Shaela Amaya, LMHC

Shaela Amaya is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) based in New York. She helps people facing anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, stress, anger, and relationship and family concerns. She also supports people dealing with trauma, ADHD, and life transitions.

Her style is warm and interactive. Sessions are respectful and aimed at practical change. She listens first, then works together with each person to set clear goals and small steps forward.

Shaela draws on cognitive behavioral therapy, client-centered techniques, and dialectical behavior therapy to shape sessions. She uses mindfulness and motivational interviewing to help people notice patterns and try new responses. Treatment plans are tailored to each person’s needs.

In a typical session she might help someone break a worry into manageable parts, practice skills for emotion regulation, or try experiments to test unhelpful beliefs. She emphasizes skills people can use between sessions to make everyday life easier.

Shaela has three years of clinical experience working with a variety of concerns. She works in English and accepts international clients. People who want a collaborative, skills-focused approach often find her style practical and down-to-earth.

How CBT and skills work online

Shaela commonly uses cognitive behavioral therapy and client-centered approaches in online work. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and trying small experiments to change behaviors, which can help with anxiety, depression, and OCD. Client-centered therapy emphasizes listening and empathy so people feel heard while they set their own goals.

She also brings elements of dialectical behavior therapy when needed to build emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills. DBT-style skills are practical tools for managing strong emotions and improving communication, and they can be taught and practiced during remote sessions.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. Shaela will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their needs, goals, and daily life. She adapts techniques so they work in short check-ins, weekly sessions, or ongoing messaging support.

Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people work face-to-face from different locations, phone can be useful when bandwidth is limited, and chat or messaging supports quick check-ins or ongoing skill practice. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule and to try different formats to see what helps most.