About Paul
Paul Pasternak is a licensed mental health counselor in New York with 25 years of experience. He helps people facing anxiety, depression, stress, relationship problems, addiction, parenting challenges, grief, and major life changes. His approach aims to make the first steps feel manageable and hopeful.
He uses a client-centered, strength-based style. Sessions focus on what the person wants to change and build on existing strengths. Paul combines Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy tools to help people identify goals and take practical steps toward them.
Background and approach
Paul develops a specific care plan with each person he sees. That plan targets the areas needing change and is adjusted as progress is made. He tracks practical steps and looks for small wins that add up over time.
He pays attention to past trauma and the impact it can have on daily life. The work is described as empathetic and supportive, with an emphasis on realistic, achievable goals. Paul also helps people navigate issues such as aging, caregiver stress, divorce, impulsivity, and problems around intimacy.
Across his years in different settings, Paul has worked with many kinds of concerns and life stages. He aims to bring steady experience and plain talk to sessions. His goal is to help people find hope and take concrete actions toward the life they want.
How Paul’s Approaches Work Online
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on the person’s goals and experience. The therapist listens closely, reflects what is said, and helps people find their own solutions. This approach is useful for building confidence and sorting out what matters most.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts and behaviors interact. Paul helps people notice unhelpful thinking patterns and tries simple changes to behavior that can relieve symptoms like anxiety or low mood. CBT is practical for stress, anxiety, depression, and coping with life transitions.
Motivational Interviewing emphasizes the person’s own reasons for change. It uses open questions and reflective listening to strengthen motivation when someone feels stuck. This approach pairs well with goals around addiction, parenting changes, or major life decisions.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Paul will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their goals and preferences. He adjusts plans as progress is made and checks in about what is and isn’t working.
Online sessions can be scheduled as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video calls are good for full conversations and visual cues, phone sessions work when bandwidth is limited, live chat offers quick back-and-forth, and messaging can be used for brief check-ins or ongoing support. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and to keep momentum between meetings.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Family conflicts
- Anger management
- Self esteem
Also works with
- Addictions
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- New York
- Languages
- English