About

Susana Scotti

Welcome to Journey Psychotherapy! I’m so glad you are here!

I know it can be really tough getting started with psychotherapy. You may worry “Will I be judged?”, “Am I normal?”, “Will it help?”. Know that it is normal, and therapy can help. I take the approach that human suffering is a normal response to the myriad of abnormal circumstances life puts us in, whether those be familial, cultural or systemic. I believe suffering can be reduced with the right support and that talk therapy expedites healing by tapping into natural healing processes that occur when we feel heard and understood in a safe environment. I provide attuned, empathic support for your journey toward towards a happier inner life of wholeness, vitality, and self-acceptance.

I believe once you can make sense of your story, understanding and linking current coping responses to ways in which you had to adapt to survive detrimental and traumatic environments, you will be able to change. I believe societal ills need to be recognized as toxic elements that cause people tremendous emotional pain and loss of faith in themselves and the world. I take a position of cultural humility, seeking to honor all aspects of identity that contribute to your life. I grew up in a Spanish speaking household with parents from Spain and Cuba, and have personal experience of feeling between cultures and struggling to reconcile my identity. I am bilingual and provide sessions in English or Spanish.

In my own life, personal therapy became my lifeline as a troubled young adult and transformed my view of myself, giving me tools and confidence I never could have had otherwise. As practitioner I see how lives can transform with the right help. I look forward to talking with you!

Experience

I'm a Clinical Psychologist.

I am a licensed psychologist based in NY state, providing telehealth psychotherapy in California (PSY #27173) and New York (PSY #025448). I provide therapy for adults experiencing a variety of issues, including recovery from trauma, PTSD & complex PTSD; anxiety (including panic attacks, specific phobia, social phobia and agoraphobia); depression; stress and burnout; self-esteem difficulties, grief, chronic pain; adjustment to adult life, and addiction recovery (alcohol, substances and behavioral addictions). I am able to support individuals who are highly sensitive and those who have grown up with emotionally immature caregivers.

I have extensive experience in a wide range of settings including residential & intensive outpatient substance and alcohol recovery programs, college counseling settings, community mental health settings, integrated medical practices and outpatient private practice psychotherapy.

I am passionate about helping people get the most out of life and am committed to providing quality, individualized services to meet your specific needs. I use an integrative approach, tailored your specific concerns, using more structured, skills-based approaches where needed, and weaving in-depth work where appropriate with clients that I think would benefit from that style.

For individuals in recovery from alcohol and substance use disorders, I meet people where they are at, collaborating on your treatment plan, whether that be harm reduction or abstinence. Using mindfulness skills and attachment theory, we look to see how alcohol, substances and behavioral addictions have served as coping responses and find new, healthy ways forward.

Qualifications:

I obtained my Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, a psychodynamically oriented, APA accredited program.

I obtained my Master’s Degree in Psychology from The City College of New York.

Over the course of my training I provided in-depth individual, group, and couples therapy, in English and in Spanish, to diverse, underserved community and student populations, while training in integrative, psychodynamic modalities, cognitive behavioral, dialectical behavior therapy, and emotion focused modalities.

I completed my postdoctoral hours at Westside Community Services and St. Anthony’s Medical Clinic in San Francisco. I completed my pre-doctoral internship at the Brooklyn College Personal Counseling Program in New York City, and have provided therapy and taught courses in college based and community outpatient programs, including the City College Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge.