Simona Ostrow, LMHC

Simona Ostrow is a licensed mental health counselor in New York who helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, career concerns, and big life changes. She also supports people dealing with caregiver strain, chronic illness or pain, loneliness, workplace issues, and questions about life purpose. Her approach centers on practical steps people can use between sessions to feel steadier in day-to-day life.

Simona draws on about 20 years of professional experience and uses straightforward, evidence-informed methods. She prefers clear goals and simple tools that fit into a busy schedule. Sessions are conversational and focused on small, achievable changes rather than long lectures.

She often uses techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy, which looks at how thoughts affect feelings and actions. She also incorporates ideas from dialectical behavior therapy to help with emotional regulation and coping skills. Simona works with each person to pick the tools that feel most useful for their situation.

People who come to her can expect a calm, practical tone in sessions. She values collaboration and treats clients as the expert on their own lives. Simona checks messages a few times per day Monday through Thursday and asks for patience when responses take a bit longer.

Her practice serves English speakers in New York. If someone wants to start, they follow the site’s process to match with her and schedule an initial session. The focus is on helping people build daily routines and communication habits that reduce stress and improve mood.

How CBT and DBT inform online care

Simona commonly uses cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps identify unhelpful thoughts and teaches concrete actions to change feelings and behavior. CBT can be useful for anxiety, depression, and workplace stress because it focuses on small, testable changes.

She also draws on dialectical behavior therapy skills to teach emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and better interpersonal communication. DBT skills are practical tools people can use when emotions feel overwhelming or when relationships create repeated conflict.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss goals and preferences, try out a few methods, and adjust the plan based on what helps. Clients and the therapist decide together which techniques to keep using.

Session formats are not specified here, so confirm available options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit appointments into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow for shorter check-ins when needed. It also makes it possible to practice skills between sessions in real-world settings and bring those experiences back to therapy for feedback and refinement.