Taylor Koonce, MHC-LP
Associate Psychotherapist | She/Her/They/Them
There are times when one part of your story can begin to overshadow everything else whether it’s an identity, a diagnosis, a relationship, a loss, or a difficult experience. You may know that you are more complex than any one label, yet still struggle to find spaces where all of who you are feels understood. Therapy can be a place to bring those different parts of yourself together without having to simplify your experience for someone else.
Hi, I’m Taylor. I work with adolescents, adults, and couples navigating identity, major life transitions, relationship challenges, grief, complex trauma, and the experience of finding your place in a changing life. I especially enjoy working with women, people of color, queer and neurodivergent clients, clients with disabilities, creative individuals, and couples whose relationships cross different cultural, racial, or socioeconomic backgrounds. Together, we can better understand the experiences that have shaped you while building the emotional regulation, boundaries, communication, and self-trust needed to move forward in a way that feels true to you.
*Taylor is currently accepting new clients and clinically supervised by Aditi Rai, LMHC-D.
How I Understand the Work
I believe change becomes possible when we feel safe and seen enough to let our guard down, be honest about what we are experiencing, and become curious about new possibilities. Skills can be incredibly useful, but I do not believe skills alone create healing. The relationship we build in therapy matters.
My approach draws from person-centered, empowerment-based, psychodynamic, and DBT perspectives. I understand people within the context of their identities, relationships, histories, and environments rather than viewing any struggle in isolation. My background in psychology and philosophy also encourages me to look at experiences from multiple perspectives and remain curious about the different meanings they may hold.
In my work with couples, I also draw from Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) to help partners better understand the emotions, attachment needs, and recurring patterns underneath conflict or disconnection. Rather than focusing only on what a couple is arguing about, we can slow down and explore what is happening between you, what each person may be protecting or longing for, and how to create more safety, responsiveness, and connection in the relationship.
Together, we can explore how the different parts of your story come together while developing practical tools that support the changes you want to make.
What Therapy With Me Feels Like
My style is warm, collaborative, genuine, and down to earth. Our sessions are discussion-based, and I do not expect you to arrive knowing exactly what we need to talk about or where therapy should lead. We can figure out the path together, adjusting our work to what you need along the way.
I want therapy to feel like a place where you can be honest, vulnerable, uncertain, curious, or even contradictory without feeling reduced to one part of yourself. Sometimes our work may involve sitting with something difficult and understanding it more deeply; other times we may practice communication, boundaries, mindfulness, or emotional regulation skills that you can take into your everyday life. My hope is that you feel genuinely seen as a whole person and increasingly free to understand, express, and trust who you are.
Areas I Often Support
Identity-Based Trauma | Neurodivergence | Complex Trauma
Disability & Identity | Racial & Cultural Identity | Life Transitions
Interracial & Multicultural Relationships | LGBTQIA+ Affirming Therapy
Languages
Therapy is available in English.
A little about me
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My own struggle to find a therapist that understood and saw me for every part of myself made me want to help others find the same. It was not until I was able to work with a counselor who saw me as a person, not a diagnosis that I was truly able to start my healing journey. It opened my eyes to how important the therapeutic relationship in to the work, skills on their own are not enough.
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My favorite part of being a therapist is the relationships I build with my clients and getting to see them evolve over the course of our time together.
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Recently I have been watching a lot of relaxing cartoons (Bobs Burgers), playing cozy video games, drinking tea, lighting good smelling candles, and playing with my cat, Luke.
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I feel most myself when I am doing something that takes me out of my mind, like being creative, drawing, painting, or moving my body, going to the gym, going for a run, doing yoga. I also enjoy going on walks in the park and reconnecting with nature.
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Advanced Certification in LGBTQ+ Health, Education, and Social Services, New York University
M.A. in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness, New York University
B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy, Minor in Cognitive Science, Marist College
“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.”