Audrey kucer, PH.D

licensed Clinical Psychologist

As a psychotherapist, it is a privilege to be invited into the intimate worlds of young people and their families. My approach is intentionally integrative, pulling from various evidenced-based psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral treatments as needed; however, my foundational clinical training in attachment research and relational psychoanalysis at The New School colors all aspects of my work. This perspective focuses on one of our most primary needs for survival, from birth and beyond: the need for relationships.  The therapy space provides an opportunity for the strongest form of learning, experiential, to help individuals fulfill that need in a different and more effective manner. My experience moving from Montreal, Canada to New York City also shaped this lens. My roots in Montreal are deep, cemented by family, culture and language. French, Hebrew and Yiddish are woven into all aspects of my formative life and relationships. There was so much about my identity and my environment that helped with this transition, and at the same time, building new community from the ground up required me to tap into a resilience and adaptability that I repeatedly draw on in my work.

I treat individuals with mood disorders, anxiety, OCD, trauma, ADHD, ASD, and learning disabilities. I work with neurodiversity in a few different roles: psychotherapy, executive functioning coaching, and neuropsychological evaluations. When working with individuals with unique or complex cognitive profiles, I find it very effective to draw from all these roles, using a highly systemic approach that incorporates work with parents, teachers and tutors, and involves participation in the IEP process. For neurodiverse individuals, the therapeutic context is an invaluable space to foster self-understanding, appreciation and respect for how your brain works, as well as unique ways to meet academic, social and emotional goals. Invaluable to this success, is making space for parents to develop self-compassion and a deeper understanding of their experience in their relationship with their child. Guiding children through stages of live in a world that wasn’t quite designed for them can be stressful and shame-inducing. Parents need practical strategies and skills to support their children’s success, and at the same time, a deep awareness and compassion for their own experiences is an important and sometimes overlooked foundation.

I am also a big believer in the power of creative outlets, whether through art, movement, or play. This is especially true for children, whose language of emotional expression is play. Dance has been my personal source of release and expression since childhood. In a culture loaded with academic-related pressures, prioritizing and protecting intrinsically rewarding artistic endeavors has both therapeutic benefits and provides a rich source of self-esteem.

While my approach to treatment is bottom-up and values artistic and creative expression, it is also very much research driven. I have had the opportunity to conduct and contribute to psychotherapy research evaluating attachment- and mentalization-based interventions focused on enhancing patient-child relationships and child development. The process of conducting research in a team mirrors my approach to providing therapy for children and their families. Both involve collaboratively testing a series of hypotheses, and then evaluating and revising them in a way that privileges parents’ expert knowledge of their children.

Contact Dr. KUCER

Dr. Kucer can be reached directly at

akucer@heightspsychologycollective.com

Dr. Kucer works out of the Heights Psychology Collective offices at 44 Court Street in Brooklyn Heights.