Therapists for college students near Boston College

Psychotherapy can help individuals identify the cause of pain, gain insight, expand coping skills, and remove barriers that get in the way of meaningful relationships. Looking inward and exploring your thoughts and feelings can be a daunting and scary process. I hope I can join you in your journey towards healing and positive change. I am a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in working with college students, particularly with students with marginalized identities. I have 15+ years of experience working at college counseling centers as a clinician, supervisor, director of training, and director of diversity and inclusion. My approach to therapy is centered on social justice, developmental, and relational psychodynamic principals. This lens allows me to pay attention to the impact of early childhood and family experiences, social-cultural factors, relational patterns, systematic oppression, and self awareness when working with individuals. I believe that a truly healing therapeutic relationship explores and fosters all intersecting identities of a person.

Despite years of self work and therapy, is something still not right? Can you feel it in your body that your nervous system is not functioning in the way that you need? Working together I can help reacquaint yourself with your body and it's signals, learn how to listen to it's cues, care for the nervous system and whole self. We can discover the root of your suffering and find ways through it, so you feel more calm and more engaged. We may also use EMDR to reprocess traumatic experiences. EMDR helps facilitate conditions that allow your body and brain's natural ability to heal to prevail. Do you feel like others in the world are suffering more than you, that you shouldn’t ask for more? I will help you work through these doubts and hesitations to discover how you can truly live a life that is aligned with who you are, guilt-free. It's possible for you to live more in the present and feel empowered in your life. Our work will help you feel more connected to yourself, the people in your life and the world around you. You will better understand your life experiences, stresses and anxieties to learn to live with all parts of who you are in better harmony.

CLINICAL CARE AND SUPPORT FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY Out at Home provides outpatient therapeutic support services for LGBTQ+ folks, their families, couples and caregivers. The program is operated in coordination with Waltham House, The Home’s residential group home for LGBTQ+ youth. Out at Home uses Waltham House’s 20+ years of expertise in therapeutic and clinical services to support LGBTQ+ folks and their families in an outpatient setting. Out at Home was created with the goal of providing LGBTQ+ competent clinical care, with a strong emphasis on keeping youth within their home environments and communities by offering comprehensive, specialized services and resources that educate, support, strengthen and empower. Our clinicians offer innovative, ever-evolving programming, whether providing in-person or virtual clinical care, leading confidence and community-building group sessions, or counseling LGBTQ+ students in Greater Boston schools or colleges. SERVICES WE OFFER Individual therapy sessions for LGBTQ+ folks with licensed and master's level clinicians Family therapy, group therapy and couples counseling with licensed and master's level clinicians Life skills support and community resource connections Trauma-informed therapeutic approaches Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Gender Affirming Surgery Letters Professional development, training and consultation services to outside agencies and professionals.

About Me / Specialties I am a licensed psychologist specializing in treating adolescents and young adults with OCD, anxiety (including social anxiety, panic, phobias, and generalized anxiety), and related conditions such as body dysmorphic disorder, trichotillomania, tics, and excoriation disorder. I provide evidence-based therapies including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). I see clients in-person in Cambridge, MA and virtually throughout Massachusetts and Texas. I also work with parents, offering coaching to help support their teen or young adult while reducing family accommodations. My goal is to create a compassionate, collaborative space where we take mental health seriously—but not ourselves too seriously. A little humor can go a long way in therapy! Treatment Approach I tailor treatment to each individual, often addressing co-occurring concerns like depression, eating issues, or trauma alongside anxiety or OCD. Using ERP, CBT, ACT, and DBT strategies, I help students manage symptoms, regulate emotions, and make meaningful, lasting changes—all in a supportive and approachable way. Training & Experience I earned my PhD from the University of Virginia, completed my clinical internship at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for OCD and Related Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where I currently see therapy patients and conduct research on OCD spectrum disorders.

If you've been feeling emotionally overwhelmed and it's affecting your sleep, work, or relationships, today is a good day to prioritize your well-being! I offer telehealth sessions throughout Massachusetts and Virginia, and in person walk-and-talk sessions in Charlottesville, VA. I specialize in helping young adults manage stress, anxiety, feelings of isolation, depression, or of not feeling good enough that can accompany being a college student in an academically rigorous environment. If your previous ways of dealing with challenges are not working, you find yourself drinking more than you used to, not sleeping well, or not feeling able to connect with your friends and family, this is a good time to get additional support. I take an active role in helping you sort out the best way to approach your challenges and teach you the foundations of mental health so you get back on track. Together we will explore the connection between how you live and how you feel, and identify the areas that feel out of balance. I take a comprehensive holistic approach to wellness because, for the people I work with, traditional talk therapy is often not enough. Our mental health is impacted by our environment, sleep, physical activity, what we eat, relationships, beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors–and I believe our mental health care should include these elements as components of the whole system. Evidence-based tools we may incorporate include meditation and somatic mind-body practices, techniques to work with thought patterns, interpersonal skills, and lifestyle interventions. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to discuss if we are a good fit to help you achieve your goals!

