Mindful Psychotherapy NYC

Specializing in treating depression, sadness, stress, anxiety, worry, and chronic conditions

We specialize in the Evidence-Based, Mindful Way to Mental Health

We start with a 20-minute Chat/Consult. We discuss an approach that makes sense for you. Then we begin sessions, usually 45 minutes in length, on Zoom.

We bring a very hopeful perspective to psychotherapy. When working in the present much change is possible. Looking at the past can be helpful too, and we do that as needed, but we believe and know that change happens in the present. With mindfulness, mental health is a reasonable goal.

And mindfulness is awareness of the present, in a certain way, that opens up possibilities.

We practice with an evidence-based method of bringing mindfulness to thoughts, emotions and present experience in a way that encourages change and personal progress.

Depression

Often depression carries with it a belief of personal unworthiness, and a sense that “I can’t” do the things I need to do, that I can’t make the changes that will bring me better health. With evidence-based mindfulness we bring focus to the present, where change is always possible. With depression we practice imagining personal effectiveness and we practice learning to tolerate emotions so they can flow through rather than get blocked and overwhelming.

Anxiety

Anxiety tends to have a future focus, with thoughts like “this or that” will happen to me. With evidence-based, mindful treatment we bring attention to the present, enrich the present through mindful seeing, mindful listening, mindful hearing. We learn to sit with the peace that is possible in us when we focus on the present.

We learn to enrich our present awareness so we are not so caught in future worries. And of course we learn to create a safe space in which we can bring in fears and understand them, and in which we can gain perspective on things and realize we have many more possiblities for action than we ever imagined. With this understanding we can take actions that reduce future.

Stress

Jon Kabat-Zinn liked to say “As long as you’re breathing, there’s more right with us than wrong with us.” He also liked to ask, “What time is it?” and acted surprised when people told him the clock-time. His meaning was that it is Always NOW. In this NOW we learn to feel and tolerate our anxious feelings and emotions. We reduce our stress by learning a more balanced view of things, and by living life more healthily. Kabat-Zinn created the evidence-based Mindfulness Based - Stress Reduction more than 30 years ago to help people deal with their stress.

Out of that grew Mindfulness Based - Cognitive Therapy, which brought mindfulness and meditation to the therapy world.

Chronic health conditions

The same approach that helps so much with anxiety and depression also is effective with chronic conditions. Research is ongoing in this area. We already have research on application of Mindful Therapy to cancer patients, people with diabetes, people with tinnitus, people with pain, and more.

Reviews

“I have been in therapy on and off for years, and I feel I made more progress in 2 months than I did in all that time.” (Workshop participant)

“Donald Fleck is a very caring and skilled practitioner of mindfulness based - cognitive therapy. This type of meditation has literally changed my life and I am grateful to Donald for his work.”

(Psychiatrist colleague) I have been collaborating with Donald Fleck for several years now. He is personable, responsive, extremely professional, and a pleasure to work with. His mindfulness teachings have been invaluable to my clients and have helped improve refractory depressive and anxiety symptoms. I highly recommend him as a clinician and colleague.

Don Fleck has been an important, compassionate guide to introducing me to Mindfuless Based Cognitive therapy and continuing to guide us.

Working with Donald saved my life. Losing my father was a life changing event and I found myself in the deepest level of grief, bordering the unthinkable. Donald, in his mastery and wisdom, has helped me learn to live again. He is a kind, gentle and very patient psychotherapist and has taught me the tools to stay grounded. I am deeply grateful for his care and support. (5/22)

Our goal is a Healthy and Mindful NYC

We bring together mindfulness and psychotherapy so that many people can learn to work with their moods and emotions, and so that they can learn a perspective from which they can take considered actions that are more personally helpful than the reactive actions that drive many lives.

About Donald

Founder Donald Fleck, LCSW, DCSW. Donald holds the credential of Diplomate in Clinical Social Work (DCSW), earned through much more training than the minimum required for practice. Donald had been combining therapy and mindfulness for 15 years. He has fine-tuned his approach in groups and with individuals. He wrote a book on bringing group-based mindfulness into individual psychotherapy, endorsed by Zindel Segal, PhD, co-creator of Mindfulness Based - Cognitive Therapy. He has led 50 groups and 40 days of mindfulness in this period. And he is gratified to have trained 6 psychotherapists in this method. More on Donald.

We start with a free online chat

To book your chat, please include a date that works for you (at least 48 hours from now) on the contact form the button below will bring you to.