Meet Emy Zener, LCSW-R, Compassionate Online Therapist in NY

Meet your Therapist

I provide online therapy for overwhelmed adults in New York, with a focus on complex mental health, substance use, neurodivergence, and 2e parenting. My approach helps clients move from shame to self-compassion and lasting change.

Therapy for humans, not diagnoses

Therapy should feel human, not clinical.

Therapy works best when it honors your full humanity. Not just your symptoms, diagnoses, or “coping skills,” but you, with your contradictions, brilliance, baggage, and all. Some therapy hands you shame instead of support. That’s not my style.

I’m not here to tell you who you should be.

I create a space where you can show up fully, say the thing you’re maybe afraid to say, and still be met with respect and curiosity. I have many “therapy tools” at my disposal, but rather than forcing you to fit a therapy model, we figure out whatever helps you most and allows you to be heard.

Online therapist for perfectionists in NY and NYC

I understand sensitivity and striving for perfection.

I’ve always been an artist. Acting, dancing, writing, singing, visual art… it’s about expression, connection, and telling the truth about being human. Sometimes my sensitivity hasn’t felt like a gift.

Sometimes it has felt overwhelming, sometimes I’ve felt misunderstood.

Living in the world as a sensitive human can feel raw sometimes. We require support and nurturing. I’ve worked in this field for almost 25 years, but I don’t lead with my résumé. I lead with compassion, curiosity, and the belief that people are more than the worst thing they’ve done or the hardest thing they’re going through.

Online therapist in NYC and NY for high-achievers

Humans > Diagnoses.

You’re not a label. You’re not a case study. You’re not a collection of “issues” to be solved.

The mental health system can forget that. It can turn people into problems or diagnoses with feet. I don’t buy it. Whether you’re struggling with perfectionism, parenting a complicated kid, over-relying on substances, navigating your own neurodivergence, or reckoning with a messy mental health history… you still get to be human. And worthy. And complicated.

In case you’re curious, here are a few facts about me:

I’ve been to 49 states
I’m just under 5 feet tall
I used to be terrified of dogs and now I can’t get enough of them
I adore the smell of petrichor (that earthy scent after rain)
I’ve been a rabid NY Liberty fan since almost its beginning

Online NY and NYC therapist education and experience

What I’ve done

Education

Training & Modalities:

Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (including 18 years running DBT skills groups)
Trauma-informed therapy
Harm reduction
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Working with neurodivergent adults
Psychodynamic therapy

Teaching

Before launching my full-time private practice, I spent 18 years as an individual and group therapist at several organizations:

Almost 10 years at Riverdale Mental Health (now Mosaic Mental Health) in the Bronx, working with clients navigating mental health and substance use, and supervising the intake department
8 years at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Harrison, NY, focusing on gender issues, bipolar disorder, co-occurring mental health and substance use, and teaching Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills
Nearly a year (until COVID intervened) at Housing Works Community Healthcare on the Lower East Side, supporting LGBTQ+ individuals, HIV+ folks, and often unhoused substance users
Volunteer roles in a Rape Crisis/Domestic Violence program and the NYC Medical Reserve Corps