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.

We don’t like uncertainty. It is tempting to grasp for the certainty of “everything is doomed” or “everything will be ok.” But a part of us remains unconvinced. It is hard to face the truth: I don’t know what is coming, only that my experience will keep changing and eventually end. There are many aspects of our experience that are hard to face. We aren’t meant to do this alone. I partner with my clients to walk together into this wilderness. I offer a kind, curious, nonjudgmental attention, with the intent of helping my clients to sort through thoughts, judgements, reactions, behaviors, and felt experience, so they can learn to care more skillfully for the parts of their experience that are outside of their control and to take decisive action in the areas of their life where they have agency. Over time, this relational practice builds solidity. It loosens the tight grip on “everything is doomed” or “everything will be ok,” and opens up “it will keep changing, and eventually end, and I trust in my capacity to feel and care for my experience, no matter what comes.”

With over 30 years of experience, we will work together collaboratively on your goal of feeling better. Whether it's stress, academic stress, roommate or relationship issues, anxiety, or family of origin issues, together we will work toward your goal of living a more contented, fulfilling life. I have extensive experience working with college and grad students in the Boston area.

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.

I am a queer cis white Ashkenazi Jewish woman providing therapy for individuals and people in relationships (such as; couples, poly relationships, siblings, housemates, friends). I have over 15 years' experience working with 2SLGBTQIA+ communities in community health, drop-in centers, schools and private practice settings. My approach aims to provide a space that is welcoming of any issues (there is no right or wrong thing to talk about in therapy). I see therapy as a place to get to know ourselves more and identify our needs as well as how to express them to others. I also see therapy as a place for exploration, of identities, how we think and feel about ourselves, and a place to explore goals. It can be a place to improve handling of anxiety when it comes up, how to communicate boundaries to others, and improve the ability to feel organized and focused. Therapy can support processing of experiences of social stress; like understanding the impact of privilege and marginalization on one's day to day life. And how to support oneself while experiencing it. For people interested in relationship therapy or in relationships; the therapy can provide a place for identifying wants and needs, finding compromise, when necessary, improving communication and growing in one's ability to understand each other and improve navigation of conflict.

I've been in practice for several decades. I have a special interest in helping people with anxiety, but do work with people with a variety of other problems as well. I like my patients and enjoy my work.

Life has a way of surprising us — a loss, a betrayal, a diagnosis, or a path that no longer feels right. In these moments, it’s easy to feel unsteady or unsure how to move forward. I specialize in working with college students and young adults who are navigating these turning points and trying to find their footing again. With over 15 years of experience in counseling settings at Harvard and MIT, I offer a warm, supportive space where you can slow down, reflect, and feel understood. My approach is both insight-oriented and practical — helping you make sense of your experiences while building tools for meaningful change. Many of my clients are high-achieving individuals — often children of immigrants, or professionals in higher education and STEM — who appear put-together on the outside while quietly carrying stress, grief, or a sense that something isn’t quite working. If that sounds like you, I can help. Let's get started!

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.

Hello, I’m Ruolin Xie, an outpatient therapist at Orange Door Collaborative. Since earning my Master’s degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis in 2016, I have provided psychotherapy and clinical support to individuals and families of diverse ages and cultural backgrounds. My clinical specialties include depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex trauma, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), grief and loss, LGBTQ+ concerns, interpersonal and relational challenges, parenting stress, and cultural adjustment issues. In my practice, I strive to create an affirming, empowering, trauma-informed, culturally responsive, strength-based, and client-centered therapeutic space. I dedicate myself to bringing both compassionate presence and active collaboration, offering skill-building where appropriate, while actively listening to each person’s unique experiences. My approach integrates neuroscience-informed methods with a holistic mind-body philosophy, allowing for tailored treatment plans that support both effective symptom relief and meaningful, long-term healing. I offer both short-term therapy for immediate needs and longer-term therapy for trauma recovery and self-exploration. I am trained in a range of evidence-based modalities, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). As a multilingual clinician, I offer therapy in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. A quote that continues to resonate with me is from Leonard Cohen: “There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.” While I don’t seek to romanticize suffering — pain can be disorienting and deeply isolating—I believe that with skilled support, it is possible to uncover the human resilience, self-authenticity, and fierce self-compassion that emerge through healing. I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation to help you explore whether working together feels like the right fit. Please feel free to reach out by phone or email—I'd be honored to support you on your path.

