Frequently Asked Questions
General
-
Your first session is an opportunity for us to meet, understand what brings you to therapy, and explore whether our approach feels right for you. We'll discuss your concerns, answer your questions about our process, and begin to sense what your body might be communicating beneath the surface of words.
This initial meeting feels more like a conversation than an interrogation. We're interested in your whole story, including experiences that may feel difficult to articulate. Many people find relief simply in being met with curiosity rather than judgment, presence rather than prescriptions.
You don't need to prepare anything or arrive with a clear agenda. Come as you are. The healing begins with this first moment of connection.
-
Individual therapy sessions are typically 50 minutes. Couples and family sessions are also 50 minutes, though extended 80-minute sessions are available when clinically beneficial for deeper work.
The time we spend together is protected space. Sessions begin and end at scheduled times to honor both your needs and the commitments we've made to other clients.
-
Most clients benefit from weekly sessions, especially when beginning therapy or working through significant challenges. This regular rhythm creates continuity and allows the therapeutic relationship to deepen naturally.
Some clients find that meeting every other week serves them well once they've established momentum in their healing. Others work intensively for periods of time, then transition to less frequent sessions as they integrate what they've learned.
We'll discuss frequency together based on your needs, goals, and what feels most supportive. This can shift over time as your healing unfolds.
-
Not at all. Dance therapy doesn't require dancing in the way most people imagine. You won't be asked to perform choreographed movements or display any particular skill.
Our work begins wherever you are. Sometimes this means simply noticing how your body holds tension or observing the subtle movements that accompany your words. It might involve gentle exploration of breath, posture, or gesture. For some clients, expressive movement becomes a powerful tool. For others, quiet awareness of embodied experience is enough.
The body communicates constantly, whether we're moving or still. We honor whatever form that communication takes.
-
Many clients arrive feeling disconnected from their bodies or uncertain about embodied approaches. This hesitation itself offers valuable information and becomes part of our work together.
We never push anyone beyond their comfort zone. Instead, we create conditions where exploration feels safe and curiosity can emerge naturally. Some people discover that what they thought was discomfort with movement was actually unfamiliarity with being truly present in their bodies.
Our therapists are skilled at meeting you exactly where you are and adapting approaches to honor your unique needs and preferences.
-
Traditional talk therapy works primarily through verbal expression and cognitive processing. While powerful, words sometimes cannot reach experiences held deep in the body, especially preverbal trauma, attachment wounds, or emotions that developed before language.
Our body-mind approach integrates talking with embodied awareness. We listen to what your body communicates through posture, gesture, breath, and movement. We explore how felt experiences shape your sense of self and relationships.
This integration allows healing to happen on multiple levels simultaneously. Changes in how you inhabit your body often precede and support changes in how you think and feel.
-
Absolutely. Children naturally communicate through movement, play, and embodied expression. Our therapists specialize in meeting children in their primary language rather than expecting them to translate complex feelings into words they may not yet have.
We work with clients from infancy through older adulthood, adapting our approaches to each developmental stage. With infants and young children, parents are active participants in the therapeutic process. With older children and adolescents, we create space for both individual expression and family connection.
-
You might resonate with our approach if you've tried traditional therapy and felt something was missing, if you sense your body holds stories your words cannot tell, or if you're drawn to creative and experiential healing methods.
Our work serves people navigating trauma, attachment challenges, grief, anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, and life transitions. We're especially effective with issues others struggle to address, including preverbal experiences, infant mental health concerns, and embodied trauma.
The best way to know if we're right for you is to schedule an initial consultation. Trust what you sense in that first meeting about whether our approach feels aligned with your needs.
About Us
-
Our team brings together specialized expertise in creative arts therapy, dance/movement therapy, EMDR, trauma-informed care, and infant mental health. Each therapist holds advanced degrees and extensive training in approaches that address what many practices cannot reach.
Dr. Suzi Tortora, our founder, pioneered approaches to embodied therapy with infants, children, and families. Dr. Renee Ortega brings international psychology perspectives and bilingual capabilities. Jennifer Sterling combines creative arts therapy with trauma specializations including EMDR and Somatic Experiencing.
Together, we create a collaborative environment where each team member's unique gifts strengthen our collective ability to serve diverse populations.
-
We believe in the body-mind connection rather than the mind-body connection. This isn't just semantic. It reflects our fundamental understanding that the body leads the way to healing, that felt experience precedes and informs cognitive understanding.
Many practices talk about integrating body and mind. We actually do it, drawing on decades of specialized training in modalities that work directly with embodied experience. We address preverbal trauma, attachment disruptions, and issues held in the body that words cannot touch.
Our team's expertise allows us to serve populations and address concerns that others often cannot help. This includes work with infants, complex trauma, and experiences that developed before language.
-
We have two beautiful studio spaces. Our Manhattan office is located at 41 Union Square West, Suite 1528, NYC. Our Cold Spring office is at 1806 Route 9D, Suite 1, Cold Spring, NY
Both spaces are designed to support healing, with natural light, thoughtful aesthetics, and room for both stillness and movement. These aren't typical therapy offices. They're sanctuaries where your body can relax into the process of transformation.
-
Yes, we offer secure video sessions for clients who cannot come to our offices or who prefer remote connection. While embodied work is enhanced by in-person presence, our therapists are skilled at adapting approaches for virtual formats.
Many aspects of body-mind therapy translate effectively to video sessions, including observation of nonverbal communication, breath work, guided movement explorations, and awareness practices.
-
Contact us by phone at (845) 265-1085 or through our website contact form. Our office administrator, Lasha Guzman, will help match you with the therapist whose expertise best aligns with your needs and will schedule your initial consultation.
We respond to inquiries promptly and make the process of beginning therapy as simple and welcoming as possible.
