A Space Built
For Reflection
for people seeking therapy
There is more to your story.
You may know exactly what brings you here, or only that something needs to change. Our work draws on psychodynamic and psychoanalytic thinking, which pays close attention to what we don’t yet know about ourselves, and to the ways our histories live on in the present, often where we feel most stuck.
Whether you have been in therapy for years, or never at all
You Do Not Need the Right Words to Begin
If therapy has disappointed you
Many of the people who come to us have been in therapy before. Some found real relief for a while, and then, a year or two later, the same feelings returned, as if the deeper story had never quite been told.
Often the work stayed close to the surface. We go further, slowly, and at a pace you can bear.
It takes two to make it work.
If you have never tried
Others have never sat in a therapist’s office and are not sure they belong in one. You are asked to choose, from a photograph and a few paragraphs, someone you may one day tell things you have never said aloud.
It makes sense if that feels frightening. The wish to be seen and the fear of being seen often arrive together. That fear does not mean you are not ready.
“It is a joy to be hidden, and disaster not to be found.”D. W. Winnicott
We listen to what you say, and to what you don’t.
What appears, whether anxiety, conflict, an impasse or a symptom that refuses to yield, may be painful, but it is also meaningful. The work is the slow, careful, often surprising process of listening to that communication together.
Bion called this kind of attention reverie. Alongside the psychoanalytic tradition, we draw, when useful, on relational, attachment-based, existential, Gestalt, mindfulness-based and trauma-informed traditions, with a culturally attuned ear.
no worksheets
Your mind is not a skills deficit.
We are here to understand, with you, why you have needed the strategies you use.
no set number of sessions
The work takes the time it takes.
We do not decide in advance how long something that took a lifetime to form should take to change.
no one-size framework
You are not a diagnosis.
A label can be useful shorthand. It is never the whole of a person.
What brings people here
Every Kind of Crossroads
Some people arrive in crisis. Others come after years of carrying something quietly and alone.
- Relationships & intimacy who we are able to love, and how
We keep having the same fight.
I always end up with the same kind of person.
I don’t know how to let anyone get close.
- Couples therapy two people, and what lives between them
We love each other, but we can’t seem to talk anymore.
Since the baby, we feel like roommates.
I don’t know if we’re staying together.
- Sexuality & desire erotic life, fantasy, and what we want
Desire has gone quiet, and we don’t talk about it.
I have fantasies I’ve never said out loud.
I’m not sure what I want, and it scares me.
- LGBTQ+ lives love, family and self, on your own terms
I don’t want to spend my sessions explaining who I am.
My family knows, but we never talk about it.
I’m tired of being the only one like me in the room.
- Gender & sexual identity questions with room to stay open
I’m not sure the words I was given fit me.
Lately I’ve been wondering about my gender.
I don’t want to be rushed toward an answer.
- Grief & loss mourning and feeling alive, side by side
Everyone thinks I should be over it by now.
I miss her in ways I can’t explain.
Some days I forget, and then I feel guilty.
- Trauma what could not be borne alone
I’ve never told anyone this.
My body reacts before I can think.
I don’t remember much of my childhood.
- Life transitions between an old self and a new one
I’m a mother now, and I don’t recognize myself.
Everything changed at once, and I’m still catching up.
The kids have left, and the house is so quiet.
- Immigration between two homes, two languages, two selves
I left everything behind when I moved here.
In my own language, I’m a different person.
I don’t belong there anymore, and not quite here either.
- Parenting consultations understanding your child, and yourself as a parent
I hear my mother’s voice coming out of me.
I don’t know if what my son is going through is normal.
I lose my temper, and then I hate myself for it.
- Work & ambition what we bring of ourselves to work
I’m successful, and I still feel like a fraud.
When my boss is displeased, I feel like a child again.
I can’t stop working, even when I want to.
- Life stressors money, time, and too much at once
I lie awake thinking about money.
There’s no time in my life for me.
I’m holding everything together, and no one sees it.
