Bridget KuzmaLCAT

The work we do together will be based on your goals and if you are not sure where to start, we will work together to discover what needs care and attention one session at a time. You will be in control and be provided choices throughout each session about how we work and what we focus on. My approach is transparent and collaborative. I would love to serve you and walk together through in whatever you are experiencing. Together we will explore what fosters and honors a deep and fulfilling life for you. I will frequently check in to see how your are doing during a given topic, creative or physical experience to ensure that we move at the pace that is right for you. This supports safety and helps us avoid risking re-traumatization or dissociation. A key tool in this process will be practicing mindful awareness of how you are feeling physically throughout each session. This is for everyone and does not require any prior experience in somatic or creative therapies. The inherent wisdom of the body will be something we get familiar with together and practice trusting as it can offer much guidance towards healing and growth. Often clients that have struggled with finding relief through traditional talk therapies experience long-term emotional, psychological and physical symptoms shifting and improving in response to these modalities. The approaches I use facilitate holistic healing through involving your senses and creativity in a way that responds to the latest research about how trauma can live on in the body as well as relational neuroscience for creating missing experiences that may be contributing to keeping you stuck. You can experience joy and thrive.

If you have been discouraged in seeking support through talk therapy, the creative and body-based approaches I specialize in may be the key to clearing away barriers keeping you from being fully alive and present in your life. Our first session will be for discussing your priorities, answering any questions you may have and checking out what direction feels right for you to begin. If there is something you want to jump right into processing and working on the first session, that is an option with the condition it not be a matter that involves great risk or sensitivity. I want to be sure to know you well enough to provide the right kind of support while we navigate and compassionately explore the inner and outer landscapes of your precious life! Every session will involve simple beginning and ending rituals that we will co-create and adjust as needed to provide space to become present and closure to promote comfort as you continue your day after our sessions. Often a component of closing our sessions each week will include identifying practices, resources and ideas to enhance your life between sessions.

• New York, Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, 002575-01

My expertise includes certification in trauma treatment approaches designed to unlock chronic emotional, physical and psychological symptoms that do not respond to talk therapy alone. This is because much trauma lives in the body and our pre-frontal cortex (talking and thinking) cannot access the root of what is causing us pain or preventing our growth. My overall professional experiences pre becoming a therapist includes over 15 years supporting individuals facing serious and chronic medical conditions at the National Institutes of Health. In my recent clinical work at Mount Sinai Hospital’s award winning Palliative Care Department I provided individual and family therapy primarily related to grief, coping with death and dying, anxiety, depression, PTSD and building space for safety, expression and restorative connection as patient’s coped with on-going exposure to the stressors of serious illness and hospitalization. This work included providing crisis support virtually to patients and families throughout the surge of the pandemic in NYC. My personal journey of growth and healing naturally informs and inspires my work. For me this means doing the work to ensure you receive quality ethical services from me as a therapist. My own self-care includes having a therapist, 12-step recovery, experience as a client in various therapeutic modalities and continually participating in new trainings based on the latest effective treatments. If 12-step recovery is an important part of your life, I can relate and ‘speak that language.’