therapy is a powerful tool for reflection and change. Whether working with teens or adults, my approach is insightful and exploratory, helping clients uncover unconscious patterns. Sometimes, we become stuck in painful or unsatisfying ways of being and need a safe space to learn, heal, and grow. I commonly work with issues such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, trauma, life transition, and relationships. In our work together, I help clients understand the impact of past experiences on the present, with a focus on the here-and-now. I also incorporate breathing and mindfulness practices to help manage everyday stress.

Finding the right therapist matters — and here's what sets my approach apart. I combine psychodynamic therapy, CBT, mindfulness, and self-compassion into a practical, personalized framework refined over more than 10 years of clinical experience working with high-achievers. I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all approach; you are the expert on your own life. I understand firsthand the pressure to perform, the fear of falling short, and the burnout that comes from relentlessly pushing yourself. I'm not just familiar with those experiences clinically; I've lived them. My clients tell me they appreciate that I'm direct, warm, and genuinely collaborative — that sessions feel both supportive and productive. All sessions are available online, so getting consistent support fits into even the most demanding schedule. If you're ready to stop white-knuckling your way through and start building something that actually feels sustainable, I'd love to connect. Schedule a free 20-minute consultation at susanpodbielski.com — no pressure, just a conversation.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

During college, it's not unusual to feel overwhelmed. Perhaps you want closer friendships. Maybe you get anxious when you talk to new people, or you feel lonely or down. Maybe you're falling back into a familiar depression or returning to high levels of anxiety you hoped wouldn't follow you to college. It can be hard to think about going to therapy when you don't even know what you'd say. If you feel badly about yourself or you feel hopeless, it might be hard to think anything will help. You are not alone. You don't have to have the answers. Listening compassionately, I will invite you to bring your experience into the room. Together, we can collaborate to better understand you and the challenges you're confronting. We may discover unmourned losses or unhealed wounds. We may identify recurring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and interactions that may not be serving you anymore. Experiencing a greater emotional range, you can begin to heal. After working in university counseling centers for over 15 years, I now see many undergraduate and graduate students in private practice. I enjoy working both with students who are new to psychotherapy as well as those who have been in therapy previously. Many students I work with are LGBTQIA+/ queer students.

-Are you struggling with the transition to a more independent phase of life? -Are you overwhelmed by the transition to college and balancing everything on your own for the first time? -Do you feel like everyone else but you has somehow figured out “adulting”? -Are you getting into conflicts with your parents, feeling like they still view you as a child? Many young adults feel alone in these experiences, with the idea that everyone else seems to “have it all together.” Transitions such as graduating high school, starting college, starting your first job, experiencing your first relationship, and working towards being financially independent are all exciting moments in time, but they can also bring stress and uncertainty. College students might be thrown by how much harder academic life is than in high school, no longer having the structure and accountability provided by teachers or parents. Making friends in a new setting may also be harder than you expected, leading to feelings of failure. Especially since having a social life with peers can feel even more important when you’re far from home. Coming home from college for the summer or winter break, many people are thrown by the fact that their friends have grown and evolved in ways that may be different than them, making friendships feel different. If things aren’t working out as you expected, you may start to feel down or depressed, or a sense of isolation and loneliness. That’s where we enter in. We’d love to help you feel a little less alone in this phase of life and to start working through the challenges you’ve been dealing with. At Elevate CBT, we specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which focuses on addressing thinking and behavioral patterns that may be keeping you stuck and preventing you from having the life you want. It’s a very goal-driven kind of therapy, so your therapist will work with you to identify what is currently a struggle in your life, and what you want to work towards to have a more satisfying life. We have helped many young adults in therapy work towards finding their “people” and figuring out aspects of their identities, improving academic organization and decreasing procrastination, creating a more balanced relationship with alcohol or weed, and asserting independence from parents while still being respectful of the ways in which parental support may still be needed. We also specialize in working with young adults with anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, OCD, BFRBs (hair pulling and skin picking), trauma, and eating/body image concerns. Our goal is to create a comfortable environment for you to learn more about yourself, your emotions, and how to change behavior in the direction of your desired goals. Balancing self-compassion with pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, we will work together to help you achieve the life you want.

As a licensed Mental Health Counselor, my passion is in collaborating with clients to help strengthen their personal strategies and to find a life worth living. I believe that with the right tools and motivation, my clients are able to manage the difficulties that life has given them. Clients learn to trust themselves and develop ways to learn coping skills and increase their sense of self-worth through continued practice in our sessions. The idea to go into psychology was sparked by my own experiences with depression, grief, interpersonal conflicts, and trauma. In college, I went to a therapist and learned to cope with the challenges that I had been facing since my adolescence. As a result, I was completely enamored with learning about how the mind works and why people behave the way they do. I believe that with my own personal experiences, I can create a safe and non-judgmental environment for my clients, so that they may grow and heal. In my practice, I utilize an integrative approach, and holistic, person oriented theories. I am certified in Dialectical behavioral therapy and specialize working with personality disorders, interpersonal difficulties, trauma, and work with other mental health conditions as well.

