Do you have a Manhattan office?

We do not currently maintain a Manhattan office. The vast majority of our work with NYC adolescents is done by Zoom, which fits how teens already live and removes the logistical friction of crossing Manhattan after school. For families who want in-person sessions, we have a Princeton, NJ office available by appointment.

Are you licensed to treat teens in New York State?

Yes. Dr. Lori Washton is directly licensed in New York and New Jersey, and authorized for telepsychology under PSYPACT in most participating states. NYC-area teens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, and Westchester, are squarely in our practice area.

Do you take insurance?

No. We are a private, self-pay practice. This is intentional, it gives us the time and clinical flexibility to do real adolescent work, including the slow pacing that pressure-based approaches lack. We can provide receipts for out-of-network reimbursement.

Why do NYC families come to a Princeton-based practice?

Most do not. They come for the clinician, not the location. Our work is primarily telehealth, Zoom sessions that fit a Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Westchester schedule without requiring travel. The Princeton office is a backup for families who want occasional in-person work.

Teen Therapy in NYC

Private psychological care for New York City adolescents and young adults, substance use, anxiety, depression, ADHD, and the pressure of high-achievement environments. Telehealth across all five boroughs and Westchester.

A Different Kind of Teen Practice for NYC Families

If you are a New York City parent looking for help with your teenager's substance use or mental health, you have probably already found that the obvious options do not fit. The big telehealth platforms, BetterHelp, Talkspace, assign whoever is available, often someone who has never specifically worked with substance-using adolescents. The local hospital networks are intake-heavy and slow. Most Manhattan psychiatrists who say they treat teens want to medicate first and ask questions later.

What NYC families actually need is what we do: a private, doctorate-level psychologist who has spent 25 years working specifically with adolescents and young adults, Ivy League students, Manhattan prep school environments, competitive grading systems, the family pressure that comes with it, combined with the substance use that frequently emerges underneath all of it.

We work primarily by Zoom with NYC-area families, with a Princeton, NJ office available by appointment when in-person sessions make sense. Most of our teen patients are New York based and have never set foot in our office.

Who We Treat in the NYC Area

High-Achieving Manhattan Students

Prep school and Ivy League pipeline students whose substance use has become a way to manage the pressure of perfect grades, college admissions, and family expectations. Often the parents only learn about it after a school disciplinary issue or hospitalization.

Brooklyn & Queens Families

Working-professional parents whose teens are dealing with weed-vape culture, social media pressures, and the early-onset anxiety that has been epidemic among NYC teens since the pandemic. Telehealth fits these families' schedules in a way clinic-based care never could.

College Students Returning Home

Cornell, Columbia, NYU, Penn, Yale, every fall break we get calls from NYC parents whose college freshman has come home different. More on college students with substance issues →

Westchester & Connecticut Commuter Families

Westchester County, Greenwich, and Fairfield families with teens at New York day schools or local public high schools. Telehealth makes ongoing weekly therapy actually sustainable rather than aspirational.

Why Telehealth Actually Works for NYC Teens

Some parents assume that "real" therapy has to happen in an office. For NYC teens specifically, the opposite is more often true.

A teenager who has to leave Stuyvesant or Trinity at 4pm, take the subway crosstown, sit through traffic, see a therapist for 50 minutes, and then commute home is going to be exhausted, irritable, and resentful by the time they walk into the office. That is not the version of them you want a clinician working with.

A Zoom session from their bedroom, door closed, in their own space, on their own laptop, is a different experience entirely. Teens are more willing to talk. Sessions actually happen on a sustainable schedule. Family members can join when needed without coordinating Manhattan logistics.

For more on the clinical thinking behind teen telehealth: how online therapy actually works for teens.

Dr. Lori Washton

Clinical Psychologist · Adolescent & Young Adult Specialist

For 25 years, Dr. Washton has worked with adolescents and young adults navigating substance use, anxiety, depression, ADHD, and the pressures of academic achievement. Her practice specializes in families where success is expected and problems are concealed, Ivy League students, NYC prep school environments, and high-achieving Manhattan and Brooklyn families.

She is licensed to practice psychology in New York and New Jersey, and authorized for telepsychology in most PSYPACT states. NYC patients reach her at (212) 944-8444.

"What gives real hope is that young people's brains are still plastic. If you can engage them and help them think differently about their use and how to cope, they shift much more rapidly than many adults."

Teen Therapy in NYC

A Different Kind of Teen Practice for NYC Families

Who We Treat in the NYC Area

High-Achieving Manhattan Students

Brooklyn & Queens Families

College Students Returning Home

Westchester & Connecticut Commuter Families

Why Telehealth Actually Works for NYC Teens

Dr. Lori Washton

More for NYC Parents

Teen Therapy, Full Practice Overview

Help for an Out-of-Control Teen

How to Talk to Your Teen About Drug Use

Teen Substance Use, Parents' Guide

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