Anxiety Therapist in Brooklyn
Anxiety Therapy in Brooklyn: When Thinking Harder Stops Helping
Depth-oriented anxiety therapy in Park Slope and online across New York, for high-functioning people whose minds will not switch off.
Request a Private Consultation
Anxiety Therapy That Asks What Your Anxiety Is Protecting
Most approaches to anxiety start with one question: how do we make it quieter? It is a reasonable hope, and sometimes, for a while, it works. I start somewhere else: what is your anxiety protecting you from? Worry is rarely random. It stands guard against something - disappointment, exposure, stillness, a feeling waiting underneath.
Anxiety also often begins as something else entirely: energy that could move in any number of directions, labeled as anxiety so quickly that we never learn what it wanted to become. When we slow that moment down, the question changes from how do I get rid of this to what is this asking of me. That is where the work begins.
Therapy for High-Functioning Anxiety in NYC
High-functioning anxiety rarely looks like anxiety. It looks like competence - deadlines met, people cared for, a life that works on paper. Inside, it is ruminative: the same loop, rehearsed at 2am and on the walk to the train, no closer to resolution for all the effort. You cannot think your way out of a loop whose favorite tool is thinking.
Therapy helps interrupt what willpower alone cannot. And it goes a step further. The states you actually want - presence, gratitude, openness - are harder to inhabit than the worry you know. Part of the work is understanding what it is about those states that some part of you resists. Anxiety is the easier place to live. It does not have to stay the only one.
What Anxiety Therapy in Brooklyn Helps With
Anxiety is rarely contained to one corner of a life, so addressing it tends to raise the quality of everything it touched. In person in Park Slope, Brooklyn, or online across New York.
- Ruminative loops - the same worry, replayed without resolution
- Work that stalls - starting, finishing, deciding, all uphill
- Friendships and relationships strained by a mind half elsewhere
- Pleasure that never quite lands, and rest that does not restore
- A harsh, negative relationship with yourself
- Morning dread, and a body that will not settle
- Anxiety that performs well in public and costs you in private
How I Work as an Anxiety Therapist in Brooklyn
I am Avi Steinhardt, a licensed clinical social worker based in Park Slope, Brooklyn. My approach to anxiety draws on Gestalt therapy and relational psychodynamic work. For some people anxiety exists as a disorder and deserves careful treatment, sometimes in coordination with a psychiatrist. For most of us it is a subtler force - quietly limiting how fully we work, love, and enjoy. Both belong here. I am also writing a book about anxiety: about why gratitude and vulnerability, the states we say we want, are so much harder to inhabit than the worry we know.
I see clients in person in Brooklyn and online across New York State. The practice is private-pay, with monthly superbills; many clients with PPO plans are reimbursed 60 to 80 percent through out-of-network benefits.
You can read more about Avi and this practice, or explore therapy for creatives, where anxiety and creative work often meet.
Common Questions
What does anxiety therapy with you actually involve?
Do you work with high-functioning anxiety?
Do you offer anxiety therapy in Brooklyn and online?
I have tried CBT and breathing tools. Is this different?
Do I need medication for anxiety?
Do you take insurance?
Begin Anxiety Therapy in Brooklyn
I begin with a free 15-minute consultation - a quiet conversation about what the loop looks like for you, and whether this work feels right.
Limited availability. Private-pay. In Brooklyn and online across New York State.
Request a Private ConsultationRequest a Private Consultation
You don't need the words ready. Share a little about what's bringing you here, and I'll be in touch personally.
In Their Words
My husband and I found Avi when we were in a dark place. Avi was thoughtful, patient with us - and funny!
My husband and I found Avi when we were in a dark place. Avi was thoughtful, patient with us - and funny! We didn't know what we were looking for, but we found a fellow artist. He's so soulful, and he has this magical ability to help you unwind yourself. For that, we're grateful. We've asked him to work with our teenagers, family members, even friends. He's truly singular.
Since working with Avi, I've grown into the person I want to be - more self-aware, confident, and in touch with my needs.
Since working with Avi, I've grown into the person I want to be - more self-aware, confident, and in touch with my needs. He's truly exceptional, and working with him has been a gift!
Avi Steinhardt was an amazing counselor for myself and my family. His kind understanding, and knowledge helped me.
Avi Steinhardt was an amazing counselor for myself and my family. His kind understanding, and knowledge helped me get through a very stressful part of my life, being a single mom.
When I speak with Avi, I feel more than heard. His patience has allowed that enlightenment to occur organically.
When I speak with Avi, I feel more than heard. His patience has allowed that enlightenment to occur organically, and though the positive impact on my life has been nothing short of massive, the process has always felt simple, human, and caring.
Avi has helped us better understand ourselves and each other, which has had a meaningful impact on our relationship.
We came to Avi because we felt trapped in arguments that would end with neither of us feeling understood. Avi has helped us better understand ourselves and each other, which has had a meaningful impact on the quality of our relationship. We feel more trusting and appreciative of one another and experience less escalation during times of conflict.