— PERSONAL GROWTH & LIFE CHANGES —
Personal growth counseling for the first person in the family to do this
MyMindset NYC · Online therapy · Licensed in NY, FL & DC
Something is changing, or needs to, and there's nobody to ask how it's done.
Not because people wouldn't help. Because you're the first one here. First to leave, first to go, first to end it, first to want something your family didn't have the room to want.
You can research almost anything now. What you can't find is somebody who has done this from where you started.
Online therapy for adults in New York, Florida, and Washington, D.C.No waitlist. Most people start within a week.
— WHAT IS PERSONAL GROWTH —
What is personal growth counseling?
Personal growth counseling is therapy you come to without a crisis. Nothing is on fire. You’re functioning. You’ve reached a point where the way you’ve been doing things doesn’t fit any more. You want to choose what comes next, instead of letting it happen by default.
It overlaps with what people call life transition therapy: a move, a career change, a relationship ending or starting, a role you’ve outgrown, becoming a parent, or losing one.
You don’t need a diagnosis to be here, and you don’t need to be struggling to qualify. The belief that therapy requires a crisis keeps a lot of people from starting. It keeps others waiting until there is one.
— NO TEMPLATE —
Growth looks different when nobody did it before you
If your parents immigrated, or if you're the first in your family to do this, every ordinary decision carries an extra weight. First to go to college. First to move out before marriage. First to leave a job that was stable. First to end something that looked fine from outside.
You're not just deciding. You're deciding without a model, and often without approval.
And success complicates it rather than settling it. Getting the thing your family sacrificed for doesn't always feel like arrival. Sometimes it feels like distance, or guilt, or a quiet question about whether you're allowed to want more than the thing you were supposed to want.
That isn't ingratitude. It's what happens when the map runs out.
— WHAT PEOPLE BRING —
What people bring to personal growth therapy
- A decision you’ve been circling for months and can’t make
- Not knowing what you want, after years of knowing what everyone else needed
- Outgrowing a job, a relationship, or a version of yourself, and feeling guilty about it
- Wanting more than you were raised to ask for
- Being the first, and having nobody to compare notes with
- Reaching the thing you worked for and feeling less than you expected to feel
- Wondering who you are when nobody needs anything from you
None of these require a diagnosis. They’re the questions that show up once survival stops taking all the oxygen.
— HOW THE WORK GOES —
How I work with this
I'm somatic, attachment, trauma and IFS-informed. Here's what that means when the work is growth rather than repair.
We go slower than you're used to. Most people arrive wanting a decision. What usually has to come first is working out which part of you is making it. The part that's been in charge since childhood will pick the safe option every time.
If you can't name what you want yet, we don't have to start with words. Wanting is a skill, and it atrophies when it was never safe to use. Your body often knows before you can say it, so we pay attention there too.
We treat the patterns as protection rather than problems. The part of you that over-prepares, that defers, that checks whether this is allowed: those took their jobs early and for good reasons. The work is finding out what they're protecting.
This isn't a quick fix, and you don't need the whole story ready on day one.
— WHAT TENDS TO CHANGE —
What tends to change
Nobody can promise you an outcome, and I won't. These are the things people tend to notice.
You make a decision and it stays made. The choosing can still be hard. What goes is the week afterward spent reopening it.
You can tell the difference between discomfort and danger. A decision that feels frightening isn't automatically the wrong one, and that distinction is learnable.
You know what you want before you check whether it's allowed. The checking doesn't go away. It stops going first.
You can stay close to your family without being run by them. For some people that is the whole of the work.
— IS THIS A FIT? —
Who this is and isn't for
This is probably a fit if
- You’re an adult in New York, Florida, or Washington, D.C. during your sessions
- Nothing is in crisis and you still want to look at how you’re living
- You’d rather understand the pattern than get advice about the decision
- You can meet weekly or biweekly
- You’d rather not explain your family or your culture before the real work starts
And probably not if
- You want coaching, accountability, or someone to help you hit a goal. I’m a licensed therapist and this is psychotherapy, which is a different thing
- You want a short, focused piece of work rather than something that takes time
- You’re looking for couples sessions, or therapy for a teen or child. I see adults individually, and I’ll point you toward someone who does that work
- You need in-network insurance, Medicaid or Medicare
- You need crisis or same-day support. This isn’t a crisis service. If that’s where you are, call or text 988, or look for a non-police warmline
No waitlist. Most people start within a week.
— WHAT TO EXPECT —
What sessions look like
| Format | Online, on a HIPAA-compliant platform |
|---|---|
| Length | 45–60 minutes |
| Frequency | Weekly or biweekly to start |
| Fee | $225, with a sliding scale from $140 |
| Where | Anywhere in New York, Florida, or Washington D.C. |
| Languages | English, with Haitian Kreyòl welcome in session |
| First step | A free 20-minute consultation |
— COMMON QUESTIONS —
Questions about personal growth counseling
Do I need a diagnosis to start therapy?
Worth knowing: because I’m out-of-network, no diagnosis is filed with an insurer unless you ask for paperwork for your own reasons. More on that here →
Is this therapy or coaching?
The difference matters. Coaching tends to work forward from a goal. This works backward from a pattern, which is slower and usually gets further when the thing in your way is older than the decision in front of you. If what you want is accountability toward a goal, a coach is a better use of your money.
What is life transition therapy?
What people usually find is that the transition isn’t the hard part. Knowing what they want is.
Can we work on a specific decision I’m stuck on?
Most people find the decision gets easier as a by-product rather than as the project.
Can I speak Kreyòl in session?
How much does therapy cost, and do you take insurance?
— WHENEVER YOU’RE READY —
You've been managing this a long time
Twenty minutes, free, on the phone. You tell me what's going on. I tell you how I'd work with it. Nobody signs anything. If I'm not the right person, I'll say so, and I'll help you find who is.
No waitlist. If you reach out this week, we can usually start next week.