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EMDR & Trauma Therapy in NYC

I offer individualized, evidence-based trauma therapy thats draws from EMDR, IFS, and attachment-based approaches to help high achievers break free from patterns of people-pleasing, chronic fatigue, and self criticism.

I want to help you reconnect to your inner power and reclaim your life. You can see me in person in Brooklyn or online across New York State.

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“if i am the longest relationship of my life isn’t it time to nurture intimacy and love with the person i lie in bed with each night”

- acceptance, The Sun and Her Flower Rupi Kaur

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Lorena Maldonado, LCSW

Hi, I'm Lorena! I’m a licensed clinical social worker based in New York City who is deeply passionate in connecting and supporting survivors of abuse with their mental health. I work with high-achievers, people-pleasers, and those who've spent a long time holding it all together on their own. The clients I support are ready to make changes that help them build self trust, tune into their needs, and put down some of the weight they've been shouldering alone.

My approach is trauma-focused and deeply individualized. I draw from EMDR, IFS, and other experiential and depth-oriented therapies to allow for depth and a unique approach that address the root of your problems rather than symptom management. I strive to make therapy a space where every part of your story can be witnessed and held, at a pace tuned into what you need. My style is warm, compassionately direct and challenging, and deeply collaborative to help you reach the change you’re seeking.

More About Me
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WHO I WORK WITH

High Functioning on the Outside, Suffering Inside

Many people who come to me are highly successful professionals and creatives — and they've reached a limit, even if it isn't obvious to everyone else. If you relate to this, you might also see yourself here:

  • You’re constantly fatigued and your motivation to do anything outside of work has disappeared. You’re still performing at high levels in work but everything else seems to be falling apart and you’re barely holding on.

  • You can’t seem to meet the impossibly high standards you have and when you fall short, there’s a voice berating you for not being good enough.

  • You’re terrified to be in conflict with another person so to avoid this you say yes to things you don’t really want to do and keep silent when you disagree with someone else.

  • Setting boundaries with family and your community feels like you’re turning your back on the people who’ve helped guide you into the person you are today. You’re caught between feeling selfish or compromising your peace and often feel stuck and trapped.

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Trauma-Informed Therapy for Every Part of You

Therapy should hold space for all of you, including the identities you carry, the roles you hold, and the way you move through the world. I work with people navigating race, culture, sexuality, gender, and class, alongside those carrying the weight of caregiving, ambition, or a deeply felt creative life. You are more than your symptoms, and care that sees your full context is what makes trust and safety possible in therapy. I have particular experience and care in working with:

  • LGBTQIA+

    For those who identify across the diverse spectrum of sexuality and gender, at any point in your self-discovery. A space that holds room for identities that are more visible and often targeted, as well as those that are less visible and easily erased.

  • BIPOC and Latinx

    For those navigating the full diversity within your own community while carrying the weight of a social climate that has made safety and belonging feel hostile and exclusionary. A space that doesn't ask you to leave your racial or ethnic identity at the door.

  • Growing Up Working Class

    For those who grew up with financial scarcity and have since built a different economic reality — navigating the guilt, grief, and identity shifts that can come with "making it," and the complicated relationship to family, community, and self that often follows.

  • Caregivers

    For parents, family caregivers, and those whose lives or work center on caring for others who are navigating the complicated emotions that can come with being someone others depend on. A space where your own needs are allowed to take up room, too.

  • High Achieving Women

    For women who have built their life around ambition, accomplishment, and being capable —navigating the pressure to keep achieving, the difficulty of slowing down, and the question of who you are beyond what you can accomplish.

  • Creatives & Artists

    For those who experience the world through a creative lens who need a space that understands imagination and expression are deeply intertwined with how you understand yourself and make meaning of the world around you.

Therapy Services I Provide

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Individual Therapy

Individual Therapy

Weekly, one-on-one therapy to understand how your past shapes your present, work through patterns that no longer serve you, and move toward greater self-trust and connection.

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Therapy for teens and children

Child and AdolescentTherapy

For children and adolescents navigating anxiety and wanting skills to strengthen self-trust, emotional resilience, and feel more confident.

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EMDR intensive trauma therapy

EMDR Intensives

Short-term, focused one-on-one therapy designed to help you process difficult experiences, shift patterns that keep you feeling stuck, and move toward greater ease, clarity, and self-trust.

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MODALITIES

My Therapeutic Approaches

I draw from evidence-based approaches with a trauma-informed lens. Having a diverse background helps me adapt to what you need in a given moment, whether that’s processing a specific memory, understanding a pattern that keeps repeating, or learning to regulate your nervous system. Here are the main therapeutic models I study and draw from:

  • IFS

    INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEMS

    A therapy that helps you understand and heal the different "parts" of yourself—such as the inner critic and people-pleaser—so they can work together with greater balance and self-compassion.

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  • EMDR

    EYE MOVEMENT DESENSITISATION & REPROCESSING

    A trauma-focused therapy that helps the brain process and heal distressing memories so they become less emotionally overwhelming and no longer feel stuck in the present.

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  • ISTDP

    INTENSIVE SHORT TERM DYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

    A relational and attachment focused therapy that helps uncover and work through unconscious emotions and patterns that contribute to anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, and other psychological distress.

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  • DBT

    DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOUR THERAPY

    A skills-based, behavioral, and mindfulness-focused therapy for managing emotions, tolerating distress, improving relationships, and developing more effective ways of responding to life’s challenges.

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Ready to reconnect with yourself?

Book a free 15-minute consultation to share what's going on, ask questions, and see if we're the right fit.

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