CBT offers a practical, evidence-based approach for anyone dealing with anxiety, racing thoughts, or feeling stuck in patterns that no longer serve you. We provide CBT-based therapy for young adults and college students in New York City and New Jersey who are ready to develop real tools to manage anxiety and take control of their mental health.
CBT works by helping you identify the thought patterns and behaviors that keep you feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or stuck—and then gives you concrete strategies to change them. Rather than spending years exploring your past, this approach focuses on what’s happening right now and equips you with skills you can actually use in your everyday life.
What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an evidence-based approach that focuses on the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The foundation of CBT is simple but powerful: our thoughts influence how we feel, and our feelings influence how we behave. When we’re caught in negative or distorted thinking patterns, it creates a cycle that reinforces anxiety and keeps us stuck.
Unlike approaches that focus heavily on the past, CBT is present-focused and goal-oriented. While we certainly explore how your experiences have shaped your current patterns, the emphasis is on what’s happening now and what we can do about it. This makes CBT particularly effective for people who want practical strategies they can use immediately.
/ How CBT Can Help You
In our practice, we work with clients in their 20s and 30s who are navigating the unique pressures of life in New York City. Whether you’re a young professional managing work stress or a college student dealing with academic pressure and social anxiety, CBT provides concrete tools to address what you’re experiencing.
Common Issues We Address with CBT
Anxiety and Worry: If you spend most days overthinking, worrying about making the wrong decision, or feeling physically tense, CBT helps you identify worry patterns and develop strategies to interrupt them. You’ll learn to distinguish between productive problem-solving and unproductive rumination.
Social Anxiety: The fear of judgment and negative evaluation can make social situations exhausting. CBT addresses the thoughts and beliefs that fuel social anxiety, helping you challenge mind-reading assumptions and gradually engage in social situations with less fear.
Panic Attacks: Panic can feel terrifying and unpredictable. CBT helps you understand the physical sensations of anxiety, challenge catastrophic interpretations, and learn that panic, while uncomfortable, isn’t dangerous. We also work on reducing the fear of panic itself.
Perfectionism and People-Pleasing: Many of our clients struggle with impossibly high standards and difficulty setting boundaries. CBT helps identify the beliefs driving these patterns and develop more flexible, compassionate ways of relating to yourself and others.
Depression: CBT identifies negative thought patterns and behaviors that maintain depression, such as isolation and rumination. Through behavioral activation and cognitive work, you can gradually re-engage with meaningful activities and shift persistent negative thinking.
OCD: CBT, particularly Exposure and Response Prevention, is highly effective for obsessive-compulsive disorder, helping you reduce compulsions and build tolerance for uncertainty.
Life Transitions: When you’re navigating major changes—graduating, starting a new job, moving, ending a relationship—anxiety often spikes. CBT provides structure during uncertain times and helps you develop resilience.
/ Our Approach to CBT
We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to therapy. While CBT provides a structured framework, we tailor every aspect of treatment to your specific needs, goals, and learning style. We blend traditional CBT with mindfulness-based approaches, drawing from DBT and ACT as well, to create therapy that feels grounded, accessible, and genuinely helpful.
Our work is informed by both professional training and lived experience. This combination allows us to offer therapy that’s clinically sound and deeply relatable. We understand what it’s like to deal with anxiety and the pressure to keep everything together, and we bring that understanding into our work together.
Why CBT Is Effective
CBT is one of the most researched forms of psychotherapy, with decades of studies demonstrating its effectiveness for anxiety, depression, and many other concerns. What makes it particularly powerful is that it’s skills-based and active. You’re not a passive recipient of treatment—you’re an active participant learning concrete tools you can practice and use in daily life.
Unlike some approaches, CBT is typically more structured and time-limited, making it accessible for people who want focused, goal-oriented treatment. The ultimate goal is to give you tools to manage your mental health independently, so the skills you learn become yours to keep.
Getting Started with CBT Therapy
If you’re recognizing yourself in these descriptions—the overthinking, the anxiety that won’t quit, the feeling of being stuck—it might be time to reach out. Living with unmanaged anxiety is exhausting, and you don’t have to figure this out alone.
Our Process
We offer a free 15-minute consultation call where we can discuss what you’re experiencing and whether working together might be a good fit. There’s no pressure or commitment—just an opportunity to ask questions.
If we decide to move forward, we’ll schedule an initial intake session. During this first meeting, we’ll explore your background, what’s currently challenging you, and what you hope to accomplish through therapy.
