If you are a licensed mental health professional in practice in the Tri-State area (New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut), if you feel you are a Person-Centered (or humanistic) practitioner, and if you would like to have your profile posted here please send an email with your photo, a personal statement, and your contact information to: sartonw@aol.com
*Please note, in the spirit of the Person-Centered Approach, we will not edit or reject anyone who is interested and eligible to be listed on this site. Furthermore, so that no favoritism is shown, practitioners shall be alphabetically listed according to their practice location and then last name.
Listing of Person-Centered Practitioners:
Bronx (Riverdale), New York City
Christine Stiffler, Ph.D.
2600 Netherland Ave. Ste. 107
Bronx, NY 10463
917-825-2623
chrisstiffler@optonline.netChristine works with adolescents and adults of diverse backgrounds struggling with a wide range of difficulties. Her office is located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, which is easily accessible from Manhattan via the 1 subway line. Her fees are affordable and she uses a sliding scale with individuals who are not able to pay the full fee.
“I have training and experience working in both psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral approaches, which I now integrate into a client-centered therapeutic approach. My goal is to create a therapeutic space in which you will naturally move toward greater self-awareness and self-acceptance. My approach to psychotherapy is to create a warm, empathic, and accepting environment where you will feel comfortable to express yourself freely.”Greenwich Village, Manhattan
Lewis Gover
34 Morton Street Apt 4B
New York, N Y 10014
516-852-0004
212-989-8277“It has been a gift being a Person-Centered Practitioner: having a very special relationship with Ruth Sanford, who spent a very rich life with Carl Rogers; with Gay Barfield Swenson who helped run Carl Rogers' office with him; with a group that included me after his death; and with a large group of people who are still present with his office. His daughter, Natalie Rogers, teaches a large group of people to this day at Saybrook Graduate School, helping all to get close to their true self. Everyone gets to their true self in healthy positive loving ways, as part of what has been brought forward to us all by the Person-Centered Approach.”
Characteristics of the Person-Centered Approach: the first element could be called genuineness, realness, or congruence. The more the therapist is himself or herself in the relationship, putting up no professional front or personal facade, the greater is the likelihood that the client will change and grow in a constructive manner. This means that the therapist is openly being with the feelings and attitudes that are flowing within the moment. The term "transparent" catches the flavor of the condition: the therapist makes himself or herself transparent to the client, and the client can see right through what the therapist is in the relationship. The client experiences no holding back on the part of the therapist. As for the therapist, what he or she is experiencing is available to awareness, can be lived in the relationship, and can be communicated, if appropriate. Thus, there is a close matching, or congruence, between what is being experienced at the gut level, what is present in awareness and what is expressed to the client.
The second attitude of importance in creating a climate for change is acceptance, or caring, or prizing what I have called "unconditional positive regard." When the therapist is experiencing a positive, accepting attitude toward whatever the client is at that moment, therapeutic movement or change is more likely to occur. The therapist is willing for the client to be present with whatever immediate feeling is going on - confusion, resentment, fear, anger, courage, love or pride. Such caring on the part of the therapist is nonpossessive. The therapist prizes the client in a total rather than a conditional way.”
The third facilitative aspect of the relationship is empathic understanding. This means that the therapist senses accurately the feeling and personal meanings that the client is experiencing and communicates this understanding to the client. When functioning best, the therapist is so much inside the private world of the other that he or she can clarify not only the meanings of which the client is aware but even those below the level of awareness. This kind of sensitive, active listening is exceedingly rare in our lives. We think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real understanding and true empathy. Yet listening of this very special kind is one of the most potent forces for change that I know.
Carl Rogers shared how the climate brings about change. As persons are accepted and prized, they develop a more caring attitude toward themselves. As persons are empathically heard, it becomes possible for them to listen more accurately to the flow of inner experiencing. As the person understands and prizes the self, the self becomes more real, more genuine. These tendencies, the reciprocal of the therapist’s attitudes, enable the person to be a more effective growth- enhancer for himself or herself. There is a greater freedom to be the true whole person. {Rogers, 1962}.
Greenwich Village, Manhattan
Sarton Weinraub, Ph.D.
1 Milligan Place
New York, NY 10011
(On 6th Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets, in the West Village)
212-989-6086
sartonw@aol.comSarton currently works full time as a psychotherapist, with individual adults, children, adolescents, couples, the elderly, and families in the West Village of Manhattan. His beautiful office is on the ground floor of a historic West Village building with a courtyard and water fountain in the entrance, and a private garden in the back. His fees are reasonable and affordable, including a “sliding-scale” for individuals who cannot afford his full rate. Additionally he accepts a wide variety of insurances for payment.
“I am a Rogerian person-centered psychotherapist, who is also interested in the crossroads between humanistic and psychodynamic psychotherapy that mainly includes the similarities between client-centered therapy and relational approaches to psychoanalysis. I think there is considerable overlap between these different approaches, where the primary goal of therapy is deep empathic listening and nonjudgmental acceptance. Along with many other professionals I am against the “medical model” being applied to mental health treatment. I feel an important role of a psychotherapist is to avoid biases and the imposition of values, and to appreciate that each person is the best expert on his or her life. Therefore, I strive to offer psychotherapy that: promotes equality and honesty, that is based upon what I see as solid scientific evidence, and that consistently considers the actualizing potential of each person.”
Upper West Side, Manhattan
Dr. Edwin Kahn
315 Central Park West
New York, NY 10025
212.666.8616
kahntact@nyc.rr.com
http://www.edwinkahn.comEd currently works full time as a psychotherapist, with individuals, couples, and families on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. His beautiful office overlooks Central Park, between 91st and 92nd Streets. His fees are reasonable and affordable. He also accepts different insurances for payment. Ed has traveled extensively to international conferences and has developed close relationships with different members of the Person-Centered community worldwide.
“My work with people is influenced by the work of Carl Rogers. He believed that there is a positive energy in people to grow, develop, and become more mature. When a person experiences unconditional acceptance and empathic understanding from another (a parent, friend or therapist) who is also experienced as genuine, human and real, growth naturally occurs. I make every effort to care, understand and see the positive strengths of my clients. In my work, I have also been influenced by the self psychology of Heinz Kohut, the intersubjectivity theory of Robert Stolorow and current relational theories in psychoanalysis.”
