Mental & Emotional Wellness
Compassionate therapeutic support for the mind and heart. Our Albany-based counselors and therapists hold space for emotional processing, nervous system care, and personal growth — offering a steady presence as you navigate life's transitions.
Kristin McFerran, LCSW
Licensed Social Worker
You don’t have to have it all together to start therapy. In fact, most of my clients come to me when they’re exhausted from pretending they do. They’re overwhelmed, anxious, replaying the same patterns, or trying to show up for everyone else while quietly running on empty themselves. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone -- and you don’t have to figure it out alone either.
My mantra is simple: “Meet the client where they are.” Whether you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship challenges, or simply feeling disconnected from yourself, our work together starts with compassion, curiosity, and honesty. I don’t believe in quick fixes or one-size-fits-all approaches. I believe in meeting you as a human being first -- building a space where you can breathe, unpack, and begin to heal at your own pace.
My approach combines the warmth of authentic connection with evidence-based practices proven to help you make real, lasting change. Using tools from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing, and psychoeducation, we’ll explore not just what you’re feeling, but why -- so you can understand your emotions, patterns, and needs with clarity and self-compassion. Together, we’ll create practical strategies to manage stress, improve emotional regulation, strengthen boundaries, and build confidence in your daily life.
Clients often tell me that therapy with me feels like “a safe exhale.” My goal is to help you reconnect with your resilience -- that part of you that’s always been strong, even when life made you forget. Healing isn’t about fixing what’s broken; it’s about remembering what’s whole and giving yourself permission to feel better.
If you’re ready to stop surviving and start living with more ease, joy, and purpose -- I’d be honored to walk alongside you. Taking the first step toward therapy isn't a weakness. It’s courage in action.
Kristin is currently welcoming new clients and would be honored to walk alongside you on your healing journey. Take the first step -- call or email to schedule a session.
Laura M. Longo, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Laura offers a compassionate, non-judgmental space for individuals to explore their healing journey. Her approach is integrative, combining evidence-based therapies like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy, tailored to each person’s unique needs. With a multicultural and social justice lens, she ensures therapy is inclusive and responsive to the diverse experiences clients bring.
Laura specializes in supporting individuals navigating complex trauma, anxiety, depression, and relationship challenges. She also provides dedicated support for those in recovery from substance use and addictive behaviors, including gambling and pornography, while offering guidance to family members and loved ones supporting someone through addiction recovery.
She deeply values authenticity and believes in honoring each individual’s path. Laura meets clients where they are, providing a space for exploration and growth at their own pace, with empathy, respect, and unwavering support.
Christina King, LCAT
Owner of CK Creative Wellness
Christina is a vibrant force in the mental health field, passionately weaving the Creative Arts into her work for over 20 years with both adolescents and adults in clinical and private settings. She wholeheartedly believes in the transformative power of art to heal -- an understanding born from her own experiences and echoed in the lives of countless individuals she’s guided through trauma, life transitions, and the pursuit of lasting mental well-being.
Christina’s expertise in Intermodal Art Therapy empowers her to blend fine art, music, movement, storytelling, and creative writing into deeply therapeutic journeys. Her qualifications extend to certifications in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Grief and Loss, Somatic Healing, and Kundalini Yoga, equipping her to meet the complexities of each person’s healing path with compassion and creativity.
Beyond her professional accomplishments, Christina’s life brims with creativity and joy. She is a devoted mother, a passionate artist, and an avid gardener who finds inspiration in the beauty of the natural world. Whether paddleboarding, painting in her studio, cooking from her garden, or exploring new techniques to better support her clients, Christina infuses passion into everything she does. Her zest for life and deep care for others shine through in her commitment to help people reconnect with their inner wisdom and thrive.
