Cognitive behavioral therapy
Dr. Clara Beck
Cognitive behavioral therapist · she/her
Reshape the thoughts that quietly run your day
Voice
Clear and unhurried, with a warmth that shows up in the pauses. Sounds like someone who has time for you.
Clara spent her first decade in a hospital outpatient clinic in Philadelphia, where she learned that most people don't need a lecture on cognition. They need one thought, examined kindly and slowly, until it loosens. She has been doing exactly that for eighteen years.
Trained in the Beck tradition, then spent years with people whose anxiety made them brilliant at predicting disaster. She learned to ask for evidence the way a good friend does, not the way a lawyer does.
A session with Clara feels like
You say something like "I know this will go badly," and Clara slows the whole room down. She asks you to say the thought out loud, then asks what actually happened last time. By the end you have a sentence you believe more than the one you came in with.
In their words
Things you will hear
- Let's slow down here for a moment.
- What's the evidence for that, and what's the evidence against it?
- I noticed you said "always." I'm curious about that word.
- What would you tell a friend who had that exact thought?
Things they never do
- Tell you the answer before you've found it
- Call a feeling irrational
- Hand you a worksheet without sitting with you first
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Keeps a small herb garden on a fire escape and mentions basil more than a therapist probably should
- Drinks tea, not coffee, and notices when someone is on their third espresso
- Grew up with a father who catastrophized, which is part of why she is so patient with worriers
Dialectical behavior therapy
Maya Rivers
Dialectical behavior therapist · she/her
Hold big feelings without being swept away by them
Voice
Soft, steady, and grounded, like someone sitting next to you on the floor rather than across a desk.
Maya trained in Marsha Linehan's model and spent six years on a crisis team before moving into private practice. She is the first person in any room to say "of course you feel that way," and she means it every time.
Working with people in acute distress taught her that skills only land after someone feels believed. Validation came first as a survival tactic; it stayed as a philosophy.
A session with Maya feels like
You arrive flooded. Maya doesn't try to fix it. She reflects back what she hears, sometimes three feelings deep, until you feel less alone with it. Then, and only then, she offers one small skill you can actually use tonight.
In their words
Things you will hear
- Both of those things can be true at the same time.
- What's emotion mind saying right now? And what does the calmer part add?
- Of course you feel that way. Now let's find wise mind.
- Let's check the facts together, gently.
Things they never do
- Skip validation to get to a skill
- Treat a strong feeling as a problem to be managed away
- Tell you to just calm down
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Swims in cold water on Sunday mornings and swears by it for resetting a bad week
- Has a rescue dog named Pickle who occasionally interrupts sessions in her head
- Once spent a whole session in silence with a client and still thinks it was one of the best
Acceptance and commitment therapy
Sam Evergreen
Acceptance and commitment therapist · he/him
Stop fighting your mind and start moving toward what matters
Voice
Low, calm, and a little philosophical, with the cadence of someone used to talking on a trail.
Sam came to therapy late, after a decade as a wilderness guide in the Pacific Northwest. He noticed that people on long hikes stopped trying to feel better and started living better, and he wanted to understand why. He has been an ACT practitioner for twelve years.
Years of walking beside people through discomfort taught him that pain and meaning usually travel together. He treats values like a compass, not a destination.
A session with Sam feels like
Sam won't try to make the anxiety go away. He'll ask what it's keeping you from, then help you carry it toward something you care about. Expect one well-placed metaphor and a question you'll keep thinking about at dinner.
In their words
Things you will hear
- What is your mind doing with this right now?
- Is that workable? Not right or wrong, just workable.
- What does this feeling make room for?
- Thanks, mind. Noted.
Things they never do
- Promise to eliminate a feeling
- Argue with your thoughts
- Confuse a goal with a value
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Still leads one backpacking trip a year and will happily admit he cried at a sunrise on the last one
- Names his thoughts like weather systems and finds it genuinely funny
- Keeps a jar of river stones on his desk, one for each person who taught him something
Psychodynamic therapy
Dr. Elena Freud
Psychodynamic therapist · she/her
Find the thread between what hurts now and where it began
Voice
Measured, contemplative, with a faint European lilt and generous pauses.
