Who We Are
Blending rigorous expertise, a collaborative mindset, and an expansive outlook, our approach welcomes a broad spectrum of adults, adolescents, and children seeking individual, couples, and family therapy.
We tailor each treatment to the specific needs of the individuals, families and couples seeking our help.
Eugenia Cherkasskaya, PhD
Dr. Cherkasskaya has over a decade of experience providing psychotherapy and evaluation to adults, adolescents, couples, and families in a range of settings.
Max Malitzky, PsyD, FIPA
Dr. Malitzky is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst who works primarily with adults, couples and older adolescents.
Sarah Brennan, PhD
Dr. Brennan is a clinical psychologist with years of experience working with adults, adolescents, children, families and couples.
Nick Galef, PsyD
Dr. Galef is a clinical psychologist who works with adults, children, couples, and families.
Aniella Perold, PhD
Dr. Perold is a clinical psychologist who harnesses her range of experiences supporting and understanding the difficulties of adults, children, families and couples to help create meaningful change.
Batya Weinstein, PsyD
Dr. Batya Weinstein is a clinical psychologist offering individual therapy for adolescents, adults, couples, and families.
Rachel Quintas, PhD
Dr. Rachel Quintas is a clinical psychologist providing psychotherapy for adults, adolescents, and couples.
Jessica Nadel, PhD
Dr. Jessica Nadel is a clinical psychologist who works with adults, adolescents, children, families, and couples.
Richard Glisker, PhD
Dr. Richard Glisker is a clinical psychologist providing psychotherapy for adults, adolescents, couples, and families struggling with anxiety, depression, interpersonal problems, trauma, and other difficulties.
Beatrice Owens
Beatrice Owens is a healthcare administrator with extensive experience facilitating the administrative processes of psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals across New York City.
Eugenia Cherkasskaya, PhD
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Eugenia Cherkasskaya has over a decade of experience providing psychotherapy and evaluation to adults, adolescents, couples, and families in a range of settings, including university counseling centers, community mental health clinics, outpatient and inpatient city hospitals, and long-term inpatient state psychiatric hospitals.
Dr. Cherkasskaya’s expertise and training lie in the areas of personality disorders, trauma, sexuality, as well as in parenting and adolescent development. Grounded in psychoanalytic theory as a framework for understanding the human experience, she draws upon other therapeutic tools such as mindfulness and emotion regulation skills building, as each patient requires an individual and integrative approach. Her overarching aim in therapy is to help patients to gain a better understanding of themselves and their relationships while developing the necessary coping strategies to move through the world with a sense of ease, safety, and stability.
Dr. Cherkasskaya earned her doctorate in clinical psychology from the Graduate Center and City College of the City University of New York, completed a clinical psychology internship at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Counseling and Psychological Services at Columbia University. She subsequently served as a staff psychologist at Columbia University where she provided evaluations, short-term and long-term psychotherapy, couples therapy, and group therapy to graduate and undergraduate students and was part of the trauma team as well as the sex and gender identity team. As part of her contribution to outreach and psycho-educational efforts, she developed a program for students who were coping with the stresses and traumas of doing international fieldwork, particularly in the humanitarian and development sectors.
Dr. Cherkasskaya trained at Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP), an empirically based psychodynamic treatment for personality disorders. She is currently an instructor and supervisor in the training and consultation program at TFP-NY.
Dr. Cherkasskaya also completed introductory coursework in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) at the Ackerman Institute for the Family as well as a course in Psychoanalytic Couples Therapy at the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute.
Dr. Cherkasskaya presents and writes on the psychological processes involved in women’s experience of sexual desire.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
• Cherkasskaya, E., & Rosario, M. (2019). Relational and Bodily Experiences Theory: Attachment and Sociocultural Influences in a Parsimonious Model of Sexual Desire in Women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 48, 1719-1722. 10.1007/s10508-019-01492-1.
