You're Both Trying Hard In Opposite Directions
Neither of you wants to be causing this.
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy for interracial and intercultural couples in New York.
Your Best Effort Is Making It Worse
You’ve both gotten very good at being careful with each other.
Between you there’s a lot of choosing the softer word, and a lot of silence that felt safer than saying it badly.
That’s real effort, and it’s going into protection instead of contact.
Neither of you has said the quiet part yet: I’m doing everything I know how to do, and it’s landing as distance.
You've Been Careful About Who Hears This
Reaching out means handing your relationship to someone who doesn’t have your context.
Someone who could hear about your family and get it wrong in the first ten minutes.
So showing up is already an exposure, before anyone says anything about the arguments.
You’re taking a risk just by showing up.
You’re right to weigh that, and twenty minutes is enough to test it.
You Get To Name What I Bring In
I walk in with a culture of my own, assumptions I didn’t choose, and the power my title carries.
Those shape what I hear when you talk about your families.
You’re entitled to say so when I get one wrong, and correcting me is part of the work.
That’s the floor Emotionally Focused Therapy needs.
What You'll Be Doing Differently Together
The careful thing you say lands on your partner as distance.
Your partner answers with something just as careful, and it lands on you the same way.
That loop is your cycle, and we work it live in the room with me naming each turn out loud.
- Settle a money decision without a three-day silence after it
- Divide a holiday between two families without a standoff
- Decide what your kids get told about both sides
- Split the household load without keeping a private tally
- Walk into a family dinner already on the same side
Your arguments get shorter because you both know what you're actually doing in them.
Three Phases That Change What Happens Between You
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1
Mapping Where It Locks
We map the cycle your arguments run on and find the point where it locks. Your attachment and relational histories come in here, which is what makes your cultural dilemmas specific rather than generic.
You both know where it locks.
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2
Catching It Mid-Cycle
You both learn to spot the cycle while it's running, name it in the moment, and change what comes next. Awareness of your own experience and your partner's gets built together.
The cycle stops finishing itself.
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3
Softening And Reaching
You each get closer to your own attachment needs and learn to reach for your partner from vulnerability. Receiving their reach is a separate skill, built here too.
Reaching stops being the hard part.
Why Trust Me As Your Partner in Healing
Couples Training From The Ackerman Institute
My couples work is built on Emotionally Focused Therapy, trained at the Ackerman Institute for the Family and adapted for the cultural dynamics in your relationship.Years With BIPOC And Queer Couples
I've spent years working with BIPOC and queer couples, so your context arrives already understood instead of needing to be built first.Early Is A Good Time To Start
Coming in early means you get to build the relationship you want on purpose, and that's the work I do best.
Hi, I'm Leecey.
I became a therapist because I believe people deserve to feel worthy and genuinely seen, especially the ones who’ve spent their lives making sure everyone else feels that way first. The thing clients tell me most often is, “I feel seen by you.” That’s the whole point of this work.
My work sits at the intersection of who you are inside and the cultural world you move through. Identity, power, and privilege aren’t side topics in this room. They shape how you show up, what you carry, and what you’re allowed to want, so we treat them as real and worth talking about.
The therapy itself is warm and reflective. We go beneath the surface to understand the patterns running underneath, and I’ll also bring practical tools when you want something concrete to work with between sessions. For couples, that means approaches built to help two people hear each other across very different starting points.
Mostly, I want this to be a place where you don’t have to translate yourself. You can show up as the full, complicated, becoming person you already are, and we’ll make room for her.
Frequently Asked Questions
Emotionally Focused Therapy works on the cycle running underneath your arguments, so what changes holds across all of them.
Noticing starts with me. I name your cycle out loud at first, and that naming shifts to the two of you as we go.
Bring that into the consultation and say it plainly. I’d rather start with an honest split than with both of you performing agreement.
Yes. Plenty of the couples I work with aren’t married, and some come in specifically to set up the marriage they’re planning.
No. We go where your relationship actually is, and identity comes up when it’s live in what you’re describing.
Limited Availability This Month
You Already Know What You'd Say First
Call Now for Your Free ConsultationTake the First Step Today
The hard part of a first call is that one of you has to go first, out loud, with the other one listening.
So I’ll take that off you both. In the free twenty-minute consultation, I ask the questions and you answer what you want to answer.
We’ll cover what’s going on, what each of you is hoping for, and whether I’m the right person for this. That’s the whole first step.
The care is already there. The work is learning where to put it.
What Happens Next?
100% Secure & Confidential
All information is encrypted and protected under HIPAA privacy laws.
Payments & Services
Services are billed on a session-by-session basis. We provide superbills for insurance reimbursement and accept HSA/FSA. No hidden fees – all costs are explained before you begin.