About Dr. Gangi

I earned my PhD in clinical psychology at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research and have continued to study, practice, and teach psychotherapy over the past 20 years. This includes extended time as a clinical supervisor at the City University of New York and a Wolstein Fellow at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy.

 

Of course what's important though, is what it's like to talk.

 

At the risk of seeming clever, talking should feel like talking. Schools I've been to or books I've read are fine to think about- and I'm happy to discuss them- but, if you meet with me, or any other therapist, the whole point is to have conversations that don't ordinarily happen in your day-to-day experience. So, perhaps one of the most important things to know about me, prior to what you can only learn in a real meeting, is that I believe one of my main responsibilities is to be someone it feels natural to sit with and consider challenges you haven't yet been able to get past.

 

It is important though, to point out that a natural conversation is only useful if the important parts go home with you. Awareness of how I’m working on that during a meeting isn’t really required- other than perhaps to note my belief that the way a conversation proceeds is at least as important as what gets said. The nature of the interaction matters. Adding another bit to our online introduction, I can let you know that I think this is at least one of the reasons why attempts to talk about personal challenges with well-meaning friends and family often don’t feel quite the same, or have the same result, as discussions with a therapist.

 

As you may imagine, there’s more to calling myself a therapist than these few points. They're really rather bare-bones summaries of experiences and discussions I've had and books you’re counting on me to have read long before you meet me. A website is an unfortunately small nutshell for all of this and hardly a proper introduction to someone about whom it’s natural to want a much clearer picture. When it comes down to it, my photograph and these descriptions of some of my essential thoughts about what makes for a useful conversation are all you have to go on for now. If you remain curious about talking, it seems reasonable to want to hear my voice and ask a few questions of your own so, a phone call- perhaps preceded by an email- can be a very reasonable path forward. If that goes smoothly, the decision for an in-person meeting would follow, and possibly after that, the beginning of a conversation.

 

For a few extra landmarks on what may be an unfamiliar path, feel free to have a look at the Deciding to Meet page as well.