Lisa Ferretti, LMSW
Therapist
Lisa views therapy as a shared journey -- one grounded in honesty, respect, and a genuine commitment to each client’s growth. For over 20 years, she has supported adults and couples through seasons of change, uncertainty, healing, and hope. Whether clients are navigating life transitions, living with anxiety or depression, healing from trauma, grieving a loss, or seeking to strengthen their relationship, Lisa helps them reconnect with their resilience and sense of possibility.
Her work draws from evidence-based approaches including CBT, ACT, DBT, trauma-informed care, solution-focused therapy, and the Gottman Method. While these frameworks are important, her primary focus is helping clients recognize their inherent strengths -- what already exists within them and building from there.
Lisa’s goal is to offer a warm, safe, and non-judgmental space where clients can show up exactly as they are. Therapy moves at the client’s pace, honoring each individual’s story while supporting greater peace, connection, and overall well-being.
Danielle Beach, PMHNP-BC
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, & Owner of Phases Psychiatric Services, PLLC
Danielle Beach is a psychiatric nurse practitioner with a decade of experience as a nurse, having stepped into the psychiatric NP role over the past year and a half. Her path into psychiatry is deeply personal. From adolescence, Danielle navigated her own long history of depression and anxiety -- conditions that took many years and a great deal of work to treat and manage successfully, to the point that today she is rarely bothered by either.
That lived experience is the heart of how she practices. Having sat in the very seat her clients now occupy, Danielle understands firsthand how difficult mental health treatment can be, and what it truly takes to "become okay." She has also walked alongside friends and family she loves dearly through their own mental health struggles, and seeing the difference a compassionate, competent provider can make in someone's quality of life renews her sense of mission every single day.
Danielle will be booking around mid-July for appointments beginning mid-September -- welcoming both existing clients making the transition with her and new clients seeking support.
Emily Joseph, LCSW
Licensed Social Worker
Emily Joseph helps people transform their lives, empower themselves, and gain unstoppable confidence. She is a mother, former school social worker, reiki master, artist, and an empath who's been through her own transformative therapy journey. She utilizes years of experience both as a client and a clinician, to help others feel safe as they deepen their understanding of their own experiences. Emily worked in several agencies and schools before transitioning to private practice. Now, she has found her true calling in helping individuals transform and make big, powerful changes that align them with who they were always meant to be. She feels grateful everyday that she gets to witness her clients transform into grounded, unstoppable beings.
Emily's role as a holistic therapist is to accompany you while you go through difficult things so that you are not alone, and to provide insights so that you can feel more joy and freedom in your life. Through our work together, Emily provides a safe, welcoming space for you to gain perspective and discover what you're truly capable of. She helps you make decisions with trust and confidence, all while developing skills to feel better during more difficult moments. Emily specializes in processing anxiety and indecision surrounding big life shifts, specifically relationship and family challenges, career and schooling transitions, and the postpartum period and new parenthood. She meets you where you are first and supports you with what you need at this moment. Through learning from our past, processing our pain, and deepening our perspective, we can all heal and live the life of our dreams.
Sara Cunningham, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
As a counseling psychologist, I approach therapy through a strengths-based, culturally sensitive, and holistic lens. I completed my doctoral training at Fordham University in NYC and enjoy working with a variety of populations and concerns. I specialize in providing neurodivergent-affirming support to young adults/adults with ADHD, executive function concerns, and learning challenges. I also have expertise in supporting individuals through grief and bereavement.
I strive to provide a compassionate and non-judgmental space to help my clients navigate life's challenges. My approach is deeply rooted in person-centered care, ensuring you feel truly seen and heard in the therapeutic relationship. I integrate psychodynamic and insight-oriented perspectives to explore how past experiences shape current patterns and to facilitate understanding. Additionally, I draw from evidence-based approaches, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), to help you build distress tolerance, emotional regulation skills, mindfulness, and to live a life aligned with your values. I am recently trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), which I offer for clients seeking to process and heal from traumatic or adverse experiences to reduce their negative impact on your life. I am working towards EMDRIA certification.
My goal as your therapist is to empower and support you to heal, grow, and create lasting change. I am not currently accepting new clients, but welcome you to reach out to learn more about my services and future availability.
