Alyssa Ashenfarb, LCSW
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Message from Alyssa
Hi and welcome! Allow me to help guide you towards reaching your goals through genuine therapeutic connection, warmth, and humor. My intention is to create a space safe enough for you to both explore and overcome your symptoms, as well as to help feel successful with your progress and content in your life. I am looking forward to meeting you and creating reachable goals that help you live the life you want to lead.
About Alyssa's practice
Weekdays After 5pm
Weekdays Before 9am
Weekdays 9am - 5pm
$$$
Sliding scale
Reflective
Body-based
In-person available: No
Virtual available: Yes
Romantic Life
Vulnerability
Depression
Dating
Self-Reflection
Anxiety
Self-Esteem
Trauma
Out of network providers
NY + 1 more
Why state matters
Get to Know Alyssa
"Alyssa immediately makes you feel heard, seen, and understood. She is a fantastic, supportive listener and extremely calming to be around. She is a superb therapist with incredible insight and a passion for helping people. Alyssa is particularly talented at women’s work towards healing trauma as well as increasing fulfillment and satisfaction in relationships."
Mollie Eliasof, Colleague
"Alyssa helped me get my life back, and my self back. I am so, so thankful for everything you have done with me and for me."
M, Client
"Alyssa’s enthusiasm about understanding trauma through an attachment focused and relational lens has helps her clients explore in a deep and fulfilling way, and keeps her open minded about new approaches she seeks out regularly."
Eleni Vradi, Colleague
"I finally know what I am feeling and when. It has given me so much more control over my feelings."
C, Client
What is the best part of the work for you?
The best part of the work for me is when I begin to see my clients shift towards self-kindness and compassion both consciously and unconsciously, which is shown through the change in thoughts and behaviors in everyday life.
What is unique about the work you do, or how have you found your work to be different than your colleagues'?
I use an empathetic, intentional, and direct approach with my clients. I often use humor and make sure my work is relational in nature. I make sure all of my work is biologically and neurologically informed, so that my clients can understand how the brain interprets relationships and grows from them, from childhood until now.
How do you approach diversity in the room or working with clients who may come from a different background than you?
I encourage an exploration of racial implications in the therapy room, of power dynamics that come up, and of implicit biases that may be hurtful or painful to explore. Using a trauma informed lens, a foundational part of my work is to explore what I do and do not understand about my client, as well as what feels important to them for me to learn about (whether this be ethnicity, race, religion, gender, etc). I remain culturally humble, and pay attention to small shifts in the dynamic that may indicate there is something greater that I am not understanding.
How can you tell if I am feeling stuck, unseen, or unheard?
Especially in the beginning of therapy, it can be so difficult for many clients to know or express they are feeling stuck, unseen or unheard. For this reason, I make it part of my practice to pay attention to progress in session, progress outside of session, small microshifts in expression, and subtle communications that something does not feel right. I will always bring this to the room and make it seen so my client knows I see them, and that I care to make therapy feel right.