About Erica Gardner-Schuster, Ph.D
As someone considering therapy, you are taking an important step toward building a more fulfilling life. In the therapy room, I create an empathic, safe, warm, and caring space where I will work with you to explore your life priorities, purpose, and goals, address sources of distress, gain insight, and bring about meaningful and lasting change.
As your therapist, I will help you grow, heal, navigate challenging situations, learn new ways of coping with stress, gain resilience, and better understand yourself and how you want to live. Ultimately, you will feel happier and more hopeful, more satisfied with your relationships and life choices, and more confident and empowered to tackle obstacles to living the life you want to be living.
My Approach
I listen closely to your unique experiences and work collaboratively with you to tailor treatment to your individual needs. I work within an integrative framework that draws from psychodynamic, relational, and humanistic traditions while incorporating coping skills from Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to give you the tools to actively address current sources of distress. My areas of specialization include relationships, life transitions, professional development, leadership, creative and artistic pursuits, family conflict, trauma, loss, anxiety, depression, women’s experiences, multicultural experiences, and identity.
Professional Background
Prior to joining Madison Park Psychological Services, I worked at Bellevue Hospital Center, The Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, Mount Sinai-Beth Israel Medical Center, Maimonides Medical Center, The New School Counseling and Psychological Services, South Beach Psychiatric Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Germaine Lawrence Treatment Center’s Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Mindfulness-based programs; and McLean Hospital’s Intensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) programs.
I have held various positions of organizational, editorial, and academic leadership and expertise, with specialties in systems-based therapy, including group therapy and couples therapy. These have included as Faculty of Group Therapy and Psychology at The New School for Social Research, The New School of Public Engagement, and Parson’s School of Design; Guest Lecturer at New York University; President of the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society (EGPS); Associate Editor of the journal GROUP; Column Editor of the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA)’s Group Circle; and on the Board of Directors of the New York State Psychological Association’s Division of Group Psychology and Psychotherapy.
I was awarded my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology by The New School for Social Research. There, I also earned a Master’s degree in Psychology with a concentration in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Counseling. I hold a B.A. with a double major in Psychology and Comparative Literature and Society, with a focus on international, multicultural, and immigrant experiences, from Columbia University.
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We tailor our treatment approach based on your needs, and we match you with the
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