Keren Rubin, LCSW
Therapist, Owner of Journey's Rise Counseling, LCSW, PLLC
Do you feel caught in a loop, navigating relationship or connection difficulties, and feeling like you are in a "cloud"? You may feel stuck in unhealthy patterns that have been built up overtime as a way to protect yourself. In therapy, we will focus on identifying your strengths, grounding techniques, and enhancing your values to manage emotions and life stressors. We will focus on barriers that you may encounter that influence skill building or how skills are utilized and explore resolutions to those barriers. I emphasize the importance of progress check-ins throughout therapy to ensure goals are being met.
I want to help build or enhance emotional regulation skills and building effective communication skills to strengthen meaningful connections with self and others.
The goal is to help you feel more grounded, confident, supported and to build a life that reflects your values. We will focus on the strengths and values that you already have while looking at ways to enhance or redefine them to practice a well-balanced life.
200 RYT, Queer Yoga Instructor, & Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Alexa Giardino, LCSW
Here's a full third-person bio for the website -- everything consolidated into one piece.
Alexa Giardino, LCSW, 200 RYT
Some teachers hand you a shape and ask you to fit into it. Alexa Giardino does the opposite -- she hands you back to yourself.
A Licensed Clinical Social Worker and 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher who has completed all levels of Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner training, Alexa brings a rare combination into this space: the heart of a clinician and the steadiness of someone who has sat with people in their tenderest moments. She offers trauma-informed therapy for adolescents, adults, couples, and families, specializing in supporting clients healing from trauma and navigating stress, self-esteem, life transitions, and relationship challenges.
Her approach is collaborative and client-led, blending somatic and cognitive techniques so the mind and body work together rather than against each other. In those first sessions, you'll clarify your goals and begin exploring practical ways to reach them -- building mind-body connection and the kind of resilience that lasts. There is no prescribed plan handed to you. You build it together.
Alexa welcomes clients of all identities and backgrounds, including LGBTQ+ individuals and people from diverse cultures and races. That commitment shows up in her group work too. On the fourth Tuesday of every month, she leads a 75-minute Queer Yoga & Yoga Nidra class at Reflective Harmony -- an affirming space for rest, connection, and healing, where students can move and land exactly as they are. There are no pretzel poses to perform here, and no version of you that needs fixing. Only the practice of meeting yourself where you are.
When she isn't working, there's a fluffy Havanese-Poodle mix at her side -- her "perma-pup," because that dog will look like a puppy forever. There's a fantasy or sci-fi novel on her nightstand at all times. And if she could hold every session and teach every class outdoors, she absolutely would.
Alexa is building her practice slowly and intentionally, one meaningful connection at a time. That care is something you feel from the very first moment.
Shyla A. Dauria, LMHC, NCC, CASAC
Simple Soul Mental Health Counseling
Adolescence and young adulthood are pivotal stages marked by significant transitions, identity exploration, hormonal changes, and heightened emotional experiences. These years can often feel like an unrelenting rollercoaster. Shyla creates a safe, non-judgmental, and developmentally attuned therapeutic environment where young people can express themselves freely, feel genuinely understood as individuals, and develop the tools needed to navigate life’s challenges with confidence.
Specializing in mental health and substance use concerns, Shyla employs a developmentally informed approach that considers how the adolescent and young adult brain influences behavior. Her practice integrates evidence-based modalities including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and mindfulness practices. She actively encourages family participation to support holistic healing, while empowering each client to leverage their unique strengths and resilience.
In addition to her work with youth and young adults, Shyla is a New York State OASAS-approved provider of DWI assessments for individuals facing impaired driving-related charges.
Though life’s difficulties can be profound, Shyla firmly believes in the human capacity for growth and recovery. Through collaborative, personalized counseling, she helps clients transform challenges into opportunities for meaningful, lasting change.
