Therapists for college students near Boston College

If you've spent years pushing yourself to "just try harder"/"finally get it together," yet you’re still feeling overwhelmed, chronically behind, and like it’s never enough — you’re in the right place. You’re familiar with the exhausting cycle of being a perfectionistic people-pleaser, caught in overthinking and self-criticism. Others see you as accomplished; you feel one misstep away from revealing how scattered things actually are. You’re not looking for a passive listener or generic advice. You want someone who will truly see and accept you, compassionately challenge you, and help you stop chasing approval and start finding peace. I'm a doctorally-trained, board-certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner offering medication management (in Eng/Mandarin) and psychotherapy (in Eng). I specialize in ADHD, insomnia, women's mental health, and Asian American/first-generation experiences. My approach integrates evidence-based medicine with a holistic focus on aligning mind, body, and purpose. If you're seeking someone who takes the time to see the full picture, treats you as a whole person rather than a checklist of symptoms, and has both the clinical expertise and lived experience to truly understand where you're coming from — I warmly welcome you to reach out and see if we'd be a good fit.

Marisa Anderson is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who has recently started work at Crooked Tree after many years of experience working with adolescents and adults in outpatient agencies within the Boston area. In her work with clients, Marisa incorporates both strength-based and cognitive behavioral therapies to help facilitate and support a better sense of self, healthy relationships, and stress management skills. Currently, Marisa also works as a school clinician at Beacon High School in Watertown. Marisa received her Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lesley University.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

I believe therapy is a creative process. I encourage free association in sessions to promote new ways of thinking and a wider range of feelings. I have experience treating mild to severe mental health diagnoses and can adapt my approach to the needs of each individual. As a practicing psychotherapist and a doctoral intern in psychoanalysis, I have a special interest in the unconscious life of my patients. I am available in-person or via Telehealth.

I have loved working with students since 1987. The process of discovering one’s authentic self can be exhilarating and the rewards are exponential. My approach focuses on strengths, augmenting the health that is already present. Learning how to see one’s self (and the world) in this way is a courageous and creative process. By recognizing patterns in relating — to one’s self and others— there’s a clearer sense of what’s precious to you, what gets in the way, and how you can realistically be your best self. While I have experience with the whole range of human problems, I work well with folks who enjoy being playful and creative. I think laughing together in therapy is essential, for many reasons. My formal training is in intensive individual and family therapy specializing in trauma and adolescence. From 1994-2000 I ran the trauma service and psychology training on the adolescent unit at McLean Hospital, teaching and training Harvard residents and post-docs. I am psychoanalytically trained (PhD from University of Michigan, and I’m a graduate of Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute), but I have a deep appreciation for mind-body holistic health, I have also been a professional dancer and artist— which is probably why I favor creativity as the best coping strategy. You should probably know my dog is my co-pilot. Lucky, my goldendoodle, works with me and really loves his job, but if you'd rather we work alone that's ok too.

It can feel overwhelming to be proactive about making positive changes in our lives. Everyone has their own complicated life circumstances related to school, family, work, relationships, and mental and spiritual well being. Therapy can be an essential tool to work to un-complicate these circumstances and focus on making happiness and wellness a daily priority. When we feel overwhelmed with worry or that it's impossible to accomplish daily tasks we feel powerless. I have been in this field for over 15 years and can provide a supportive and empathic environment in which we can work together on specific goals and changes for your life. My experience with issues such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, trauma, and parenting allow me to help you identify obstacles to change and move forward in improving your overall mental health. I am both a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and a Certified School Social Worker/Adjustment Counselor. Entering therapy can be daunting but I will provide a relaxed atmosphere for you to feel empowered and motivated to make real improvements in your life. I utilize a variety of treatment modalities to ensure that we are working towards the best possible solutions for your specific needs.

Hi, my name is Jake and I’m a therapist in Brookline. I meet with clients in person and online. I enjoy working with adults of all ages and particularly young adults and people early in their careers who are searching for more meaning, fulfillment and balance in life. Regardless of the main issue that brings individuals into therapy, many of my clients struggle with some type of self-defeating narrative, or what I call, an unworkable story about themselves or about some aspect of their lives. I enjoy helping people uncover these unworkable patterns and develop more effective ways of viewing themselves and their lives. Working with me involves exploring what gets in the way of more openness, awareness and engagement with life, and then practicing increasing these ways of being through exercises (such as mindfulness approaches), use of metaphor to shift perspective and other behavioral moves. It’s important to me that I meet every client where he or she is at and work collaboratively toward creating the life you want for yourself. I look forward to connecting with you!