- Retirement when the work that held a life together ends
I don’t know who I am without my job.
I waited years for this, and now I dread the mornings.
My partner and I are suddenly home together all day.
- Anxiety & depression the life the symptom has been protecting
I can’t switch my mind off at night.
It always comes back, no matter what I change.
I’m tired all the time, and nothing helps.
- Alcohol & substance use what it has been doing for you, and what it costs
I only drink to take the edge off.
I keep promising myself this is the last time.
Without it, I don’t know how to get through the evening.
- Identity & self all the parts of who you are
I feel like a different person in every room.
I’ve never felt I fully belong anywhere.
There’s a part of me I’ve never shown anyone.
- Existential questions living with what has no answer
What is all of this for?
Lately I think about time more than I used to.
I feel alone, even when I’m with people.
- Living creatively a life that feels like your own
From the outside, my life looks fine.
I keep doing what’s expected of me.
I can’t remember the last time I felt really alive.
In person, or by video
Some Things Happen Best in the Same Room
We value meeting in person on Hilliard Street: the pause before a sentence, a shift in the voice, the experience of another person being physically there and staying with you.
And life happens: a demanding schedule, a sick child at home, or simply living too far from Cambridge. A real therapeutic relationship can develop across a screen too, so we offer video sessions as well.
A session
Fifty minutes, your way in
You begin wherever you are: something from the week, a memory, a dream, a feeling you cannot quite place. Nothing is off topic.
Our part
Close attention
We listen for what repeats, what is hard to say and what is left out, and think about it with you, in words you can use.
Over time
The relationship is part of the work
What happens between us becomes a way to understand what happens elsewhere. Change is often gradual, and it tends to last.
Before you write
The Questions People Wonder About
Most people who contact us have a question they are not sure they are allowed to ask. You are.
How do I begin?
Book a free half hour by video, or simply write a few lines. You can ask anything about the work, times or fees, and see whether meeting feels like a useful next step. Book a free consultation.
How is this different from other kinds of therapy?
Many therapies aim to reduce a symptom through skills or exercises, often within a set number of sessions. Psychodynamic therapy tries to understand what the symptom is about, the patterns, histories and feelings beneath it, so that change can reach further than the symptom itself.
How often do we meet, and for how long?
Most people meet once a week; some more often. There is no prescribed length: some people come for a few months, others stay for years.
What is a session like?
You can begin with something from the week, a relationship, a memory, a dream, or a feeling you cannot quite place. Together we pay attention to what emerges, what repeats, and what is difficult to say.
Can we meet by video?
Yes. We meet in person on Hilliard Street and by secure video. Because we are licensed in Massachusetts, you need to be in Massachusetts during video sessions; if you live elsewhere, we can help you find someone near you.
What does it cost? Do you take insurance?
The first half-hour conversation is free. We don’t take insurance yet; we are in the process of joining a couple of plans and will update the site when that is ready. If your plan has out-of-network benefits, we can give you a superbill so you can claim part of the fee back. Reduced fees are available. More about fees.
What can therapy realistically offer?
Freud told an early patient that “much will be gained if we succeed in transforming your hysterical misery into common unhappiness.” We would put it this way: not a life without pain, but one in which you are less at the mercy of what you do not understand, and freer to feel, to choose and to love.
Is what I share confidential?
Yes, within the limits the law sets, for example when someone’s safety is at serious risk. We explain those limits when we first meet.
How can I check your credentials?
Our clinicians are licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through its professional boards of registration, for psychologists, social workers and mental health counselors, and practice within Massachusetts law and the ethics codes of their professions. Your health information is protected under HIPAA, the federal privacy law, and we handle records, messages and video sessions with that in mind. You can confirm any of our clinicians’ licenses on the Massachusetts license verification site. Pre-licensed clinicians practice under supervision, and we tell you this before you begin.
What if it doesn’t feel like the right fit?
That is part of what the first conversation is for. If we are not the right match, we will say so and help you think about where else to turn.