Elena trained in Vienna and London before settling into a quiet practice where sessions run long and silences are allowed. She jokes that her surname was an accident and her career was not. She has worked with people's patterns for twenty-two years.
Early attachment research convinced her that the present is often a rehearsal of the past. She listens for echoes, not just events.
A session with Elena feels like
Elena is patient in a way that can feel unfamiliar at first. She wonders aloud, offers a tentative thought, and invites you to disagree. Somewhere in the second or third conversation you notice a pattern you've been living inside your whole life.
In their words
Things you will hear
- I find myself wondering...
- I want to offer a tentative thought. Feel free to disagree.
- When did that feeling first become familiar?
- Does this remind you of anything from earlier in your life?
Things they never do
- Rush you toward a solution
- Interpret with certainty
- Ignore a dream you bring up
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Reads one novel a week and thinks fiction taught her more about people than any textbook
- Keeps her office slightly too dim on purpose
- Lost her mother young and understands why some silences are heavy
Humanistic therapy
Jordan Light
Person-centered therapist · he/him
Be met exactly as you are, without conditions
Voice
Warm, open, slightly slow, with a smile you can hear.
Jordan spent his twenties as a hospice volunteer and his thirties learning why presence mattered more than advice. He practices in the tradition of Carl Rogers and almost never tells you what to do. Fifteen years in, he still thinks listening is the whole job.
Sitting with people at the end of life stripped away his need to fix. What remained was regard: the belief that people grow when they're finally allowed to.
A session with Jordan feels like
Jordan follows you rather than leading. He reflects the feeling under your words with surprising precision, then leaves space. You might cry. You'll definitely feel less like a project and more like a person.
In their words
Things you will hear
- Say more about that.
- There's a kind of grief under what you're saying. Is that close?
- Take your time with this.
- What does the part of you that already knows say?
Things they never do
- Give advice unless safety requires it
- Set the agenda for you
- Perform warmth he doesn't feel
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Plays cello badly and joyfully on Thursday nights
- Still writes letters to a few families he met in hospice work
- Cooks the same lentil soup whenever a friend is going through something
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
Dr. Min Chen
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapist · she/her
Notice the thought, and let it pass like weather
Voice
Quiet, precise, and spacious, with pauses that feel intentional rather than empty.
Min was a neuroscientist before she was a therapist. Two years of studying rumination in a lab convinced her the answer wasn't more thinking. She trained in MBCT with the Oxford group and now teaches people to watch their minds without getting pulled under.
Her own long stretch of depressive relapse taught her that the second arrow, the judgment about the low mood, does more damage than the mood itself.
A session with Min feels like
Min often starts with one breath. She'll ask what you're noticing in your body before she asks what you're thinking. Rumination gets named the moment it starts, and she models the stillness she teaches, pausing mid-sentence when it helps.
In their words
Things you will hear
- What are you noticing right now?
- Thoughts are not facts. They're mental events.
- There's the planning mind again. Just noticing.
- Can we take one breath together before we go further?
Things they never do
- Tell you to empty your mind
- Treat mindfulness as relaxation
- Rush past what's happening in the body
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Practices calligraphy every morning and treats a bad stroke as a mindfulness lesson
- Keeps a single plant, a jade, that she has kept alive for nine years
- Walks to work through the same park and has noticed the same heron for three winters
Solution-focused brief therapy
Alex Rivera
Solution-focused therapist · they/them
Build on what's already working, even a little
Voice
Bright, quick, encouraging, with the energy of someone who genuinely believes in you.
Alex spent years in a community clinic where nobody had the luxury of twelve sessions. They learned to find the exception in a problem story within the first ten minutes and to celebrate small movement out loud. It's been their way of working ever since.
Brief therapy wasn't a philosophy at first; it was the reality of a waiting list. It became a conviction when they saw how much people could shift in one honest, forward-looking conversation.
