8 NYC Stress Therapists Now Accepting Clients 

When stress starts affecting not only your mental life but begins interfering with your  sleep, relationships, focus, or preventing you from experiencing joy, it may be time for additional support. Although stress is largely considered “normal” in our society, with 75% of Americans feeling the effects of stress, it doesn’t make it any less difficult. A stress therapist in NYC can help you better understand what is driving internal and external pressures and develop practical ways to manage your stress. The Midtown Practice currently has eight clinicians accepting new clients.

Who we work with

Stress can show up differently depending on your responsibilities, relationships, and stage of life. At The Midtown Practice, we work with clients facing many kinds of pressure, including:

• Young professionals managing demanding careers in law, finance, medicine, tech, or consulting.
• Adults adjusting to major life changes, including moves, promotions, breakups, weddings, or new parenthood.
• Adolescents and college students dealing with academic, social, or family stress.
• Creatives, performers, and professionals in public-facing roles.
• Parents balancing caregiving with work and other responsibilities.
• People experiencing physical symptoms of stress, such as insomnia, headaches, or digestive issues.
• People who struggle with boundaries, overcommitment, or people-pleasing.

Wherever your stress is coming from, we can help match you with a clinician whose experience fits your needs.

Holly Alderman

I work with adults, couples, and families who want to understand how stress is affecting both their individual well-being and their relationships. My post-graduate training at the Ackerman Institute for the Family gives me a strong relational lens, while advanced training in ACT, CBT, DBT, and EFT allows me to tailor treatment to you. If stress is showing up alongside parenting challenges, relationship strain, anxiety, or a major life transition, I offer a collaborative approach that addresses the whole picture.

• Offers stress therapy ✓
• Credentials: Licensed Clinical Social Worker #088473
• Specialty Areas: Relational and family stress, parenting challenges, couples work, life transitions, anxiety, depression, identity exploration
• Location:  18 East 48th Street, Suites 1104 and 1202 Midtown East, Manhattan
• Virtual Therapy?: Yes

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Kate Ballen

I work with adults, couples, and parents whose stress is often tied to ambition, relationships, parenting, and major life transitions. What sets my work apart is the perspective I bring from careers in journalism and screenwriting, where deadlines, criticism, and performance pressure were part of everyday life. I also spent more than a decade leading parent groups at Barnard College. That combination helps me understand stress not just clinically, but from firsthand experience with high expectations, creative pressure, and the demands of parenting.

• Offers stress therapy ✓
• Credentials: Licensed Master Social Worker #126799
• Specialty Areas: Career pressure and performance stress, parenting stress, relationship difficulties, life transitions, couples
• Location: 18 East 48th Street, Suites 1104 and 1202 Midtown East, Manhattan
• Virtual Therapy?: Yes

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Chrissie Brewer

I work with adolescents, young adults, and adults whose stress may be connected to anxiety, ADHD, mood concerns, major life transitions, or lifestyle factors such as sleep and nutrition. As a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, I can look beyond stress symptoms alone. My holistic approach combines psychotherapy-informed care, CBT, DBT, mindfulness, and, when appropriate, medication management to create a treatment plan that considers the whole person.

• Offers stress therapy ✓
• Credentials: Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner-Board Certified (ANCC board-certified)
• Specialty Areas: Child, adolescent, and young adult stress; ADHD; mood and anxiety disorders; school refusal; PTSD; medication management combined with therapeutic skill-building
• Location:  18 East 48th Street, Suites 1104 and 1202 Midtown East, Manhattan
• Virtual Therapy?: Yes

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Karen Franklin

I work with adults whose stress may be connected to long-standing patterns, relationship difficulties, grief, trauma, or major life transitions. With more than two decades of clinical experience, I offer something beyond short-term coping strategies: I combine practical CBT and DBT tools with psychodynamic work that explores what may be driving the stress underneath. I’m also bilingual in English and Spanish and bring a culturally aware perspective to therapy, allowing me to tailor treatment to each person’s background and needs.

• Offers stress therapy ✓
• Credentials: Licensed Clinical Social Worker #100938
• Specialty Areas: Chronic stress and long-standing patterns, depression, anxiety, trauma-related symptoms, relationship issues, life transitions
• Location:  18 East 48th Street, Suites 1104 and 1202 Midtown East, Manhattan
• Virtual Therapy?: Yes

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Jane Ray

I work with adolescents and adults whose stress may be rooted in trauma, major life disruptions, or high-pressure creative environments. What distinguishes my work is my specialized trauma training. I’m certified in both Cognitive Processing Therapy and EMDR and spent years treating trauma survivors at The New York Foundling. I also bring firsthand experience as a trained performer and martial artist, which gives me a unique perspective on resilience, performance pressure, and helping clients feel more grounded under stress.

• Offers stress therapy ✓
• Credentials: Licensed Mental Health Counselor #011571
  Specialty Areas: Trauma and PTSD, adolescents (middle school through college), artists and creative professionals, anxiety, depression, adjustment and identity
• Location:  18 East 48th Street, Suites 1104 and 1202 Midtown East, Manhattan
• Virtual Therapy?: Yes

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Shira Lee Silver

I work primarily with adults in their twenties and thirties who feel stretched by career decisions, relationships, family conflict, grief, or questions about what they want next. My extensive training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps distinguish my approach. Rather than focusing only on reducing stress, we look at whether your daily life reflects what matters most to you. I also integrate CBT, DBT, psychodynamic therapy, mindfulness, and relational work to create treatment that is flexible and individualized.

• Offers stress therapy ✓
• Credentials: Licensed Clinical Social Worker #084692
• Specialty Areas: Young adult stress, anxiety and panic, relationship and family conflict, career challenges, grief and bereavement
• Location: 18 East 48th Street, Suites 1104 and 1202 Midtown East, Manhattan
• Virtual Therapy?: Yes

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Jared Sossin

I work with adults and couples whose stress is tied to anxiety, burnout, perfectionism, career pressure, or feeling constantly overstimulated. What sets my approach apart is my background as both a therapist and meditation teacher: I bring more than a decade of mindfulness practice into evidence-based work with ACT, existential therapy, and ERP. I also pay close attention to modern sources of stress, including screen time, digital overwhelm, and attention fatigue, so that therapy reflects the pressures you’re actually navigating day-to-day.

• Offers stress therapy ✓
• Credentials: Licensed Mental Health Counselor #017902
• Specialty Areas: Burnout, career and identity stress, mindfulness and meditation training, anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, screen time and overstimulation, couples
• Location:  18 East 48th Street, Suites 1104 and 1202 Midtown East, Manhattan
• Virtual Therapy?: Yes

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Esmé Stern

I work with adults and adolescents, particularly young adults navigating stress around identity, relationships, life transitions, and the pressure to have their future figured out. My approach stands out for its strong mind-body focus. I integrate psychodynamic therapy with CBT, mindfulness, somatic approaches, and specialized trauma training in EMDR, AEDP, and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. My previous career in media and journalism also gives me firsthand insight into the demands facing people in creative and public-facing fields.

• Offers stress therapy ✓
• Credentials: Licensed Master Social Worker #127703
• Specialty Areas: Young adult and emerging adulthood stress, somatic stress responses, anxiety, depression, relational difficulties, identity development
• Location:  18 East 48th Street, Suites 1104 and 1202 Midtown East, Manhattan
• Virtual Therapy?: Yes

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