You aren’t alone in your mental health struggles. As a mental health counselor for LGBTQIA folks, young adults, adults, and teens, I provide a gentle and collaborative environment for navigating issues relating to trauma, anxiety, depression, body image and shame, self-esteem, ADHD, OCD, identity exploration, family and life conflicts, low motivation, and emotional dysregulation. At all times, I believe in teamwork and accountability, remaining open to feedback and supportive in working toward your goals. I'm especially passionate about the concept of neuroplasticity (the brain's capacity to change, adapt, and form new neural pathways or ways of thinking) and humanism, which suggests we all naturally want to heal and self-actualize. I look forward to empowering your brain’s healing journey, fostering your personal growth, and navigating life's challenges in our work together. I'm dedicated to providing a safe, nonjudgmental space for vulnerability and self-expression. That’s why I take a warm, collaborative, and humorous approach to care, tailoring treatment to your unique needs. Your plan may include Dialectal Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), psychodynamic/relational, and somatic techniques to explore different aspects of yourself, practice coping strategies, regulate your nervous system, and develop a new relationship with difficult thoughts and feelings. My own mental health challenges, alongside supporting family members through their mental illnesses, shaped my path toward therapeutic care. These personal experiences deepened my commitment to destigmatizing mental illness and demystifying therapy by providing accessible care that makes people feel seen and heard. I bring this anti-oppressive and culturally responsive perspective to my practice now, ensuring care that is grounded in the understanding that cultural expectations, intergenerational patterns, shame, and systemic barriers can deeply influence how safe and comfortable someone feels in therapy. In my free time, I love immersing myself in the great outdoors, from swimming to camping beneath the stars. I also enjoy the arts: water coloring, watching a fantastic show or movie, and crafting!

Growing up with learning disabilities, I had an experience that is all too familiar for the neurodivergent community. Often feeling misunderstood and out of place, I was faced with indifference, ignorance, neglect, gaslighting, shame, and the assumption that I could navigate a world that was not built for me without the support I so badly needed. Lonely, adrift, and struggling to find a sense of belonging, I was cast aside and left to fend for myself. After a series of negative experiences with mental health resources and support, my personal journey led me to a couples therapist in 2014. There, I embarked on a journey of transformation, and I was able to see the profound impact that the right therapy relationship could have on a person. It was then that I was introduced to Gestalt psychotherapy, which I immediately connected with. From there, I set forth on a new journey to study Gestalt psychotherapy at the Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy, a post-graduate training program. Pursuing this path, I have continued to experience connectedness, belonging, compassion, the wonder of curiosity, and love itself. Arriving at this place of acceptance and understanding changed everything for me. Understanding that this positive experience is not the norm for members of the neurodivergent community, I decided to dedicate myself to providing that same transformation for others. With this mission, I founded Welcome Home Healing in 2023. Since then, I have had the pleasure of helping many clients embrace their own innate worth, gifts, individuality, and the freedom to shed their masks of shame and self doubt.

The Loom was created as a space that recognizes the interconnectedness between an individual’s struggles and their relationships. Life’s challenges can impact our relationships, and in turn, our relationships can either serve as a source of support or contribute to the challenges we face. The Loom aims to help clients address these issues by exploring how individuals’ struggles affect their relationships and vice versa, acknowledging the dynamic interplay between the two. This understanding forms the basis of our therapeutic approach, which seeks to support healing and growth within the context of these relationships. The most common reasons students come to see us are related to anxiety and depression, dating and relationship issues, academic or career related stress and burnout, gender and sexuality identity, disordered eating and body image, as well as cultural and identity focus. We offer individual and couples sessions in person in union square or online. We are also proud to offer sessions in Spanish.

The Center for Progressive Psychotherapy (“CPP”) provides contemporary, high-quality therapy to individuals and couples in New York City. We treat adult patients experiencing a wide-array of emotional and behavioral symptoms who are wanting to better understand and manage their symptoms towards improving the quality, happiness, and success of their lives. At CPP, we take a holistic approach recognizing that one’s mental, emotional, and physical health are integral to building healthier relationships and leading a more satisfying and rewarding life. We work closely alongside our patients to help them build stronger, more grounded lives from which we can then help them to achieve their goals and objectives in both love and work. Reflecting the diverse landscape of New York City, The Center for Progressive Psychotherapy treats ALL persons regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and disability.

I have worked with people experiencing a wide range of difficulties, including trauma, eating disorders, OCD, relationship struggles, and academic stress. I am attuned to the role oppression plays in my patients' lives and am LGBTQIA+ affirming. I enjoy working with students, artists and people with creative practices, those undergoing life transitions, and people seeking to understand intergenerational sources of suffering. My style is warm and nonjudgmental. I am guided by the belief that each person contains inherent strengths and knowledge, and that a primary goal of treatment is to allow for the expression of this unique experience. In our work together, we will move between past and present to understand what it’s like to be you. We will look carefully at your struggles, as well as how you love and dream. This diligent attention to your experience can result in satisfying and often surprising changes in personal, creative, and professional endeavors. In time, this knowledge of the self may also reduce symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and physical pain. I am a New York State licensed master social worker and graduated with honors from Silberman School of Social Work. I am a candidate in adult psychoanalysis at the Contemporary Freudian Society. I have also been trained in the treatment of eating disorders. I have worked with people of diverse racial, ethnic, religious, gender, sexuality, and class backgrounds. I invite you to reach out to me.