Advice from our therapists

By Barbara Hoffmann, LCSW-R, PhD, CASAC

Most couples wait about six years too long. By the time many partners reach a therapist’s couch — or these days, a shared video screen — the same argument has calcified into a script both people could recite in their sleep. Here’s what fifteen-plus years of clinical work has taught me: the couples who do best in therapy aren’t the ones with the smallest problems. They’re the ones who came in while there was still goodwill left to work with.

In sessions, my job isn’t to referee. It’s to slow the conversation down until you can both see the cycle you’re caught in — pursue and withdraw, criticize and defend — and the softer feelings hiding under it. Anger in couples is almost always grief or fear wearing armor. When one partner can finally say “I get quiet because I’m afraid nothing I do is enough” and the other actually hears it, the argument you’ve had two hundred times becomes a different conversation entirely. We blend compassion with pragmatism: real communication skills you practice between sessions, not just insight.

Telehealth has quietly been a gift for couples work — no babysitter logistics, no separate commutes, just both of you showing up from wherever you are in New York. Most in-network clients pay only their copay, and we verify coverage before your first session. If you’re asking whether your relationship “qualifies” for couples therapy, it does. The question worth asking is whether you’d rather have this conversation now, or six years from now.

By Ally Nektalov, LCSW, Master CASAC — Director of Mind Therapy

The most common thing I hear from new clients is some version of “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do in here.” That uncertainty keeps a lot of people from ever starting — so let me demystify it. Individual therapy is a standing, private conversation with one clinician whose only agenda is you. In the first session or two we’re mostly listening: what brought you in, what your days look like, what you’ve already tried. You don’t need a rehearsed story or a diagnosis. Showing up as you actually are is the work.

From there, therapy gets specific. Together we name what you want to be different — sleeping through the night, quieting the inner critic, getting through a workday without dread — and choose an approach that fits. At Mind Therapy that often means evidence-based methods like CBT or DBT, woven into a relationship where you feel genuinely understood rather than processed. In my own work with substance use and trauma, I’ve seen again and again that insight and skills go furthest when they grow inside a relationship that feels safe.

And because every Mind Therapy session happens by secure video, therapy fits into a real New York life: from your apartment, your parked car, your lunch break. Most in-network clients pay only their copay, and we verify your coverage before your first session so cost is never a surprise. If you’ve been circling the idea of therapy for a while, consider this your invitation to stop circling.

Short answer: if you have a plan from a major New York insurer, therapy is very likely covered — and most in-network clients pay only their copay, typically $0–$50 per session.

The three questions that decide what you pay

1. Is your therapist in-network? In-network means the practice has a contract with your insurer — you pay a copay instead of the full session rate. Mind Therapy is in-network with major plans including Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Oxford, Empire BCBS, and Oscar.
2. Do you have a deductible that applies to mental health? Some plans cover therapy from the first session; others only after you’ve met a deductible. This is the single most common surprise — and the reason we verify benefits before your first session.
3. What’s your copay or coinsurance? Most of our in-network clients pay between $0 and $50 per session. Your card or member portal lists it as “outpatient mental health.”

You don’t have to figure this out alone

When you book with Mind Therapy, we check your exact coverage before your first session and tell you what it will cost — no surprises, no commitment. If we’re not in-network with your plan, we’ll tell you that too, along with your self-pay options.