Ilissa Howard is a New York State licensed psychotherapist. She focuses on anxiety, depression, grief & loss, couples therapy, career challenges and life transitions. She works with individuals, couples, adults and teenagers.
Ilissa takes an empathetic, collaborative, person centered approach and believes that no one intervention fits everyone. She pulls from various techniques as appropriate to best serve the individual client. Ilissa is passionate about helping people develop tools that will enable them live a happier, easier life.
She works with people to look at their challenges in the context of their lives in order to understand where they came from, if relevant, and how to make changes that will improve their circumstances. If the situation is more acute or the client is looking for sort-term, Solution Focused Therapy, she will concentrate primarily on the present and immediate behavioral change.
Ilissa primarily utilizes the following interventions in her practice: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy), Complicated Grief Therapy (CGT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and The Gottman Method (couples therapy) Levels I & II. She also uses Motivational Interviewing where appropriate.
She graduated from Colgate University with a BA in Sociology/Psychology and from Columbia University with a Master’s in Clinical Social Work.
Ilissa is originally from New York but has lived in Hong Kong for 13 years.
