Mental health issues may be more stigmatized in some BIPOC communities, leading to feelings of shame, fear of judgment, and a reluctance to seek help. Everyone wants to feel understood for who they are within their unique racial identity.

Finding a therapist who understands the specific experiences and cultural background of BIPOC individuals can be difficult. How can you be sure that a therapist who can’t demonstrate their cultural competence will be able to relate to the unique challenges you face?

Whether or not English is your first language, limited access to therapists who speak the same language as you and your family can feel like a significant barrier. Working with a BIPOC therapist who understands your culture is important in feeling a strong therapeutic alliance.

Past experiences of racial trauma, systemic oppression, and discrimination within the healthcare system can lead you to distrust therapy or mental health professionals.

The lack of BIPOC representation in medical research could make you feel less welcome in therapy.

As a therapist, Anjna works with clients who are feeling lost, overwhelmed, or unsure whether they're living for themselves or just to meet the expectations of others. Their relationships are causing stress or leaving them feeling disconnected, and they're struggling to align where they are now with where they thought they'd be. Anjna uses psychodynamic, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), and Gestalt modalities and utilize techniques from each to create a treatment plan that is individualized to your needs.

As a South Asian immigrant woman, Anjna has always been conscious of the impact of her race and skin color on her life. In her experience, they have often hindered her access to opportunities and success, while also being integral aspects of her identity, which has created a balancing act of assimilating into Western culture without forsaking her roots. She has firsthand experience navigating the complexities of race and cultural identity, which deeply informs her work with BIPOC clients. Anjna understands the emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual toll that discrimination and systemic barriers can have, and incorporates this awareness into her therapeutic practice. Anjna uses a culturally sensitive approach that integrates clients’ unique cultural backgrounds, values, and experiences into sessions. Whether it's addressing issues like racism, generational trauma, or the challenges of balancing multiple cultural identities, she provides a space where clients can feel seen and heard. While racism or discrimination won't be eradicated in just a few therapy sessions, therapy can provide a crucial space for BIPOC clients to reclaim their voice and agency and navigate life’s challenges with strength and resilience. Anjna chooses every day to make her therapeutic space one that focuses on cultural humility and sensitivity. 

• Credentials: Mental Health Counselor - Limited Permit (MHC-LP)

• Education: MA, CUNY Brooklyn College

• Specialties: Trauma, Anxiety, and Depression

• Modalities Used: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Person-Centered Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy

As a therapist, Julia works with college students and young adults just entering the workforce. Julia has been successful in helping clients find relief from painful past experiences and overcome barriers towards meeting their goals. In your work together, clients will be able to discover new insights about themselves and get to the root of their challenges. Julia's goal is to help clients regain control of their lives and see long term change.

As a Hispanic therapist, Julia works to make sure her clients feel safe and comfortable discussing the many aspects of their identities and the role their ethnicity or race has played in their lived experiences.

• Credentials: Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC)

• Education: MA, Baruch College

• Specialties: Trauma, Anxiety, Relationships, Transitions, Boundaries

• Modalities Used: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Person-Centered Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Therapy, Psychodynamic

• https://newyorkcitypsychotherapists.com/julia-laplaza-lmhc

As a therapist, Maggie works with adults in their 20s and 30s dealing with a history of unresolved pain. With a keen awareness of both individual factors and the impacts of social injustice and intersectional oppression, Maggie supports her clients on their journeys of personal growth towards true healing. Maggie utilizes mindfulness practices, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), somatic therapy, and narrative therapy to help her clients understand and reimagine past experiences, challenge negative thinking, and promote holistic healing within their minds and bodies.

Maggie is passionate about creating a nurturing and welcoming therapeutic space for every client. As a therapist, she recognizes the vital role of lived experience in the healing process and is mindful of her limitations as a white clinician, which she acknowledged in her extensive past experience working with marginalized communities, particularly undocumented trans women and Black families in the child welfare system. Prioritizing safety and client autonomy, Maggie partners with clients to explore how systemic, intergenerational, and interpersonal harm can impact mental health and well-being. Her mission is to partner with clients on their healing journey, helping them restore their sense of self, uncover their personal strengths, and cultivate peace in their body. Ultimately, she aims to empower clients to enhance their overall well-being and achieve their goals.

• Credentials: Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW)

• Education: MSW, Columbia School of Social Work

• Specialties: Trauma, Anxiety, and Depression

• Modalities Used: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Somatic Therapy, Narrative Therapy

• https://newyorkcitypsychotherapists.com/maggie-mccarthy-lmsw

As a therapist, Laina brings over 15 years of counseling experience, specializing in helping clients navigate the challenges of both historical and recent traumas, including sexual violence, as well as major life transitions. Laina's clients are often dealing with varying levels of anxiety, sadness, and disconnection, which can hinder their ability to sustain relationships, feel successful in their endeavors, set boundaries, find joy, or revel in the fullness of a life that integrates their whole self. Laina's approach focuses on helping clients understand and process their experiences, empowering them to regain control over their lives.

As a white cis queer woman, Laina acknowledges that she does not share the lived experience of racial and ethnic discrimination or generational trauma that many BIPOC individuals face. In her practice, she works with clients to explore how challenges ranging from systemic racism to interpersonal relationships and microaggressions intersect with the mental health difficulties they may be facing. Together, she uses this understanding to build a sense of empowerment in her clients’ lives. Laina aims to create a safe yet challenging space where clients can explore their feelings and understand how their unique experiences shape their sense of self and the world around them.