• Cherkasskaya, E., & Rosario, M. (2019). The Relational and Bodily Experiences Theory of Sexual Desire in Women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 48, 1659-1681. 10.1007/s10508-018-1212-9.
• Cherkasskaya, E. & Rosario, M. (2017). A model of female sexual desire: Internalized working models of parent–child relationships and sexual body self-representations. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46, 2429-2444. 10.1007/s10508-016-0899-8.
• Cherkasskaya, E. (November 2015). The phenomenology of sexual desire in women withinhibited & heightened sexuality: A qualitative study. Presentation at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Omaha, NE.
• Cherkasskaya, E. (November 2014). Re-considering female sexual desire: Internalizedrepresentations of parental relationships and sexual self-concept in women with inhibited andheightened sexual desire. Presentation at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Tampa, FL.
• Cherkasskaya, E., & Wachtel, P. L. (2013). Psykoterapi integrasjon: Historie ognåværende status[Psychotherapy integration: History and current status]. In: E. Axelsen Dalsgaard, K. Benum, & E. Hartmann, Hva er god psykoterapi? Integrering av teori, klinisk erfaring og forskning i det terapeutiske rom [What characterizes psychotherapy that works? Integration of theory, clinical experience, and research in the therapy room]. Oslo: Pax Forlag.
• Cherkasskaya, E., Constantine, S., & Pervil, I. (August 2013). Dual worlds: The adaptive and defensive nature of relational technology in treatment. Paper presented as part of a Symposium,“Blurred Lines: Relational Technology in the Therapy Room,” at the American PsychologicalAssociation Annual Convention 2013, Honolulu, HI.
• Cherkasskaya, E. (April 2013). Female sexual desire on a spectrum: Effects of early parent-child relations & sexual self-concept. Poster presented at the Fourth Annual All-PsychologyResearch Day, Graduate Center, City University of New York, NY.
• Cherkasskaya, E. (November 2012). Female sexual desire on a spectrum: Effects of early parent-child relations & sexual self-concept. Poster presented at the Annual Conference of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality 2012, Tampa, FL.
Max Malitzky, PsyD, FIPA
Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst
Dr. Max Malitzky is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst who works primarily with adults, couples, and older adolescents (ages 16-19). He trained as a psychologist at Rutgers (Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology—GSAPP), while concurrently pursuing psychoanalytic training at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR), where he is currently a faculty member and supervisor.
Dr. Malitzky approaches treatment within a psychoanalytic framework and incorporates tools and techniques from other approaches, particularly trauma focused modalities like prolonged exposure (PE). Because his primary orientation is psychoanalytic, Dr. Malitzky values long-term, intensive work focused on unconscious dynamics and early development, while maintaining a sensitivity to the specific needs of his patients.
Dr. Malitzky has particular expertise in working with LGBTQ+ identified individuals and couples, especially in the areas of sexual inhibition and dysfunction. He also works with patients from closed, often religious communities, who are seeking to understand the impact of their unique backgrounds upon their current lives, and also holds an interest and expertise in religion and working with patients who consider themselves religious or spiritual.
Over the last several years, Dr. Malitzky has had the opportunity to work with a large number of college aged students, and appreciates their particular needs and challenges. Dr. Malitzky has given presentations at IPTAR, the Annual meetings of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the the American Psychological Association, and the Congress of the International Psychoanalytic Association, of which he is a fellow.
Sarah Brennan, PhD
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Brennan is a clinical psychologist with years of experience working with adults, adolescents, children, families and couples. She earned her doctorate in clinical psychology from Long Island University - Brooklyn, completed her internship at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the treatment of trauma at Mount Sinai Morningside.
Dr. Brennan has expertise in treating a wide range of psychological issues including trauma, relationship and intimacy difficulties, family conflict, personality disorders, mood and psychotic disorders, and emotional disturbance in children and adolescents.