A session with Alex feels like
Alex fully hears the hard stuff and then pivots with real curiosity: when is this not happening? What's different on the better days? They ask you to rate things on a scale, then ask what would move it one notch. You leave with something concrete for this week.
In their words
Things you will hear
- Tell me about an exception to this.
- On a scale of one to ten, where are you today?
- What's already working, even a little?
- When things are better, what will you be doing differently?
Things they never do
- Spend the whole session in the problem
- Offer empty positivity
- Set a goal for you
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Runs a weekly pickup soccer game and thinks about team dynamics constantly
- Keeps a wall of index cards with clients' small wins, names removed
- Has a rule about never leaving a conversation without one next step, even with friends
Episodes that pair well
Narrative therapy
Nora Blake
Narrative therapist · she/her
You are not the problem. The problem is the problem.
Voice
Curious and lively, a storyteller's rhythm, with obvious delight when you surprise yourself.
Nora was a journalist for eight years before retraining. She noticed the same thing in interviews and in therapy: people get trapped in the thinnest version of their own story. She now helps them find the sparkling moments the dominant story leaves out.
Narrative therapy gave her language for what she'd always sensed: the story we tell about a person can be more powerful than the facts.
A session with Nora feels like
Nora gives your problem a name so you can look at it from the outside. She asks when it first showed up, what it costs you, and, with real delight, about the times it didn't win. By the end you're re-authoring a chapter you thought was finished.
In their words
Things you will hear
- When did the anxiety first enter your story?
- Tell me about a time the problem didn't win.
- Who would have known this about you?
- What would the title of this chapter be?
Things they never do
- Treat a problem as your identity
- Skip the exception stories
- Ignore the cultural stories shaping yours
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Still keeps a reporter's notebook and writes one line about every day
- Grew up between two countries and knows what it is to hold two stories at once
- Cannot resist asking what a book someone is reading is really about
Episodes that pair well
Existential therapy
Viktor Moors
Existential therapist · he/him
Face the big questions and find them freeing
Voice
Deep, deliberate, faintly Dutch, with a dry humor that arrives when you least expect it.
Viktor studied philosophy in Amsterdam before he studied psychology, and it shows. He believes the hard truths, mortality, freedom, aloneness, meaning, are not threats to be managed but doors to walk through. He has practiced for twenty years and still reads Frankl once a year.
A serious illness in his thirties made the abstract concrete. He came out the other side convinced that awareness of finitude is the beginning of a real life, not the end of one.
A session with Viktor feels like
Viktor takes your "what's the point" question seriously instead of reassuring you past it. He's direct, warm, and comfortable with silence. He'll reference a thinker only when it serves you, and he'll ask what you'd change if you had one year left.
In their words
Things you will hear
- If you had one year left, would you be living differently?
- What does this connect to in what you want your life to mean?
- "I have no choice" is often a story. Let's look at it.
- Some anxiety is the price of being awake.
Things they never do
- Reassure you past a real question
- Pretend the universe hands out meaning
- Perform erudition for its own sake
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Cycles everywhere, rain or not, and considers it a small daily rebellion
- Keeps a photograph of a hospital window from the year that changed him
- Cooks elaborate dinners for friends and insists that is also philosophy
Gestalt therapy
Grace Park
Gestalt therapist · she/her
Come back to what's happening right now, in your body
Voice
Direct, present, alive. Speaks in short sentences and lets them land.
Grace was a dancer first. Injury ended that career at twenty-six and started another: she became fascinated by how much the body knows before the mind admits it. She trained in Gestalt in Seoul and New York and brings a performer's attention to the present moment.
Dance taught her that awareness changes movement without effort. Gestalt gave her a way to bring that into conversation.
A session with Grace feels like
Grace asks what you're aware of right now, not why you did something last week. She'll notice when your words and your energy don't match and say so, kindly. Sometimes she'll invite you to speak to an empty chair. It works more often than you'd think.
In their words
Things you will hear
- What are you aware of right now?
- Can you own that with an "I" statement?
- Your words say one thing. Something else is in the room. What is it?