I work best with students and young adults who feel stuck in cycles of anxiety, OCD, perfectionism, or self-doubt. You may be doing well on the outside while feeling overwhelmed by intrusive thoughts, pressure to get things “right,” uncertainty about the future, or the expectations of school, relationships, and life. Therapy with me is a space to slow down, feel understood, and make sense of what you're experiencing without judgment. Together, we'll build practical tools to face fears, trust yourself, and move toward the life you want!

Many people struggle with various aspects of their lives, be it identity, relationships, work/school, or past experiences that affect how they feel and navigate the world. I work with many young adults who may seem high functioning at first glance but struggle with depression, anxiety, stress, or other emotional issues. I have particular experience supporting Asians and Asian Americans and other BIPOC people navigating issues of race, identity and culture. Talk therapy and medications can be a powerful way to help people process, make sense of, and change these patterns that hold them back from living the life they want.

I offer specialized individual and group therapy for teenagers and young adults in Massachusetts, and I specialize primarily in trauma recovery, men’s mental health, and complex family & intimate relationship dynamics. I see patients both via virtual telehealth sessions and for walk-and-talk therapy sessions in nature when fitting. I am most experienced working with those coping with trauma, going through family challenges, grappling with their identity (e.g., men's/masculinity issues, faith and sexuality/coming out, racial trauma, social class), striving to be in healthy relationships, as well as those exploring therapy for the first time. I work from the belief that our relationships with others and ourselves can be a source of deep suffering as well as a powerful window into self-discovery, intimacy, and healing. Therapy with me is a blend of support, curiosity, humor, challenging honesty, and the freedom to be and feel just as you are. Reach out to see if I might be a good fit for you.

Bret is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor working in the Harvard Square section of Cambridge, MA. Bret brings a history of working in diverse clinical settings to bear on the work he does with his clients. His range of experiences include in-patient psychiatric settings, partial hospitalization programs, college counseling centers, and the Massachusetts correctional system. He has worked with those seeking therapy for the first time, as well as folks who have experienced a lifetime of navigating the mental health system. Through each of those settings, one constant has remained in the work he has done, which is the conviction that healing only happens through the establishment of a meaningful and authentic therapeutic relationship. Bret’s eclectic history has enabled him to develop a rich and integrated approach to collaborating with the people he forms connections with in his work. In his private practice, Bret works with adults college-age and older. His abiding belief is that in his work he is not working with a diagnosis or a set of symptoms, but with a person with a unique set of complex challenges that have encouraged them to seek assistance from a caring professional. As such, he feels comfortable working with a broad spectrum of therapeutic concerns. However, given his work in corrections, Bret has developed a unique capacity to connect with those who may be skeptical of the therapeutic process or struggled to find success in other therapies. Additionally, Bret specializes in working with young men who have difficulty forming meaningful connections, finding effective ways to express their emotions, and managing impulsivity and aggression towards themself and others. Bret is currently available for in-person and online sessions

Hi, I am a licensed mental health counselor and a school psychologist. I have enjoyed working with adolescents in group, outpatient, and school settings. In my practice, I encourage building self-awareness and coping strategies that can support your well-being and a healthy lifestyle.

Life sometimes offers us unexpected challenges that require additional support to manage. Sometimes you think an issue is resolved until you notice unwanted thoughts, feelings or behaviors arising. I offer culturally sensitive person-centered, solution-focused therapy that focuses on assisting individuals better understand and work through these personal challenges and life transitions. In clinical practice, I draw from an array of past trainings, certifications, and over 15 years clinical experience to meet the specific needs of my clients. I have worked in multiple school settings and am attuned to the unique pressures of academic life, especially in college and higher education. Making the first outreach to initiate therapy can often be the hardest part. Please feel free to reach out to me via e-mail or to leave a voicemail requesting to set up a 15-20 minute consultation to discuss your needs, expectations, and what ways in which I may be able to support you.