Recognizing that insight is sometimes not enough, Dr. Brennan carefully tailors treatments to each patient's needs through a combination of exploration and more active interventions. She has extensive training in psychodynamic, family systems, play and couples therapy techniques, and is also DBT certified.
Nick Galef, PsyD
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Galef is a clinical psychologist who works with adults, children, couples, and families. He has worked within a variety of clinical settings, including inpatient and outpatient units at public and private hospitals, community mental health centers, and college counseling clinics.
He earned his doctorate from the Graduate Institute of Professional Psychology at the University of Hartford and completed his clinical psychology internship at Penn Medicine-Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Galef’s training includes an emphasis on working with trauma, personality disorders, and the psychological aspects of cancer and other medical illnesses, although he also has years of experience working with mood and psychotic disorders, grief, concerns related to gender and sexuality, relationship and occupational dissatisfaction, and family issues.
Dr. Galef’s approach is primarily grounded in psychoanalytic theory and he views psychotherapy as a process of finding new ways to understand your current predicament and your reaction to it, and what is getting in the way of you progressing to where you would like to be. Dr. Galef believes that an open, non-judgmental space in which to express the full range of your experiences is essential for personal growth, and that it can be a powerful thing to learn experientially that you can survive any corner of your mind.
Dr. Galef’s research is on different subtypes of PTSD amongst World Trade Center responders and how these different symptomatic presentations are related to individual personality traits. He maintains an interest in how character informs our responses to traumatic events and, reciprocally, how trauma influences character as we develop.
Aniella Perold, PhD
Dr. Aniella Perold is a clinical psychologist who harnesses her range of experiences supporting and understanding the difficulties of adults, children, families and couples to help create meaningful change.
Dr. Perold earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at The New School for Social Research, where her research focused on parents and children and the impact of early attachment relationships on the development of self and body image. She has years of experience providing psychotherapy and diagnostic services in a range of hospital and clinic settings, including Mount Sinai Beth Israel and NYU. She completed her predoctoral internship at The National Institute for the Psychotherapies, where she provided psychodynamic treatment to adults seeking help with complex and acute trauma, issues around identity (in terms of culture, race, sexuality and gender), anxiety, depression, and relationship difficulties. In her work with adults, Dr. Perold helps explore and address patterns that impact the person’s ability to sense and get what they need out of their relationships, work, and creative life.
Dr. Perold has worked for many years supporting neurodivergent children and young adults academically as an in-home executive functioning coach. She also conducted research embedded in a New York City public school, focused on patterns in children’s relationships with their caretakers, peers and teachers. Thanks to these experiences, Dr. Perold possesses a unique, on-the-ground understanding of how family relationships, learning and school experiences, and children’s emotional/behavioral problems intersect. She brings this understanding to her therapeutic work with families and children, where her approach is warm, playful, steady, and pragmatic. Dr. Perold works to contain and make comprehensible intense feelings and challenging behaviors that can compromise family connection.
Batya Weinstein, PsyD
Dr. Batya Weinstein is a clinical psychologist offering individual therapy for adolescents, adults, couples, and families.
Dr. Weinstein earned her doctorate in clinical psychology from Long Island University. She completed her clinical internship at SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital where she provided both short and long-term individual psychotherapy, facilitated Dialectical Behavior Therapy groups, conducted psychological testing, and provided psychotherapy to patients on the inpatient psychiatric unit and physical medicine and rehabilitation unit, respectively. She also has extensive clinical experience at a range of outpatient and inpatient sites including The New York Psychoanalytic Institute and Mount Sinai Hospital.
Dr. Weinstein specializes in personality disorders, complex trauma, transition/adjustment, issues of acculturation, and separation/individuation issues. She also works with individuals identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community and can help patients navigate issues related to sex and gender. Additionally, she has experience helping individuals who have left insular religious communities or those who are grappling with their religious identities.
