I was born and raised in northern New Jersey and trained as a psychologist across the Hudson in New York City’s hospitals, clinics, and schools. For almost twenty years, I have practiced psychology with children and adults–in New Jersey near where I grew up and in New York City near where I now live (and close to New York University where I pursued my doctoral studies in the mid 1980s and early 19
90s). Now, I am in full time private practice in Chelsea, New York City. I practice the Gestalt approach to psychotherapy–which champions an authentic therapeutic relationship and commitment to dialogue–and I have studied this approach in California, New York and abroad. I do not consider myself the “authority” who solves patients’ problems. Rather, I see myself and my patient as collaborating to unravel meaning and enhance awareness and to discover and create more effective and authentic choices. I am a proponent of Anne Isabella Ritchie’s observation, “If you give a man a fish he is hungry again in an hour. If you teach him to catch a fish you do him a good turn.”
In addition to psychotherapy, I administer neuropsychological and psychoeducational assessments of children and adults and I provide testimony in various legal settings. Over the years, I have worked with several hundred children, adolescents, and adults. I am pleased to know that people experience me as an empathic, genuine, and competent clinician who approaches his life’s work with dedication and a sense of humor. My practice is diverse and I see people of all ages and backgrounds. I am especially interested in supporting adolescents and young adults as they find their way in the city. There is little I hear that surprises me and even less that I have not heard before. I support the resiliency of those in difficult situations and I am moved when asked to be a part of their journey. I hope that you will contact me so that we can begin our work together.
~Doc JB