We all encounter difficult stressors, setbacks and experiences that sometimes cause us pain. We may be challenged by difficult transitions, our relationships, previous trauma, depression or anxiety. We can make the choice to work through these events and grow even when things are hard and confusing. My goal as a therapist is to provide a safe place for you to explore your struggles, and give you objective feedback and guidance to help you improve your life. Whether you'd like to improve your mood, strengthen relationships or need support coping with a difficult circumstance I can help. I work with young adults who have difficulty managing their emotions and who struggle with depression, anxiety, impulsive behavior, thoughts of suicide and self-harm, interpersonal problems, or problems functioning at work or school. I provide in-person and virtual evidence-based treatments including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help my clients change ineffective behavioral patterns, develop more helpful ways of thinking, and accept difficult realities in order to build the lives they want. I see therapy as a collaboration between client and therapist to work towards their goals in treatment and in life. Through my validating and nonjudgmental style, I am committed to providing high-quality, evidence-based treatment to help you reach your most desired goals and build a life worth living.

Many people come to therapy wondering if they'll always feel this way. Anxiety, depression, trauma, PTSD, and complex PTSD can lead to automatic ways of thinking and responding that keep us feeling stuck. My approach focuses on helping you recognize these patterns without judgment, understand how they're affecting your life, and develop new ways of responding that create meaningful, lasting change. My treatment approach combines medication management with evidence-based psychotherapy, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and other evidence-based approaches, all tailored to your individual needs. I specialize in treating anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, trauma, PTSD, complex PTSD (C-PTSD), and dissociative disorders. I also work with clients experiencing academic stress, workplace stress, burnout, life transitions, relationship challenges, panic attacks, emotional regulation difficulties, and recovery from trauma. I am a board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC) providing psychiatric evaluations, medication management, and psychotherapy for college students, graduate students, university faculty, university staff, adolescents, and adults. I currently work in outpatient psychiatry, provide emergency psychiatric services at South Shore Hospital, and see clients in my private practice in Brookline. Whether you are looking for therapy, medication management, or both, I strive to provide compassionate, collaborative care that helps you move beyond symptom relief and create lasting change. I also enjoy collaborating with therapists and other healthcare professionals to provide coordinated care. I offer in-person appointments in Brookline and telehealth throughout Massachusetts. I work with clients from all backgrounds and strive to create a warm, supportive, and judgment-free space where you can be yourself. Together, we'll work to better understand what's been getting in the way, build practical tools to help you feel better, and create meaningful, lasting change. My goal is to help you feel more like yourself again—not just get through each day, but truly thrive.

I'm available to support students who may feel overwhelmed, stressed, or uncertain about the path ahead. Whether you're dealing with anxiety, adjusting to college life, struggling with self-doubt, or navigating relationships, I offer a safe, non-judgmental space to explore your thoughts and feelings. The students I work best with are those who feel like they’re juggling a lot—academic pressure, personal expectations, and social challenges—but who also want to grow, find balance, and build confidence. Many of my clients are learning to manage stress, cope with feelings of isolation, or figure out how to communicate better in their relationships. My approach is collaborative, and I focus on helping you find practical tools that fit into your life. Therapy doesn’t have to be intimidating; together, we’ll work at your pace to help you feel more grounded and in control. I’m here to listen, offer guidance, and support you as you navigate this chapter of your life.

Bernice Ruiz has over 18 years of dedicated service to children, youth, and families as an educator then mental health therapist. Her treatment approach is tailored to each clients' unique needs with a focus on depression, anxiety, relationship issues and school related-issues. She’s collaborated in delivering national suicide-prevention programming and has supported incarcerated mothers after release. As a first generation Haitian-American, she has a particular interest in supporting international students and other first/second-generation students address the stressors of navigating the education system.

Are you feeling stuck, struggling to cope with anxiety or depression? I can help! Together we will work towards aleviating sadness and loneliness, developing better coping strategies to manage stress, and setting achievable goals to make long lasting changes. I provide a warm and empathic environment that focuses on individual strengths to foster a sense of meaning in life. I help clients with issues related to: academic and job-related struggles; depression; anxiety; relationship problems; immigration and acculturation stress; trauma; and grief and loss. I use psychodynamic (insight-oriented), mindfulness and cognitive-behavioral approaches in order to foster transformitive change. Originally from Argentina, I am bilingual (Spanish/English) and bicultural and work with clients in either language. I enjoy working with people from a wide range of cultural, international, socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual orientations and gender identities.

