Hi. I’m Melissa
I am passionate about helping clients work through shame, build self-trust, and feel more grounded, confident, and authentic in their lives.
Finding the right therapist in New York City can feel overwhelming. I’ve often thought there should be therapist speed-dating events—quick introductions to help you find someone who feels like a fit. That connection is essential for feeling safe, understood, and meaningful.
Once you find a therapist who seems like a good fit, therapy can give you a sense of hope, but it can also stir up vulnerability — fear, self-doubt, even shame. We can experience intense feelings of shame when we open up about our fears, shortcomings, and losses. I aim to create a space where those feelings aren’t so isolating. Where you can be real about what’s hurting and feel deeply understood as we sort through it together.
I am not a stranger to pain or shame, and I know how much it matters to feel met with warmth, understanding, and care. I want to listen closely and deeply to your story and to guide our time together in a way that helps you heal and work toward meaningful change.
My private office is centrally located in Manhattan, in the neighborhood of Murray Hill, not far from Grand Central Station. Scroll down to see more details about my background.
My Approach to Therapy
I believe therapy is a place where you can bring your full self — your doubts, longings, contradictions, and questions — and be met with warmth and curiosity. I strive to create a space where you feel truly heard and understood, where there’s room to explore both your pain and your potential.
I work relationally, meaning the quality of our connection matters. I bring presence, compassion, and close attention to what you're saying — and what might not be said out loud yet. While I won't tell you how to live your life, I will ask thoughtful questions, share observations, and offer support in making sense of what’s going on beneath the surface.
This is collaborative work. I don’t sit silently. I engage with you. My aim is to help you feel safe enough to go deeper, and supported enough to grow
Some people are curious about the theoretical frameworks that guide my work. Here’s a brief overview of the approaches I draw from most often.
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Psychodynamic therapy is in my opinion one of the most deeply healing types of therapy. My training leans toward the interpersonal psychoanalytic psychotherapy approach. This means we seek to clarify the meanings you make out of your experiences, why you think, feel, and respond the way you do, and how you’ve come to understand why you are the way you are. We identify how events, perhaps very early in your life, have contributed to ongoing feelings of pain, loss, or patterns you wish would change. We explore what about these ways of being are working or not working for you. By processing these experiences and meanings, we determine together whether acceptance or change is necessary. The therapeutic relationship is central to this process. My experiences of you can help us better understand or uncover “blind spots” that might not be readily apparent.
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Feminist therapy is for everyone, not just women. This type of therapy is so valuable for recognizing the social systems that affect and influence our lives and how we see ourselves. Socioeconomic status, ethnicity, religion, race, gender and other characteristics shape our experience in the world and can play an important role in the strengths and weaknesses we embody and the challenges we face. It can be extremely important to appreciate and understand how our positions in the world have affected our experiences because sometimes the problem is not you, the problem is the social system within which we all exist. When that is the case, we need to determine how that understanding might change or affect the way you are responding or living within that system.
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Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a set of tools that can assist you in making some change now. It focuses on learning and practicing new skills to adjust behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. I find that some people respond very positively to CBT while others are much more interested in gaining deeper insights into who they are and why they are the way they are (a more psychodynamic approach).
My Education and Experience
I earned my master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from St. John’s University here in New York and am licensed in New York (Lic. #007138), California (Lic. #16249), and Florida (Lic. #MH22926). Before entering private practice, I worked in the NYC Department of Health STD clinics, offering therapy to individuals dealing with a wide range of concerns — including sexual health diagnoses, sexual assault, trauma, compulsive behaviors, substance use disorders, dating difficulties, and sexual identity and gender-related struggles.
I’ve completed additional postgraduate training in Eating Disorders, Compulsions, and Addictions, and in Intensive Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy through the William Alanson White Institute. I’m also currently training in Sex Therapy through the Sexual Health Alliance.
More than anything, I believe in meeting people with presence, care, and curiosity — and offering a space that’s informed, collaborative, and attuned to the nuances of each person’s story.
Have More Questions?
There are answers to additional questions at my FAQs page. If you don't see your question listed there, please contact me here.
If something in my approach resonates with you, I’d be glad to talk more. I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation so we can see if it feels like a good fit.
Therapy is a commitment that takes courage, especially if you want deep and lasting change. I hope you will allow me to accompany you on that journey.
COUNSELING SERVICES - WHO I HELP
You may look like you’re holding it all together — but inside, you feel anxious, stuck, or uncertain about how to move forward. Maybe you're tired of overthinking, tired of performing, tired of feeling like it’s all on you. In therapy, we’ll create space for you—your real feelings and your real thoughts and worries about what is going on. Together, we can explore the deeper patterns that affect your self-worth, relationships, sexuality, and confidence — and help you reconnect with or define your values so you can move forward with more clarity, agency, and trust in yourself.
A herpes diagnosis can feel isolating, overwhelming, and disorienting. But it doesn't have to define you. I offer a compassionate space to process the shock, shame, and confusion — and to help you reconnect with your sense of self, sexuality, and self-worth. Whether this is all new or something you’ve been quietly carrying for years, you don’t have to face it alone.
Learn more about counseling for women with herpes, counseling for men with herpes, or the therapy group for women with herpes.
Sexuality is deeply personal — and often layered with thoughts, feelings, fears, and desires we’ve never spoken aloud. You may be struggling with low desire, pain during sex, difficulty achieving orgasm, performance anxiety, or changes related to perimenopause or menopause. You may simply want to understand yourself more fully. I offer a supportive, nonjudgmental space to explore these concerns at your own pace — wherever you are in your journey.