Steph Sterling, LCSW
Social Worker
New York City NY
I work collaboratively with clients, tailoring the pace and focus of therapy to each person’s goals, history, and readiness. From the outset, I emphasize safety, consent, and transparency, ensuring that clients understand the process and feel actively involved in shaping the work.
Sessions are structured yet flexible. Depending on the client’s needs, we may focus on emotional regulation, exploring relational and attachment patterns, processing past experiences, or integrating insights that emerge over time. I attend carefully to the interaction between thoughts, emotions, and bodily responses, and we work together to translate insight into meaningful, sustainable change in daily life and relationships.
In preparation and integration work, I support clients in clarifying intentions, exploring expectations, and reflecting on experiences in a grounded and non-directive way. I help clients make sense of what arises, identify what feels relevant or actionable, and integrate insights in ways that align with their values, relationships, and lived context.
Throughout our work, I prioritize pacing and regulation. When difficult material emerges, we slow down, stabilize, and ensure adequate support before moving deeper. My role is to offer a steady, responsive therapeutic presence while supporting clients in developing greater trust in their own internal resources.
I do not facilitate or guide non-ordinary experiences, nor do I provide treatment within research protocols. My work is focused on ethical preparation, reflection, and integration, with careful attention to autonomy, consent, and individual readiness.
Clients often describe our work as thoughtful, collaborative, and practical. The goal is not simply insight, but integration that supports clarity, resilience, and more connected ways of relating to oneself and others.
I am a licensed clinical social worker with nearly 20 years of clinical experience supporting individuals and couples through emotional, relational, and life transitions. My work is grounded in relational and attachment-informed therapy and integrates trauma-focused approaches that support emotional regulation, meaning-making, and sustainable change.
I am a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist with advanced training in EMDR, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and the Gottman Method. Across modalities, I work carefully with nervous system regulation, developmental and relational trauma, and the patterns that shape how people relate to themselves and others. Even when clients present with anxiety, depression, or relationship conflict, my approach attends to the underlying emotional and relational experiences that often drive those concerns.
I am certified in Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration (PHRI) and trained in Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP). My work in this area focuses on ethical preparation, psychological safety, and post-experience integration, rather than facilitating non-ordinary states themselves. I support clients in clarifying intentions, understanding risks and boundaries, and integrating insights in ways that respect autonomy, pacing, and individual readiness. I am particularly attentive to how trauma history, attachment patterns, and relational dynamics can surface before and after non-ordinary experiences.
I am deeply interested in the intersection of relational healing, trauma-informed care, and psychedelic-informed psychotherapy. I approach this work with humility and care, recognizing the importance of ethical boundaries, informed consent, and ongoing learning. My goal is to provide a steady, grounded therapeutic container that supports reflection, integration, and long-term change.
I work with thoughtful, motivated individuals and couples who are drawn to depth-oriented therapy and want support that is emotionally attuned, collaborative, and grounded in evidence-based practice. Whether engaging in preparation and integration work or broader therapeutic exploration, I aim to help clients feel supported, resourced, and more connected to themselves and their relationships.