Kasandra ReyesLMHC

The inspiration for becoming a therapist and starting my own practice was born during my sophomore year for college when I was struggling to stay out of academic probation. I was sitting in a Psychology 101 class, hoping for an easy ‘A,’ when the professor started talking about anxiety. In that moment it clicked, that’s what I’d been struggling with! In the process of seeking support and trying to understand what I was dealing with, I encountered so many obstacles from having to hurdle over my own bias’ to finding the right therapist. Through it all, it frustrated me that it had taken over 18 years of my life to have access to information about mental health. Thus, I got into this professions out of the desire to bring mental health information and services that are simple, high quality and accessible to the community.

I like to describe myself as a collaborative therapist. This means that I like to engage clients in every aspect of treatment from diagnosis to goal creation. I do this because while I maybe the mental health expert you are the expert on your life and it is important for me to incorporate that expertise into our treatment. Generally, our first session will be a session filled with lots of questions so that I can get to know you a bit. In our second session we will work on building a treatment plan which includes creating goals for therapy. In that session I allow you to lead your goal creation while providing feedback on potentially important goals based on what I learned in our first session. Our goals will be mutually agreed upon.

What never seizes to amaze me is how lack of connection, fear of connection, inadequate connection, and maladaptive connections with others are the most common struggles I encounter. These struggles can trigger a variety of disorders and symptoms and it is usually amplified by the feeling that we are alone in that struggle. Through this observation I've come to the conclusion that, with a decent support system we are generally capable of overcoming things that we can't even imagine.

• New York, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, 011195

Throughout my career I have worked in a variety of settings which include: non profits, foster care, and private practice. Through those experiences I've gained a lot of skill treating: mood disorders, borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders and stress related disorders. Currently the lens in which I practice therapy includes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Narrative Therapy. Please reach out if you have any questions about these therapy practices, I would love to give you more information!