Dr. Weinstein primarily works from a psychoanalytic perspective, aiming to facilitate deep character change in addition to addressing the alleviation of symptoms. She provides a space in which her patients can put words to complex feelings and experiences that might have been previously too difficult or unacceptable to acknowledge and express. In addition, she incorporates other approaches such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) to help her patients regulate their emotions and behavior.
Dr. Weinstein believes in the transformative power of psychotherapy. She aims to foster healing relationships with her patients and facilitates their growth by helping them develop authenticity and agency in constructing a life that is both satisfying and meaningful.
Rachel Quintas, PhD
Dr. Rachel Quintas is a clinical psychologist providing psychotherapy for adults, adolescents, and couples who are seeking help with depressed mood and anxiety, relationship difficulties, professional and academic struggles, and issues concerning different facets of identity.
She focuses particularly on interpersonal and systemic trauma, mistrust, and the process of building safety and intimacy. Dr. Quintas is well-versed in dynamics of sexual and gender identity and in working with LGBTQI individuals.
She completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at Long Island University - Brooklyn and her predoctoral internship at Bellevue Hospital Center, where she worked with the inpatient, outpatient, psychiatric emergency department, and the World Trade Center Survivor programs. There she developed a therapy group for individuals who needed regular contact with the healthcare system, yet recognized the tension of power imbalances and systemic injustices in their treatments. Dr. Quintas's dissertation studied therapists' wish to see themselves and their institutions as fair and "good," and the impact of this thinking on their patients who had experienced discrimination. Dr. Quintas is currently a UN Representative with the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI; Division 9 of the American Psychological Association), as well as a primary care psychologist for NYC Health + Hospitals at Gotham Health in Bushwick.
Dr. Quintas's work is humanistic, relational, and systems-focused, with a recognition that (in the words of Harry Stack Sullivan), "we are all much more simply human than otherwise." She values warmth, transparency, and the uniqueness of each individual - and therefore the uniqueness of each person's therapy journey - who enters her office.
Jessica Nadel, PhD
Dr. Jessica Nadel is a clinical psychologist who works with adults, adolescents, children, families, and couples.
Dr. Nadel holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University – Brooklyn. She has a variety of experience providing psychotherapy to individuals in psychoanalytic institute, foster care, elementary school, college counseling, inpatient psychiatric, and outpatient hospital settings. She completed her predoctoral internship training at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies, where she provided psychodynamic psychotherapy to adults to help address issues of posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, existential questions, career shifts, and insecurities related to vulnerability and building relationships.
Dr. Nadel’s experience extends to working with children, adressing learning, social, and emotional differences in elementary school, as well as supporting children and adolescents with histories of trauma, anxiety, and emotion dysregulation. This blend of experiences informs her work with adults as well, emphasizing the importance of building safe and trusting therapeutic relationships that facilitate deep understanding across all ages.
In her collaborative approach, Dr. Nadel aims to foster an emotional environment that empowers her patients to delve into their thoughts, feelings, and unconscious motivations. Dr. Nadel is dedicated to helping her patients build more fulfilling lives, guiding them on a journey towards self-discovery and growth.
Richard Glisker, PhD
Dr. Richard Glisker is a clinical psychologist providing psychotherapy for adults, adolescents, couples, and families struggling with anxiety, depression, interpersonal problems, trauma, and other difficulties.
He helps patients explore and work through issues related to dating and romantic life, family dynamics, professional and academic difficulties, and identity-related issues. He has expertise working with LGBTQ+ individuals and issues related to gender and sexuality.
Dr. Glisker seeks to tailor therapy to the unique needs of each patient, whether they are navigating significant professional or personal transitions, working on relationship issues, feeling “stuck” in some area of their life, or exploring aspects of their own identities in terms of culture, society, gender, and sexuality.
Dr. Glisker earned his doctorate at Long Island University – Brooklyn and completed his clinical internship training at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. Dr. Glisker is a VA Advanced Fellow in Mental Illness Research and Treatment at the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Mount Sinai School of Medicine researching novel interventions for serious mental illness and suicide prevention.