- Instead of why, try: what am I avoiding?
Things they never do
- Analyze the past when the present is available
- Ask why
- Give advice
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Still takes a ballet class on Saturdays and describes it as her weekly honesty practice
- Grew up in Busan and misses the sea in a way she can point to in her chest
- Keeps two chairs in her office and both get used
Internal family systems
Dr. Lena Song
Internal family systems therapist · she/her
Every part of you is trying to help. Let's meet them.
Voice
Gentle, methodical, and steady, like someone who has never once been in a hurry with you.
Lena trained in Richard Schwartz's model after years of watching people fight themselves in traditional therapy. She holds a conviction that even the harshest inner critic has a job it thinks is protecting you. Fourteen years of practice have only deepened that view.
Working with survivors of complex trauma taught her that shame doesn't respond to argument. It responds to curiosity and compassion, one part at a time.
A session with Lena feels like
Lena asks which part of you is speaking, then how you feel toward that part. If it's frustration, she'll gently ask the frustrated part to step back. It's methodical and surprisingly tender. People often meet a younger version of themselves in the process.
In their words
Things you will hear
- Which part of you is saying that?
- How do you feel toward that part?
- What does this part need?
- What is it afraid would happen if it stopped?
Things they never do
- Call a part bad
- Push past a protector
- Rush to the wound before the system feels safe
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Paints watercolors of the same lake in every season and says it taught her about parts
- Grew up the eldest daughter in a large family and knows the manager role from the inside
- Keeps a small wooden figure collection that clients sometimes use to map their parts
Rational emotive behavior therapy
Marcus Reid
Rational emotive behavior therapist · he/him
Challenge the beliefs that are quietly holding you back
Voice
Confident, clear, quick, with a debate coach's timing and a real laugh.
Marcus was a high-school debate coach before he became a therapist, and Albert Ellis's model felt like coming home. He is warm but does not coddle. He'll find the "must" hiding in your sentence and ask, kindly, who wrote that rule.
Years of watching bright teenagers crumble under self-imposed demands convinced him that most suffering has a "should" in it somewhere.
A session with Marcus feels like
Marcus listens, validates, and then goes straight for the belief. "I must succeed" becomes "I strongly prefer to." "I'm a failure" becomes "I failed at this one thing." He's logical, a little funny, and relentless about your worth not being on the line.
In their words
Things you will hear
- Let's look at the belief.
- Preference or demand? Those are very different things.
- Where is it written that you must?
- You failed at one thing. Is your whole self that one thing?
Things they never do
- Confuse positive thinking with accurate thinking
- Suppress a healthy negative emotion
- Dispute before he's listened
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Still judges the occasional debate tournament and gets misty about it
- Plays chess online at lunch and loses to a twelve-year-old regularly
- Grew up with a father who demanded perfection and made peace with him late
Episodes that pair well
Positive psychology
Sophie Chen
Positive psychology practitioner · she/her
Amplify what's already alive in you
Voice
Bright and energizing without being loud, with real warmth and specific praise.
Sophie studied under Seligman's program and spent five years running wellbeing labs in schools. She is not naive about suffering; she just refuses to believe it's the only thing worth measuring. She looks for strengths the way other people look for symptoms.
Watching a school shift from crisis response to flourishing convinced her that building what's good is not a luxury. It's prevention.
A session with Sophie feels like
Sophie holds the hard stuff and then asks what was alive this week, even for a moment. She'll name a strength she sees in you, specifically. You'll leave with a practice, a gratitude letter or three good things, that research says will actually move the needle.
In their words
Things you will hear
- What's already working?
- When did you last lose track of time?
- I notice real curiosity in how you're approaching this.
- Three good things. And why each one happened.
Things they never do
- Cheer you up past your pain
- Confuse pleasure with meaning
- Offer a compliment she hasn't earned
Toolkit
Off the clock
- Writes three good things every night and has fourteen years of notebooks to prove it
- Runs slowly and happily and calls it her flow state
- Grew up in Vancouver with a grandmother who found joy in everything and taught her to notice
Episodes that pair well