Adina Rubin-Budick, Ph.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Brooklyn Heights + Virtual
Welcome! I am excited to partner with you on your therapeutic journey. My strongest tool as a psychologist is my ability to listen and attune to your lived experience in session. My focus in therapy gravitates towards your relationship history and patterns as we better understand how these factors impact your daily life and how you relate to others. Together, we will set the pace of our work so that discussion of these elements of your past and present is at a comfortable speed for you.
Therapy is a valuable opportunity to explore parts of our identity, as well as a chance to become empowered by our better understanding of how these parts of ourselves contribute to the ways we move through the world. My belief is that the experiences we want to explore and work on, as well as the challenges we identify in ourselves, are borne out of a unique interaction between ourselves and our environment – which includes the people we surround ourselves with, the institutional and political systems we are located within and might be marginalized by, and our relationship to our cultural identifiers (i.e. race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status). I am also interested in the parts of ourselves that come alive through interests, hobbies, fantasies, passions, and play – and I will invite you to share these aspects of yourself in our sessions.
I believe that the therapeutic relationship is one of the most vital tools in treatment, in that I often use what you are feeling and thinking in a given moment to better understand your experiences outside of therapy. I also incorporate elements of mindfulness, thought tracking, as well as skills-based and somatic approaches to support you in accessing a greater understanding of yourself and your patterns. Ultimately, I believe that the healing that occurs in the therapeutic space is a dynamic, interpersonal, and interactive experience in which we will together make meaning out of your reasons for seeking treatment. A primary goal in my approach to treatment is that your experiences inside the therapy room are meant to strengthen your experiences outside of the therapy room in your meaningful activities and creative outlets, your relationships within your community, as well as your connection to the natural world (and changing climate).
I have experience working across the lifespan with adults, adolescents, young children, families and couples who have come to therapy to seek assistance with their partnerships/relationships (i.e. infidelity, non-monogamy, parenthood), grief and bereavement, anxiety and panic attacks, trauma, mood-related concerns, neurodivergent (Autism Spectrum, ADHD, schizoid) identities and learning needs, sexual as well as gender (non-binary, transgender) identity, and body-related/eating issues.
Training
I received my Bachelor’s degree in psychology at Cornell University, and obtained my Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Duquesne University. I’ve held clinical training positions in various college counseling, community mental health, and hospital settings in both New York and Pittsburgh.
Utilizing my ongoing training in somatic psychotherapy and my certification as a yoga teacher, I actively consider the ways in which therapy can address the mind-body connection through discussion of coping strategies (i.e. meditation, breathing exercises) and movement practices that benefit our mental health. As a climate-aware/conscious therapist, my training in this area has helped me to work with eco-anxiety and climate distress as I encourage patients to bring these issues into the therapy space.