About Laura Rothkopf, LCSW
I came to this work through a longstanding interest in how people make sense of themselves and their relationships — the same curiosity that led me to study philosophy before spending nearly a decade in media and corporate environments. Therapy felt, and continues to feel, like the place where the questions I'd always found most interesting could be put to real use.
Philosophy gave me a tolerance for questions that don't resolve quickly: what people owe themselves, what makes a life feel like it's your own, how much of who we are was decided before we had any say in the matter. Those questions turn out to be the ones people bring to therapy, usually in different language and often without knowing that's what they're asking.
Before training as a therapist, I spent nearly a decade in media and corporate environments where the pace was fast and the pressure to appear fine was considerable. I understand that world from the inside, and it continues to inform how I understand people who are functioning well by every external measure and privately struggling to keep it up.
Many of the people I work with are thoughtful and reflective, yet still find themselves caught in familiar worries, self-criticism, or relationship patterns they don't fully understand. I find that gap — between knowing and changing — genuinely fascinating. It's where a lot of the interesting work happens, and where I feel most engaged as a clinician.
A thoughtful, collaborative process
I see therapy as a serious collaboration. Rather than offering interpretations from a distance, I’ll try to understand your experience from the inside: how situations affect you emotionally, how you make sense of them, how you respond, and how those responses took shape over time. I'll push you when I think you need it, and I'll also find the absurdity in hard moments when that's what’s called for.
Sessions with me are conversational and unhurried. Over time we’ll develop our own rhythm, our own shorthand, and our own way of getting at things.
We’ll also pay attention to what happens in the room between us. Patterns that emerge in relationships outside therapy often appear here in subtle ways. Noticing them together can open up a deeper understanding of how you relate to others and to yourself.
Training and background
My clinical training is grounded in psychodynamic psychotherapy and a relational approach to treatment. I completed a two-year postgraduate training program in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy and an advanced clinical practice program through New York University. I have completed Level 3 training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy through The Gottman Institute.
I received my MSW from New York University, hold a BA in Philosophy from Barnard College, and was a visiting scholar in philosophy at the University of Oxford.
I remain engaged in ongoing consultation and professional development as part of maintaining thoughtful and responsible clinical care.
I'm licensed in New York State (License #102526) and see clients in person in Brooklyn Heights and throughout New York State via secure video.
I was profiled in La Fronde, a publication covering women in media, on my move from the industry to clinical work and the pressures facing people who work in these fields.
I work with individuals and couples, in person in Brooklyn Heights and virtually across New York State. Each of the below pages goes into more detail about what the work involves.
A free phone consultation is the easiest way to see whether this is a fit. We'll speak briefly about what's bringing you in, you can ask whatever you'd like, and we can decide together whether to meet.
You’re welcome to share as much or as little as you’d like in your message. I typically respond within two business days.