My therapeutic approach centers on developing agency, working through uncertainty, and attending to how identity and context shape experience. I work from a psychodynamic relational framework, integrating cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness, and motivational interviewing. My treatment approach focuses on patterns in thoughts, relationships, and decision-making, with the goal of achieving a deeper self-understanding alongside symptom relief. I use what emerges in the therapeutic relationship, including discomfort, as meaningful data, while balancing structure and exploration to support both insight and practical change. I work with adults of all ages navigating mood disorders (depression, bipolar disorder), anxiety, identity conflict, persistent relational patterns, life transitions, college adjustment, high internal pressure, and insomnia. I also have expertise working with individuals from immigrant families and clients navigating bicultural identities. I am an Asian American clinician with Korean heritage and consider how race, culture, identity, and background shape experience and the therapeutic relationship. I trained at Penn Outpatient Psychiatry, working with diverse adult populations across levels of acuity in a hospital-based, trauma-informed, relational, and psychodynamic setting.

Ellie Mental Health isn’t your average therapy clinic. We’ve created a comfy, judgment-free zone where you can be authentic, get real about where you’re at in your mental health, and receive the compassionate care you deserve. We strive to break down treatment barriers and provide you with customized counseling services that meet your therapy needs.

I am a solution-focused therapist who meets clients where they are at with compassion, but also help to build strategies on how to cope with life. I incorporate a blend of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness, and Motivational Interviewing to help adolescents and young adults find healthy ways to work through stressors.

I specialize in helping individuals with depression, life transitions, grief and loss, and trauma recovery. I also work with many clients experiencing anxiety and challenges with perfectionism. Additionally, I work with individuals struggling with relationship or intimacy challenges.

Life can be challenging at times and cause us to feel stuck, unhappy, and overwhelmed. We sometimes may feel confused and discouraged on how to improve our lives. In the midst of these difficult periods, we may benefit from having a supportive space to explore what makes us unhappy, challenge ourselves, gain insight, learn new skills, and explore new ways of being. I am happy to meet with you to figure out if I can be the person who can support you in this journey. I follow an integrative, relational, psychodynamic approach, incorporating cognitive-behavioral, systemic, multicultural/feminist, and experiential concepts. I strive to provide a safe, respectful, and empowering space to my clients to help them overcome their barriers to experience life in more fulfilling ways. I am certified in treatment of complex trauma. Please feel free to reach out to me for the opportunity to chat on the phone for 10-15 minutes before we meet to determine if we are a good match.

We go through life trying to figure out who we are and whether we can be accepted by family, co-workers, and friends. You learned strategies to show or hide certain parts of yourself to survive after experiencing hurt or rejection, pretending to be "okay" when others ask you how you are feeling to not burden them, but numb on the inside with anxiety or loneliness. Despite the desire to break out of the shell and be happy, life continues to be hard, especially when you look to others and seeing them being happy. And that is why you come to therapy: Because you want life to be meaningful and fulfilling! Therapy will not be simply talking, but a space where we will explore and mend parts of yourself that you love and parts that you avoid. The process may be challenging as I help you rediscover the things you have "swept under the rug" through questions and emotions, but also rewarding as you hopefully come to see yourself in a new light. I will provide a space for you to be you, whoever that may be so that you can look in the mirror and see yourself as deserving of love and happiness. Gamer? Great! Kinks? Awesome! Anime? That's my jam, too! If you are ready to take that courageous step again, please contact me for a 15-minute consultation on what you want in therapy and next steps.

When people come to treatment with problems, it is important to remember that they are trying to cope with them in the best way they can. With that in mind, I offer a reflective and engaging partnership with my clients, working toward the goal of helping them to be autonomous, authentic and compassionate in a world that can be extremely stressful. Although my work is solidly grounded in psychodynamic, cognitive/learning, and systems theories, my approach is client-centered, practical and strengths-based. I bring honesty, warmth, and humor to the therapy relationship. I am LGBTQ affirmative and invested in doing cross-cultural therapy which is culturally sensitive. I have a dog, Bracket, who works with me, and I have been doing AAT since 2002. There is a growing body of research which suggests that AAT (Animal-Assisted Therapy) can be helpful with a range of diagnoses, including Depression, PTSD, and Autistic Spectrum. Many therapists know little about online games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life. They may dismiss it as unimportant, or assume it is a problem. I am a gamer-affirmative therapist, meaning I’m more interested in understanding your in-world experience and activity than pathologizing it.

At Nourished Minds: Counseling + Wellness, we provide holistic, evidence-based counseling for a wide range of mental health concerns. Our approach centers on creating an inclusive, affirming environment where all clients feel understood and supported. We are committed to a practice that embraces diversity in all forms. Our therapists and psychiatric nurse practitioner specialize in working with young adults experiencing eating disorders, anxiety disorders, OCD, trauma, and identity questions and concerns. We also provide medication management.