Find a Therapist in New Hyde Park, New York.

I welcome and foster your deep expression of joy, sadness, vulnerability, wisdom, as well as lack of clarity. When you know that you are fully accepted as yourself, and when you can fully see yourself, then you can also accept and love your full self as you truly are. By the therapy pointing to moments and narratives that are full of authenticity and feeling, and highlighting those into awareness, you can start to sense and feel areas of yourself that you had forgotten existed, or had forgotten the importance of. Through therapy you will, through ongoing open discussion and emotional connection, reclaim lost parts of yourself and as a result, live more fully and thrive.

I leverage a solution-based approach to clearly outline your primary challenge, work through an exercise to meditate on and define your future state and then work over 8 sessions to achieve it via homework and 1:1 sessions. Clients have experienced great success with this approach, my goal is to empower you - YOU have the answers and I want to help you find them.

Psychotherapy can be an effective approach when you’re feeling “stuck” with a particular life situation. It can help you better understand why you’re thinking, acting or feeling the way you do. It can be hard to make sense of our behaviors at times, and I approach psychotherapy with the goal of finding your puzzle pieces and putting them together so you can feel whole.

CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) targets maladaptive thoughts and behaviors, promoting change through cognitive restructuring and behavioral techniques. ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) focuses on reducing anxiety by gradually exposing individuals to feared stimuli without engaging in compulsive behaviors. EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) aims to strengthen emotional bonds in relationships by fostering empathy and communication skills. Each approach offers unique strategies for addressing psychological issues, empowering clients to overcome challenges and achieve greater well-being through evidence-based interventions.

As experienced, highly-credentialed clinical psychologists and couples counselors, Dr. Joel Stukalin and Dr. Sara Mandelbaum have the necessary background to conduct short-term or psychoanalystic psychotherapy with clients. This means that clients can decide to work on direct symptom-relief or more comprehensive therapy that may lead to a deeper understanding of inner-conflicts, self-aspirations and unconscious processes. In order to do our psychotherapy compassionately and effectively, Dr. Joel and Dr. Sara collaborate closely with clients to understand their initial motives and unfolding goals within the psychotherapy process. Clients often benefit from this higher standard of care.

Prioritize your wellness with psychotherapy in conjunction with medication management. Psychotherapy can offer a place to look at your current and past experiences from new perspectives and receive support as you move into the next chapter of your life. Let’s look at your wellness beyond just the biology. I want you to feel in control of your own wellness. As your doctor, I am committed to equipping you with the information you need to make clear, informed choices about your health.

Couples tell me that I am unlike most other therapists because I work in-office and don't offer teletherapy and they were grateful to find someone who believes in-office work is optimal. My clients tell me that they feel supported and comfortable in our sessions and that I have the ability to keep track of the important details of their lives. Our work pays dividends to you as you develop lifelong tools to: manage conflict, improve communication, lower stress, and reduce anxiety and depression. We will work together to help you become empowered with the confidence to take care of yourself while also “juggling” life’s commitments, resulting in you finally getting the life that you want.

Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is a powerful tool for treating a variety of mental health conditions and life challenges. It provides a safe, confidential space to express emotions, identify patterns, and gain insights into one's thoughts and behaviors. Different therapeutic approaches, tailored to the individual's needs, empower the person to manage symptoms, resolve conflicts, improve relationships, and enhance overall quality of life. By fostering self-understanding, resilience, and healthier coping strategies, psychotherapy promotes personal growth and well-being, paving the way for positive change.

When you come to me for psychotherapy, I will listen without interruption until you are ready for input. Then I ask difficult questions that make you think. If you want solutions, we work on those together. Many of my questions though are designed to help you consider your options and further self-discovery. I try not to answer your questions right away, because then it's about me, not you. I will help you to feel less frustrated and hopeful about your future.

My approach to psychotherapy is mainly insight oriented. I tend to provide a lot of insight to the client's life situations, while aslo actively listening to their situations. We work on proiritizing what is important for the client so that we can focus on the client's goals. Each client will work toward their goals in each session while establishing a theraputic relationship.

One of the most life altering actions when seeking to gain traction in the struggle to live a satisfying life is the choice to work with a therapist. It signaled a ground-breaking change in our approach to meeting the challenges we faced; demonstrating a shift that embraced the possibility of tapping into knowledge and support outside our own skull. Most of us have a better ability to see and understand the actions and motivation of others than our own. We all have personal blind spots. This is evident early in therapy, when one experiences striking progress as a result of new insights gained in therapy.

I care deeply about the people I work with and offer a personable and warm approach to psychotherapy. I integrate a variety of therapeutic techniques, including CBT and Insight Oriented Therapies, and I tailor my sessions to meet your unique needs. My clients learn coping skills to address daily stressors, and how to alter negative self-talk that exacerbates anxiety, depression, and feeling out of control of their life. I help my clients explore patterns of thoughts and behaviors, and to address the root of what is troubling them. I center our work on building a strong therapeutic relationship where clients feel at ease, and are fully seen, without fear of judgement or rejection.

Psychotherapy, or talk therapy as it is known, is the most common approach to learning about the root causes of the presenting problem. We will use psychotherapy extensively together to learn about your life and what might seem in the way of moving forward in it. Make no mistake, the barriers to moving forward to the kind of life you want to live are removable!