From there, we’ll create an individualized treatment plan specific to your needs. We draw from CBT, DBT, ACT, and mindfulness to create a framework that works for you. We’ll meet for 50-minute weekly sessions, and we’ll often suggest exercises to practice between sessions to reinforce what we’re working on.
Your weekly session time will be reserved for you, and we’ll manage scheduling through Simple Practice. Please note that we don’t provide crisis services. If you’re in immediate danger, please contact 911 or call 988.
Frequently Asked Questions About CBT Therapy
The duration of CBT therapy varies based on your individual needs and goals. Some clients find significant relief within a few months, while others benefit from longer-term work. During our initial sessions, we’ll discuss realistic timelines based on what you’re working on. CBT is generally more structured and time-limited than some traditional therapy approaches, but there’s no predetermined endpoint—we work together for as long as you need.
We often suggest practice exercises between sessions to help reinforce what we’re working on. This isn’t homework in the traditional sense—it’s an opportunity to apply new skills in your real life, which is where actual growth happens. That said, we tailor the amount and type of between-session work to what feels manageable for you. The goal is progress, not perfection.
Many of our clients have tried therapy in the past with mixed results. CBT might work differently for you because it’s skills-based and goal-oriented. If previous therapy felt too unstructured or abstract, CBT’s practical approach might be a better fit. During our consultation, we can discuss your previous experiences and what might work better this time.
Absolutely. Many clients come to therapy dealing with several interconnected concerns—anxiety, depression, perfectionism, and relationship stress often overlap. CBT is flexible enough to address multiple issues, and we’ll prioritize based on what’s most pressing for you. The skills you learn often apply across different areas of life.
CBT tends to work well for people who want practical tools they can use right away, prefer a structured approach, and are ready to take an active role in their therapy. If you’re dealing with anxiety, worry, perfectionism, or feeling stuck in unhelpful patterns, CBT is likely a good fit. The best way to know is to schedule a free 15-minute consultation where we can discuss your needs and whether this approach aligns with what you’re looking for.
Currently, we offer online sessions only.
Online therapy is delivered via a secure video platform. Online therapy provides all of the benefits of traditional therapy in addition to flexible scheduling and the convenience of participating in sessions from home.
Session fees for individual therapy range from $125-$250 per session depending on the clinician you work with. Group therapy sessions are $80 per session. We also offer a limited number of sliding scale spots to help make therapy more accessible. Your specific fee will be discussed with you prior to beginning treatment.
Mindful Mental Health Counseling is out-of-network with insurance. Private pay is a great option for people who want maximum privacy, confidentiality, and flexibility.
If you do not opt for private pay, you may also be eligible to use out-of-network benefits in order to receive reimbursement for sessions. Often, out-of-network benefits cover anywhere from 70-80% of the full session fee. Check with your insurance company directly to ask about out-of-network benefits.
- Do I have out-of-network benefits for outpatient mental health services?
- What is my out-of-network deductible?
- How much of my deductible has been met this year?
- How much will I be reimbursed for a 45-minute psychotherapy session (CPT code: 90834)?
- How do I submit claim forms for reimbursement?
If you plan to utilize out-of-network benefits, we will provide you with a monthly invoice to submit to your insurance company for reimbursement.
Yes. If you are unable to pay the full session fee and do not have out-of-network benefits, please contact us to discuss a sliding scale rate. We reserve a limited number of sliding scale spots for new clients.
If the sliding scale rate is still not within your budget, we can refer you to other local providers in the area.
24 hours notice is required for all cancellations. Otherwise, you will be charged for the full fee for the canceled or missed session.
At Mindful Mental Health Counseling, we are licensed in New York and New Jersey. Clients must live in either New York or New Jersey to work with our team.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
You deserve support that actually helps. You deserve a space where you can be honest without performing, and practical tools that make a real difference in your daily life.
We work with young adults and college students throughout New York City and New Jersey through secure online therapy sessions. To learn more about scheduling, reach out through our website at www.nycmindfulmentalhealthcounseling.com or contact us directly for a free consultation.
Let’s work together to build the changes you want to see.
Locations:
New York City
New Jersey
At Mindful Mental Health Counseling, the therapeutic experience is designed to be a safe, nonjudgmental space where young adults can be their most authentic selves. Founded by Gianna LaLota, LMHC, the practice emphasizes a “hands-on” and collaborative approach, treating the client as the ultimate expert on their own life. By focusing on the “why” behind unhelpful patterns and people-pleasing behaviors, the practice empowers clients to develop self-compassion and the internal resilience needed to handle life’s transitions with confidence.