Rachel Tan, LMSW
Psychotherapist
Therapy with Rachel is warm, authentic, and laid-back. It's a space where clients can start getting unstuck, cultivate curiosity and compassion, and listen gently to their mind, body, and heart. Rachel helps clients slow down from life's chaos, deepen their relationship with themselves and others, and live with more clarity and intention. She believes that therapy is more than just learning how to cope -- it's about experiencing lasting transformation and joy, and she's there by her clients' side through both the messiness and the growth.
Rachel specializes in working with Asian women, children of immigrants, individuals navigating multiple cultures, young adults, and creatives. Her focus is on supporting people with anxiety, life transitions, intergenerational trauma, family and relationship challenges, and identity exploration. She enjoys working with people who are eager to learn more about themselves, feel more connected with others, and explore mental wellness through a systemic and anti-oppressive lens. Rachel received her Master of Social Work from Columbia University and is a culturally-responsive and LGBTQIA+-affirming clinician.
Rachel brings compassion, curiosity, and calm to her sessions, knowing that beginning therapy can feel intimidating. She works with clients to help them feel lighter and more connected with their strengths, authenticity, and deeper self. With care for each person's unique context, culture, and needs, Rachel welcomes clients as not just the challenges they face, but as whole people. She incorporates a mix of relational and experiential therapies, meaning sessions go beyond just talking -- using hands-on approaches that engage the mind-body-heart connection, emphasize the value of human relationships (including the therapeutic one), and meet clients' "unwanted" parts with openness and compassion. Rachel's work is grounded in connection, mindfulness, and embodied healing. She looks forward to going on this journey with each client!
Andrea Horowitz, LMHC, GCT
Pegasus Mental Health Counseling, PLLC
Andrea Horowitz is a licensed mental health counselor and Gottman Certified Couples Therapist, specializing in helping couples reignite their spark and deepen their connection. She believes that strong relationships build strong families, and strong families create stronger communities, ultimately making the world a better place. Whether through one-on-one couples therapy, engaging workshops, or supporting first-time parents through the challenges of early family life, Andrea is dedicated to helping couples grow together. Her approach creates a safe, open space for rebuilding trust, improving communication, and rediscovering the love that brought partners together. Andrea’s work empowers couples to strengthen their relationship, knowing that when relationships thrive, everything around them does too.
Amie Steinbach
Amie Beth Coaching, Owner
Life isn’t always a smooth ride, it comes with curves but when we can achieve the balance within we become more resilient alongside. It’s how we stay rooted through the changes so we can learn to bend and grow. Amie is passionate about helping overwhelmed women, mothers, and families reconnect with themselves through resilience, reflection, and meaningful connection. She obtained her Masters in Marriage & Family Therapy and a certification in holistic life coaching. She believes that when women are supported emotionally and mentally, they are better able to nurture strong, healthy relationships within their homes and communities.
Through coaching, creative workshops, and empowering conversations, she creates safe spaces where women can pause, reflect, heal, and grow. Her work focuses on encouraging self-awareness, emotional resilience, confidence, and family connection in a way that feels authentic and compassionate.
Her goal is to inspire women to recognize their inner strength and build harmony within themselves first—because resilient families begin with supported women.
Her experience working closely with families as a nanny, combined with her foundation in marriage and family therapy, has given her a deep understanding of the emotional needs of both children and parents. She has loved supporting children, parents, and families through everyday challenges, emotional growth, and meaningful connection.
Amie brings a compassionate, relationship-centered experiential approach to resilience and family wellness. One unique aspect of her work that she truly enjoys is bringing play centered techniques into her practice to foster emotional bonds and connection with ourselves and our children.
Meet our other Space Holders
Behind every offering is a practitioner who leads with integrity, care, and deep respect for your journey.
Our facilitators, teachers, and collaborators bring a wide range of experience across healing, movement, and spiritual practice. Each one holds space in their own unique way, while sharing the same intention: to create an environment where you feel supported, seen, and safe to explore your healing.