About

Elizabeth Milano, LCSW

Elizabeth Milano, LCSW


Areas of Expertise:

  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Stress
  • Overwhelming/ BIG Emotions
  • Mood disorders
  • Relationship difficulties
  • Career related burnout
  • Self esteem, self image & self love issues
  • Trauma

Areas of Focus:

Emotion Regulation

In therapy, I help you to better understand yourself, learn how to show yourself more compassion and take action to balance and improve your mood. I teach strategies to help you decrease the frequency of anxiety, depression and frustration.

When you don’t feel in control of your emotions it is difficult to have an enjoyable life, be productive and have healthy relationships with other people. Emotion Regulation techniques help you rewire your brain to decrease the frequency and intensity of emotional pain.

Improving Relationships & Communication

Therapy can help you better understand how you relate to your significant other, family, friends, coworkers and strangers. In sessions we work together to identify your patterns in relationships, communication and interpersonal boundaries.

Therapy can also help you to understand your “attachment style” or the way you connect to others in relationships. I help people to clarify their own legitimate wants and needs in relationships while working to decrease the frequency of unhelpful relationship dynamics like taking things personally, people pleasing behavior, being emotionally reactive or interpreting others behavior in a negative way. Sessions may also focus on developing more supportive connections and navigating workplace dynamics.

Human beings thrive when they have meaningful connections. Healthy and fulfilling relationships are essential to your happiness, success and wellbeing. Cultivating healthy relationships can drastically improve your life and help you to feel more supported, more confident and happier.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness encourages a focus on the present moment- observing your thoughts, feelings and actions rather than ignoring your inner experience and operating on autopilot. Mindfulness helps you to feel more in control of your life and allows you to make healthier choices. It’s a key factor in changing unhelpful patterns.

Mindfulness also encourages a focus on sensory experience, teaching grounding techniques to regulate the nervous system. This helps to reintegrate the body and mind, which can become disconnected due to anxiety, depression, trauma or stress. I teach mindfulness techniques which help to decrease judgmental thinking and increase your awareness and acceptance of yourself, others and your life circumstances.

If you’re experiencing anxiety you may notice yourself feeling stressed or nervous about what could go wrong, anticipating bad things that might happen in the future. You may also notice yourself reliving the past, thinking back on regrets or yearning for “how things used to be.” Mindfulness can help you avoid these unhelpful patterns by living in the present and maximizing the happiness you experience now.

Coping with Intense Emotions

I support people dealing with overwhelming emotions by providing space and time to process painful, intense feelings. Therapy sessions may explore how you are currently coping with intense emotions, the impact of your current strategies for handling your feelings and education about additional healthy coping skills. Together we discover what coping strategies are most useful and which ways of responding to your emotions may be detrimental to your wellbeing.

Sessions integrate a variety of techniques such as mind-body strategies for slowing down the nervous system and inducing relaxation, strategies focused on changing unhelpful thought patterns and mindsets, perspective building, behavior changes and a focus on self compassion, self validation and supportive self talk.

While you may be trying very hard to battle anxiety, depression, stress or trauma- without access to a safe place to process your feelings, support, insight and new strategies to handle your emotions it can be nearly impossible to feel better. The support, insight and techniques taught in therapy can help.

Self Esteem & Self Love

Numerous factors can damage the relationships people have with themselves. Past trauma, neglect, abandonment or abuse can shift individual’s beliefs about whether they are inherently lovable, “good”, worthy or deserving of happiness. Family roles, cultural dynamics and social systems also play a role in shaping individuals beliefs about what they deserve and their value as a human being.

Issues with self love can lead to perfectionism, narcissism, social anxiety, depression, unhealthy relationship dynamics, personality disorders, stress, self harm and addiction. I help you improve your relationship with yourself by illuminating the root causes of your negative beliefs about yourself. We work together to help you build healthy, stable self esteem.

Having a positive relationship with yourself is a core component of mental wellbeing, happiness and stability. Truly loving and accepting yourself can lead to increased resilience, life satisfaction, professional success and healthier relationships with others.

Therapeutic Approach

I love helping people and genuinely care about the people I treat in therapy.  You will feel warmth, compassion and comfort during your sessions. I believe in treating everyone with respect and sensitivity while avoiding judgements or negative assumptions. I understand that there is no “one size fits all” approach to happiness and mental health. We will custom tailor your conversations, and treatment, to meet your unique needs. Therapy sessions will focus on what you want achieve, in order to get you feeling better as quickly and sustainably as possible.

My approach is friendly and relatable. My ultimate goal is to give you space to get things off your chest and support you in whatever way you need. In sessions I will incorporate practical tools and techniques using Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to help you to effectively address your challenges. Our work together will help you to heal, learn and implement new techniques to rewire your brain and improve your life.

Professional Background

My clinical education was completed at New York University where I studied psychotherapy techniques and attained a Masters Degree with a concentration in co-occurring addiction and mental illness. My educational background also includes focus on the areas of trauma, personality disorders, relationship dynamics, and the dynamic interplay between physical and emotional health.

I have spent over 10 years helping people improve their mental health and live happier lives. I previously worked as a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the College of New Rochelle. I have experience training other mental health practitioners in how to perform therapy and have published articles on Goodtherapy.org. I consistently review the latest research and integrate new helpful techniques to ensure the most effective therapeutic experience for my patients.

Schedule Your Free 30 minute phone consultation today!


Elizabeth Milano LCSW PLLC