Relationship Therapy in NYC
Compassionate relationship therapy for adults throughout New York City. Whether you're navigating dating, friendships, family relationships, or learning to trust people again, we're here to help you build healthier, more fulfilling connections.
Relationships Affect Everything
Living in New York City can make relationships feel even more complicated. Between demanding careers, long work hours, dating apps, and the pressure to always be doing more, it's easy for connection to become another source of stress instead of support.
Many of our clients are high-achieving adults who look like they're doing well on the outside but feel exhausted by relationship anxiety, people-pleasing, conflict, loneliness, or repeating the same patterns over and over again.
At LEL Therapy, we provide relationship therapy for adults throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, and virtually across New York State.
Maybe this feels familiar…
You're Always Thinking About What You Said
You replay conversations, worry you came across the wrong way, or spend hours wondering if someone is upset with you.
Relationships Feel Uneven
You find yourself overgiving, people-pleasing, or carrying more emotional responsibility than everyone else.
You Keep Ending Up In The Same Place
Different people. Different relationships. But somehow the ending always feels familiar.
Signs Relationship Therapy May Help
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People-Pleasing
Putting everyone else's needs first while losing sight of your own.
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Relationship Anxiety
Constantly overthinking texts, conversations, or whether someone is upset with you.
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Boundaries
Feeling guilty saying no, asking for what you need, or protecting your own energy.
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Fear of Abandonment
Feeling panicked when relationships change or worrying people will leave.
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Communication Challenges
Avoiding conflict, shutting down, or struggling to express yourself honestly.
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Attachment Patterns
Repeating the same relationship dynamics without understanding why.
Ways We Can Help
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Couples Therapy
For couples looking to improve communication, rebuild trust, strengthen intimacy, or navigate conflict together.
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Friendship Therapy
Support for friendship conflict, breakups, loneliness, people-pleasing, and building healthier platonic relationships.
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Family Relationship Therapy
Navigate complicated family dynamics, adult parent-child relationships, boundaries, estrangement, and healing old wounds.
Why Relationship Patterns Repeat
Most relationship struggles aren't random—and they aren't signs that something is "wrong" with you.
The ways we connect with others are shaped by our experiences, nervous systems, relationships, and the messages we've received throughout our lives.
Relationship patterns often develop through a combination of factors, including:
Attachment experiences
The relationships you had growing up can shape how safe, connected, or anxious relationships feel today.
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Anxiety, perfectionism & people-pleasing
Many people learn to earn love through achievement, caretaking, or avoiding conflict, even when it comes at the expense of themselves.
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Trauma & painful relationship experiences
Past betrayals, unhealthy relationships, grief, bullying, emotional neglect, or significant life events can make vulnerability feel risky.
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Family dynamics & learned roles
Many of us learned unspoken rules about relationships growing up—keeping the peace, staying quiet, taking care of everyone else, or avoiding difficult emotions.
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Culture, identity & expectations
Messages about success, gender roles, family expectations, independence, and what relationships "should" look like can quietly influence how we connect with ourselves and others.
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The good news is that relationship patterns aren't permanent. Therapy can help you understand where they came from, develop healthier ways of relating, and build relationships that feel more secure, authentic, and fulfilling.
Relationships don’t come with a manual.
Most of us are doing the best we can with what we've learned.
In this video, Lauren shares how therapy can help you understand relationship patterns, build healthier connections, and create relationships that feel safer and more fulfilling.
Our Approach to Relationship Therapy in NYC
We believe healthier relationships begin with deeper self-understanding. Our approach combines relational, attachment-focused therapy with genuine human connection, helping clients recognize patterns, communicate more clearly, and build relationships that feel safer and more authentic.
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Relational & Attachment-Focused Therapy
At LEL Therapy, we look beyond the immediate conflict and explore the patterns underneath it.
Together, we may examine how early relationships, past experiences, and attachment wounds have shaped the way you trust, connect, protect yourself, and respond when relationships feel uncertain.
The therapeutic relationship itself becomes a space to practice connection, honesty, boundaries, and repair.
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Authentic, Collaborative Therapy
You won’t find a detached “blank-slate” therapist here.
Our therapists bring warmth, humor, compassion, and their authentic selves into the room. We work collaboratively, helping you understand your experiences without judgment or shame.
Therapy should feel like a relationship with a real person who is genuinely invested in your growth. And that’s our ethos at LEL Therapy. We’re therapists who are humans and humans who are therapists.
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Communication, Boundaries & Emotional Safety
Healthy relationships do not require perfect communication or constant harmony.
We help clients identify their needs, express themselves more honestly, navigate conflict, and set boundaries that protect their emotional wellbeing.
The goal is not to avoid every difficult conversation. It is to feel more secure and capable when those conversations happen.
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Trauma-Informed, Values-Based Care
Relationship patterns often overlap with trauma, anxiety, perfectionism, people-pleasing, identity, and difficult family experiences.
Our therapists use trauma-informed and evidence-based approaches to help you understand what has shaped your relationships while creating new patterns that align with your values.
We support you in building relationships that feel less driven by fear, guilt, or old expectations—and more grounded in who you are now.
Many of our clients are:
Dating after heartbreak
Navigating friendship changes
Learning healthier boundaries
Recovering from toxic relationships
Healing family relationships
Building secure attachments
Many people spend years believing they're “bad at relationships.” More often, they're repeating patterns that once helped them feel safe. Therapy can help you understand those patterns—and begin creating healthier ones..
THERAPISTS WHO ARE HUMAN + HUMANS WHO ARE THERAPISTS
Meet Our NYC Relationship Therapists
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Kiana Kohr, MHC-1
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MJ Falcon Gimenez, LMHC
LICENSED THERAPIST
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Sophia Witheiler, LMHC
LICENSED THERAPIST
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Sam Mauser, LMSW
CLINICAL DIRECTOR
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Caroline Kirby, LMFT
CLINIAL SUPERVISOR
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Brooke Thomas, MHC-LP
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Lauren Larkin, LMHC
FOUNDER
Lauren is not currently accepting new therapy clients.
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Not at all. Many of our clients come to therapy while single. There is a misconception that relationship is just about romantic partners. Relationship therapy starts with understanding how you relate to yourself and the people in your life.
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Absolutely. Many relationship patterns develop for understandable reasons. Therapy can help you recognize those patterns, understand where they come from, and begin making different choices without blaming yourself.
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Yes. Many people know what they want to say but feel guilty saying it. Therapy can help you identify your needs, communicate them more confidently, and tolerate the discomfort that sometimes comes with change.
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Absolutely. Friendship breakups, conflict, loneliness, and difficulty making or maintaining friendships can all be important parts of relationship therapy.
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Many clients come to therapy specifically to navigate complicated family dynamics, childhood wounds, difficult parents, sibling relationships, or establishing healthier boundaries with family members.
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Yes. We provide virtual relationship therapy for adults throughout New York State.
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Our role isn't to make decisions for you. Instead, we'll help you better understand yourself, your values, your needs, and your relationship dynamics so you can make decisions that feel authentic and aligned.
Frequently Asked Questions
We provide relationship therapy for clients throughout:
Manhattan
Brooklyn
Staten Island
Upper East Side
Upper West Side
Chelsea
Williamsburg
Long Island
Queens
Bronx
Midtown
Tribeca
and virtually throughout New York State.
You Deserve Relationships That Feel Safe.
Healthy relationships are possible — they’re built through trust, communication, boundaries, and self-understanding. All of those are skills that can be learned.
Schedule a consultation and see whether relationship therapy at LEL feels like the next right step.
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