About Laura Rothkopf, LCSW
I came to this work through a longstanding interest in how people make sense of themselves and their relationships. 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.
Therapy offers a place to slow down and look carefully at these experiences together, with curiosity rather than judgment.
I see therapy as a collaborative process. Rather than offering quick interpretations or advice from a distance, I try to understand your experience from the inside — how situations affect you emotionally, how you respond, and how those responses developed over time.
Sessions are conversational, attentive, and warm. Some meetings focus on present-day concerns or decisions you’re facing, while others turn toward earlier experiences and the ways they continue to shape expectations and reactions now.
We also pay attention to what happens in the room between us. Patterns that appear in relationships outside therapy often emerge here in subtle ways we can notice and understand together.
Before becoming a therapist, I spent nearly a decade working in media and corporate environments. That experience continues to inform my understanding of the pressures many people carry — professional expectations, questions about direction or identity, and the gap that can exist between how things appear externally and how they feel internally.
For some people, coming to therapy is connected to transitions, burnout, or a growing sense that familiar ways of functioning no longer feel sustainable. My earlier career helps me appreciate how difficult it can be to pause, reflect, and consider change while still managing everyday responsibilities.
Training & 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 received my MSW from New York University and hold a BA in Philosophy from Barnard College, and was a visiting scholar in philosophy at the University of Oxford. My background in philosophy continues to inform my interest in how people understand themselves, their relationships, and the meaning they make of their experiences.
I remain engaged in ongoing consultation and professional development as part of maintaining thoughtful and responsible clinical care.
Working with Laura
People often come to therapy after trying to think their way through a problem without lasting relief. Insight alone can help, but change usually happens when thoughts, emotions, and relational experiences are understood and felt together.
My work is relational and psychodynamic. This means we pay attention to patterns — the expectations, reactions, and feelings that repeat across situations and relationships. Many of these patterns formed earlier in life and once made sense, but now may feel limiting or painful. By noticing them together, including when they appear in our conversations, you can begin to understand them rather than feel governed by them.
Therapy is not only reflection. At times we may talk concretely about decisions, relationships, or difficult moments in your week. At other times we slow down to notice emotional reactions, assumptions, or self-criticism as they happen. Over time, this helps you recognize your internal experience earlier and respond with more choice.
Although my foundation is psychodynamic, I draw from other therapeutic approaches when helpful. This might include practical ways of managing anxiety, grounding strategies during overwhelming moments, or thinking together about how to approach challenging situations. The goal is not a single technique, but a treatment that fits you.
Emotional experiences are often felt physically — tension, restlessness, fatigue, or difficulty relaxing —and paying attention to these responses can provide early signals about what you’re feeling before it becomes overwhelming. Incorporating awareness of the body can help you feel more grounded and better able to regulate intense emotions.
Therapy is a gradual process. Rather than forcing surface-level change, we aim to understand what has kept certain experiences in place and create the conditions for something different to emerge.