• Credentials: Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)

• Education: MSW, University of Albany

• Specialties: Sexual Trauma, Anxiety, and Depression

• Modalities Used: Internal Family Systems (IFS), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Schema Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Polyvagal and Somatic Experiencing

• https://newyorkcitypsychotherapists.com/laina-mason-lcsw

As a therapist, Gabby works with young adults to navigate life transitions, improve their relationship with their body and improve their body confidence, and support them in finding solace and peace of mind. In particular, Gabby works with young adults navigating life transitions, improving their relationship with themselves, and decreasing their relationship anxieties. Gabby's clients often come to her with traumatic friendships earlier in life that are impacting the way they perceive themselves and their relationships with romantic partners, colleagues, friends, and family. Gabby helps her clients break down the nuances of their adult relationships and tease out the contributing factors so that they can figure out the role they play in their own lives and decision-making, and begin to enact change in a way that brings them peace, joy, and self-assuredness.

As a therapist, Gabby prides herself on being a non-judgmental, safe space for clients to explore the many facets of their identity including race, sex, and gender. Gabby works with her clients to explore the ways oppression and systemic injustice may contribute to the mental health challenges her clients may be facing, and uses that knowledge in their work toward growth, self-esteem, and self-love.

• Credentials: Licensed Master Social Work (LMSW)

• Education: MA, Columbia University

• Specialties: Trauma, Anxiety, Self-Esteem

• Modalities Used: Somatic Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Psychodynamic, Motivational Interviewing

• https://newyorkcitypsychotherapists.com/gabriella-giachin-lmsw

As a therapist, Allie helps clients overcome negative self-talk, life transitions, relationship issues, and imposter syndrome and achieve an increased understanding of feelings, emotions, relationships, communication, and self-worth. Allie works primarily with adults having difficulty managing the stress of their relationships, career, life transitions, self-esteem, communication, and boundaries. Allie works with her clients to create a safe space, empathetic self-perception, and an inviting environment to help clients achieve their goals and build long-lasting skills.

Allie makes sure that she fosters a safe and supportive environment where clients can openly express struggles related to discrimination and marginalization. This values their lived experiences, fostering self-awareness and resilience in the face of systemic oppression. Allie helps her clients address and reframe internalized biases, improving self-esteem and mental well-being in order to enhance communication skills and build healthier relationships while navigating cultural and identity-based challenges.

• Credentials: Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC)

• Education: MA, Baruch College

• Specialties: Trauma, Anxiety, Relationships, Transitions, Boundaries

• Modalities Used: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Person-Centered Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Therapy, Psychodynamic

• https://newyorkcitypsychotherapists.com/allie-soss-lmhc

...from gender, age, religion, race, ethnicity, and languages spoken to therapeutic styles, approaches, and modalities. Looking for a Spanish speaking male therapist who focuses on trauma? We’ve got you. Want a therapist who does deep trauma work with interpersonal and domestic violence survivors? We’ve got that, too. How about a female therapist who understands what it’s like being a highly educated woman of color in a patriarchal society? Yeah, we’ve got that. 

No matter what your specific identity is, there is someone here who inherently understands what your lived experience feels like, and can combine that knowledge with their clinical expertise to design the perfect individualized treatment plan for you.

...which is why we prioritize the perfect fit above everything else. By working with our therapists, you can begin to feel more understood, learn to communicate your needs more clearly, and create happier, healthier connections with the people you care about. You'll gain tools to manage conflict, express yourself openly, and build stronger bonds, ultimately leading to a more fulfilling life. We approach our work through a culturally competent, culturally responsive, and anti-racist lens. We are an intersectional and feminist practice.

A: Our practice offers virtual therapy to help people across New York City and throughout New York state. We believe in matching the right therapist with the right client, which is why we prioritize the perfect fit above everything else. If you have a consultation with a BIPOC therapist at our practice and it isn't the right match, we have plenty more therapists who identify with various cultures, identities, and origins to match you with. When you work with us, you will begin to feel more understood, learn to communicate your needs more clearly, and create happier, healthier connections with the people you care about. Our therapists are highly skilled at listening to a bunch of jumbled thoughts and pulling out the common threads, important insights, and areas to focus on first. You don’t have to come in with anything more concrete than a desire to feel better. We’ll work with you on the rest.

A: ¡Claro que sí! Contamos con varios terapeutas de diferentes géneros que pueden realizar sesiones en español. Incluso si prefiere continuar la terapia en inglés, su terapeuta comprenderá de manera innata algunas de las referencias culturales que haga y las expectativas subconscientes que su familia y comunidad le hayan inculcado.

Yes we do! We have multiple therapists, of different genders, who can conduct sessions in Spanish. Even if you still want to conduct therapy in English, your therapist will innately understand some of the cultural references you make and subconscious expectations placed on you by your family and community.

A: Your therapist is highly skilled at listening to a bunch of jumbled thoughts and pulling out the common threads, important insights, and areas to focus on first. You don’t have to come in with anything more concrete than a desire to feel better. We’ll work with you on the rest, through a culturally responsive lens that recognizes intergenerational expectations or the messaging that you should place the community’s greater good over your own individual needs.

A: Being anti-racist means that your therapist is adept at recognizing their own biases, stigmas, or assumptions. While they are highly trained, they are also humans, and recognize that no one could ever be free of all subconscious judgments. Your therapist values your honesty as a tool for their own professional growth, so if there’s ever anything your therapist does or says that rubs you the wrong way, their job is to recognize that, hear it, and fix it going forward. Know better, do better, be better.

Each session is 45-55 minutes long, depending on frequency and other factors you will discuss with your therapist during your intake. Many people find that their insurance companies cover part of their out of pocket fees, sometimes up to 100% depending on the benefits. Therapy costs are an investment in your physical, mental, and emotional health, and investing in this now will help you reap benefits that last long beyond your sessions!

We are in network with all New York State Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Empire, Optum, Oscar, and United Health plans, and approved out of network providers for all other commercial healthcare plans. We are also in network with Aetna EAP and Spring Health EAP plans.