About Alyssa Fradenburg
I am a New York State and New Jersey State licensed psychotherapist and nationally certified counselor in practice in New York City, NY, and Hunterdon County, NJ, where I offer individual psychotherapy to adults. I have over twenty years of experience working with a variety of mental health issues in addition to other areas of specialty, which include LGBTQI+, HIV/AIDS, chronic health, complex trauma, emerging and young adults, and alternative lifestyles.
I have a growing interest in exploring identity and the importance of feeling grounded in a realized self. This can be challenging if parts of the internal experience are not accepted by the culture, family, religion, overreaching social views, or even the other parts of the self. I have years of experience working within the LGBTQI+ community, along with being a kink-aware and kink-knowledgeable practitioner.
I hold a master’s degree in Social Work from Hunter College’s esteemed College of Social Work. My post-master’s training includes one year of Advanced Clinical Practice from NYU, a two-year certificate in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy training from The Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy, and a two-year certificate in Trauma Studies from Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis.
I have worked primarily with severe and persistent mental illness, chronic health, substance abuse, and poverty within marginalized populations. I began my private practice in 2011 while continuing agency work, where I provided long-term psychotherapy to adults living with HIV/AIDS. I have additional limited training in specialized modalities, including cognitive-based interventions, mindfulness-based interventions, Internal Family Systems, Integral Somatic Psychology, and harm reduction.
In addition to my training and years of experience, I draw upon my Buddhist practice, in particular the benefits of being increasingly mindful and aware, how we create much of our suffering through thought, and our wonderful capacity toward change. John Welwood says it well in his book, Toward a Psychology of Awakening:
“Our natural healing resources become mobilized only when we see and feel the truth — the untold suffering we cause ourselves and others by rejecting our experience, thus shutting down our capacity to be fully present. When we recognize this, our dis-ease starts to become conscious suffering. As our suffering becomes more conscious, it starts to awaken our desire and will to live in a new way.”
Trainings
New York University School of Social Work
Post Master’s Certificate Program in Advanced Clinical Practice
September 2006 - May 2007
The Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy
Contemporary Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Certificate
September 2007 - September 2009
Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis
Two-Year Certificate Program in Trauma Studies
September 2017 - December 2019