Specialties
Virtual Therapy for Anxiety
One of the most common reasons clients come to therapy is because stress/anxiety levels have become unmanageable. Especially in the fast-paced, hustle-obsessed environment of NYC.
Sometimes just having the space to talk out the excessive worries that are looping in your brain can help to quiet them down. When you can increase awareness of where these anxious thoughts derive, you can dig deeper into understanding them more. When you figure out where they are coming from, you can increase self-compassion, externalize and challenge those thoughts.
In therapy, you will work to notice patterns of anxiety as we assess your overall self-care routine and improve coping strategies both on the proactive and reactive level. You will learn tools to minimize panic attacks or moments of extreme heightened reactivity as well as ways to prevent getting to that point in the first place.
We believe you are a whole person not a set of symptoms to be “fixed.” By assessing the big picture of your life, we can help you to decrease stress and improve quality of life.
Virtual Therapy for Trauma
Having a trauma-informed lens as a therapist means that we are aware of and sensitive to any past traumatic experiences that could potentially be contributing to your emotional experience or behavior challenges.
Trauma does NOT have a one-size-fits-all definition, therefore there is no singular, fool-proof path to healing from it. Trauma is defined not by what happened to you, but by how the experiences you have had impact you in the day-to-day. We tend to follow a nonlinear framework of reprocessing the event or events (ex: repeated interpersonal abuse or neglect), mourning the versions/parts of you that had to go through that experience (including your expectations of what would look like if what happened had not happened) and rewriting narratives/core beliefs around the trauma.
This work is done best when you are willing & able to become aware of and understand your experiences, and there is no timeline on that process. Evidence shows us that a feeling of safety & trust is required before this work happens most effectively, so creating a warm and safe environment in therapy is my top priority.
We treat trauma both in the individual and group settings. LEL Mental Health Counseling’s support groups are specifically for female-identifying persons who have experienced one or more forms of sexual harassment, abuse or assault.
Group is a unique space where you can both give and receive advice and share support. Past and present clients often express that there is no where like group, where they can talk openly about trauma without shame and feel connected to others who “really get it.”
Virtual Eating Disorder Treatment
Our NYC eating disorder therapists work closely with individuals who have a previous history with eating disorders who are trying to maintain their healed relationship with food, as well as with individuals who are still currently experience disordered eating symptoms, body dysmorphia, or have general difficulty regulating food and exercise.
Recovering from the black-and-white, inflexible thinking is a very difficult, sometimes ongoing process so it is important to have a therapist who has understanding and compassion for the process.
Our work with individuals who struggle with food and body focuses on promoting more positive or neutral thinking about the self and challenging food/body rules that are rooted in diet culture. From a trauma-informed lens, we can also look at eating disorder behaviors as a coping mechanism that helped create a false sense of control when external circumstances felt out of control.
In addition to offering individual eating disorder therapy, Sam offers a peer led support group for ED recovery. Email: sam@leltherapy.com for more information!
It is adaptive for human beings to seek community, connection and love. But relationships are hard! In therapy, you will be asked to assess relationship patterns and history starting with your caregivers to gain insight into how your past experiences inform present interpersonal connections. If patterns that don’t serve you keep coming up in the present, you can disrupt these patterns and create new ones to increase satisfaction in your family unit, friendships and romantic connections. We will also dive into how you can foster and maintain a healthy relationship with yourself.
Exploring attachment styles and anxious/avoidant relational traps are often a part of this process, as well as increasing exposure to vulnerability and teaching effective communication tactics. Relational therapy means that we, too, are creating a unique and real relationship where you can feel free to be your authentic self without shame.
Life Transitions
If you’re experiencing a fork in the road of life, we can help you sort through your narratives of what life “should” be and strengthen your ability to listen to your intuition when making big life decisions.
Whether it’s adjusting to NYC (welcome home!), transitioning from college to the work force, looking for a new job, going through a break up, getting engaged/married, or deciding to expand a family with children, we hope to be there for you through every step of the decision process.
*Please note that in a virtual private practice setting, clinicians assess for risk and may refer a client to a higher level of care if they are presenting as a safety risk to themselves or others.
Schedule a free consultation today!
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Schedule a free consultation today! ✦