ONE-TIME MENTAL HEALTH CONSULTATION
If you're considering therapy but aren't sure what kind of help you need, or you're already in therapy and questioning how it's going, an independent consultation can help you step back and get a clearer picture.
Request a consultation
WHEN A CONSULTATION CAN HELP
Maybe you've never been in therapy. Maybe you've tried it before without getting what you hoped for. Or perhaps you know something needs attention but don't know whether therapy is the answer, what kind of therapy might help, or where to begin.
We'll talk about what's going on, what you've tried, and what you're hoping could be different. I'll ask questions and offer a clinical perspective on what may be useful.
Therapy can be difficult to evaluate from inside the relationship. You may wonder whether you're making progress, whether you and your therapist are focusing on the right things, or whether something that feels difficult is part of useful treatment or a sign that something needs to change.
A consultation gives you a place to step outside that relationship and think it through with another experienced therapist.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE HOUR
This isn't an intake for ongoing therapy. It's a focused conversation designed to help me understand your situation well enough to offer a useful clinical perspective.
I'll want to hear what brings you in, what you've struggled with, what you've tried, and what has or hasn't helped. If you're currently in therapy, we can look together at what is happening in the treatment and what you're uncertain about.
I'll give you my impressions in straightforward language and we'll think together about possible next steps. That might mean continuing what you're doing with a different understanding of it, discussing something differently with your therapist, considering another therapeutic approach, seeking a more formal evaluation, or looking for another provider.
AN INDEPENDENT PERSPECTIVE
One reason it can be useful to speak with someone outside your current treatment is that the purpose of this meeting is consultation, not to turn it into ongoing therapy with me. My role is to understand your situation, offer my perspective, and help you think through your options.
If another therapist, a particular kind of treatment, or a more formal evaluation seems worth considering, we can discuss that too. A referral may be one outcome of the consultation, but finding you a therapist is not the sole purpose of the meeting.
UNDERSTANDING THERAPY
Therapy is easier to evaluate when you understand what different approaches are trying to accomplish, how change may happen, and what progress can look like. These guides offer a starting point without assuming that one kind of therapy is right for everyone.
Explore all the guides →
ABOUT
I'm a New York State licensed psychotherapist, founder of Affinity Psychotherapy, and a graduate of the Metropolitan Institute for Training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.
My work is grounded in the belief that understanding a person's experience matters. Symptoms, patterns, relationships, history, and the way someone experiences themselves often make more sense when considered together rather than as isolated problems to fix.
In my psychotherapy practice, I work with adults across a wide range of concerns. This consultation service grew out of a recurring problem I've seen over the years: people often know that something isn't working, but have a much harder time knowing what kind of help they need, whether the help they're receiving is working, or what to do next.
A focused consultation creates room to think about those questions without requiring you to begin another course of therapy.
PRACTICAL DETAILS
This service is a clinical consultation, not ongoing psychotherapy, psychological testing, or a formal written psychological evaluation.
REQUEST A CONSULTATION
You don't need to explain everything. A few sentences about what you'd like help thinking through is enough. I'll respond about scheduling and whether a consultation seems appropriate.
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