Our Services
-
We offer individual therapy for all ages from infancy through older adulthood, couples therapy, family therapy, and parenting support. Our approaches include dance/movement therapy, art therapy, EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, mindfulness-based practices, and trauma-informed care.
Each therapist brings multiple specializations, allowing us to create integrative treatment plans tailored to your unique needs. You're not limited to a single modality. We draw from various approaches to support your healing most effectively.
-
Yes. Relationship patterns live in our bodies as much as in our minds. How we move toward or away from each other, how we breathe in moments of connection or conflict, how our bodies respond to our partners, these embodied dynamics shape our relationships profoundly.
We help couples and families develop new ways of being together by working with both verbal and nonverbal communication. This creates shifts that talking alone often cannot achieve.
-
This is one of our core specializations. Dr. Tortora has pioneered approaches to infant mental health and parent-child attachment through embodied therapy. We address concerns including attachment difficulties, postpartum adjustment, developmental delays, and preverbal trauma.
With infants and young children, we work through the parent-child relationship, supporting caregivers to attune to their child's embodied communication while addressing their own needs and concerns.
-
We offer wellness classes that provide community connection and practical tools for emotional regulation, creative expression, and embodied awareness. These classes range from caregiver support groups to movement-based wellness sessions.
Topics and formats vary seasonally. Contact us to learn about current offerings.
-
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based therapy particularly effective for trauma. It helps the brain process difficult experiences that have become stuck, reducing their emotional intensity and power.
Jennifer Sterling is certified in EMDR and integrates it with creative arts approaches for comprehensive trauma treatment. EMDR can be powerful for single-incident trauma, complex trauma, and experiences that feel too overwhelming to process through talk therapy alone.
Our Specialties
-
Preverbal trauma refers to experiences that occurred before we had language to understand or describe them. This includes trauma from infancy, medical procedures in early childhood, attachment disruptions, or any overwhelming experience that predates our ability to create narrative memory.
These experiences live in the body rather than in conscious memory. Traditional talk therapy struggles to reach them because they were never encoded in words. Our embodied approaches can access and heal these deep wounds by working directly with how the body holds and communicates these experiences.
-
We understand trauma as an experience held in the whole body-mind-emotion continuum, not just in thoughts or memories. Trauma changes how we inhabit our bodies, how we breathe, how we move through the world, and how we relate to others.
Our trauma-informed approaches include EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, dance/movement therapy, and creative arts modalities. We create safety first, then gently help your nervous system release what it's been holding. This allows integration and healing at a pace that honors your needs.
-
Attachment patterns are fundamentally embodied. How we were held, touched, and responded to as infants shapes how we experience connection throughout our lives. These patterns live in our bodies as much as in our relationship templates.
We work with attachment across the lifespan, from infant-parent relationships through adult partnership challenges. Our embodied approaches can address attachment wounds that developed before words existed, creating new experiences of secure connection.
-
We serve clients from infancy through older adulthood. Our therapists specialize in different developmental stages while sharing core training in embodied approaches.
Infant and early childhood work focuses on parent-child relationships and developmental concerns. Children and adolescents engage through play, movement, and creative expression. Adults explore how embodied patterns developed early in life continue to shape their present experience.
-
Yes. Anxiety and depression manifest in the body as much as in thoughts and feelings. Anxiety might show up as shallow breathing, muscular tension, or restless movement. Depression might appear as heaviness, collapse in posture, or a sense of being disconnected from physical sensation.
Working with these embodied expressions often creates shifts that complement and deepen the benefits of addressing cognitive and emotional patterns. Many clients find that changes in how they inhabit their bodies support lasting relief from symptoms.
Fees/Insurance
-
We operate as out-of-network providers, which means we don't bill insurance companies directly. This allows us to focus entirely on your healing without limitations or constraints imposed by insurance requirements.
Many clients receive substantial reimbursement through their out-of-network mental health benefits. We provide detailed superbills containing all information your insurance company needs for reimbursement, and we're happy to help you understand your benefits.
-
Session fees vary by therapist and service type. Individual therapy sessions are [fee amount]. Couples and family sessions are [fee amount]. Extended sessions when clinically appropriate are [fee amount].
These fees reflect our team's extensive specialized training, advanced degrees, and expertise in areas most practitioners cannot address. We're transparent about costs from the beginning so you can make informed decisions about your care.
-
Many insurance plans include out-of-network mental health benefits that reimburse a percentage of session fees. Reimbursement rates typically range from 50% to 80%, though this varies significantly by plan.
We encourage you to call your insurance company before beginning therapy to ask specific questions about your out-of-network benefits, deductible, and reimbursement percentage. This allows you to plan for the financial aspects of therapy with confidence.
-
A superbill is a detailed receipt containing all information your insurance company requires for reimbursement. It includes provider credentials, diagnosis codes, CPT codes for services rendered, dates of service, and payment information.
We provide superbills after each session. You submit them directly to your insurance company, giving you complete control over what information, if any, is shared with your insurer.
-
We understand that investing in specialized care represents a significant commitment. If you have concerns about managing fees, please discuss this with your therapist or our office administrator. We want financial considerations to support rather than hinder your healing journey.
-
We require 24 hours advance notice for cancellations or rescheduling. Sessions cancelled with less than 24 hours notice or missed without notification are charged the full session fee. Insurance companies do not reimburse for missed appointments.
We understand unexpected circumstances arise and ask that you contact us as soon as possible if you need to cancel or reschedule.
-
Yes, therapy services typically qualify for Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Account reimbursement. These accounts allow you to use pre-tax dollars for healthcare expenses, effectively reducing the cost of your care.
Check with your account administrator to confirm eligibility and reimbursement procedures for your specific plan.