It’s not about us
We still feel it’s important for you to know who we are and what we do
Meet The Team
We believe it “takes a village” for a community to thrive. Our team took their experiences in education and life and created Collaborative to tackle even the most toughest of challenges.
Please feel free to search for your service, location or insurance provider. You may also book with a provider on their profiles below.
Elizabeth Malakhova, MSEd, CRC, MHC-LP
Elizabeth (she/her) has a deep passion for helping people of all ages. She is dedicated to providing compassionate and effective mental health care. She enjoys working with children, teens, young adults, and adults. Elizabeth seeks to guide them through their unique challenges and supports their journey to well-being.
Elizabeth holds a Master of Science in Education in Rehabilitation in Mental Health Counseling. She is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) specializing in vocational counseling from Hofstra University. She is also certified in SMART Recovery, which enhances her ability to help clients overcome addictive behaviors. Her approach to therapy is relational and client-centered, rooted in trauma-informed care. Elizabeth uses techniques from CBT, DBT, and Motivational Interviewing to create personalized and holistic treatment plans.
Elizabeth has expertise in many mental health issues, including PTSD, ADD/ADHD, OCD, mood disorders, relationship concerns, family systems, substance use, anxiety, and depression. Her diverse background helps her connect with clients from various walks of life. Born in Belarus and raised in the Bronx, she is fluent in both English and Russian.
Elizabeth believes in the power of a strong therapeutic relationship. She strives to create a safe, empathetic, and non-judgmental space for her clients. By focusing on everyone’s strengths and goals, she empowers them to achieve personal growth and healing.
In her free time, Elizabeth enjoys cooking and trying out new recipes. She also loves spending time with her friends and family and listening to music. An avid reader, Elizabeth’s favorite activity is curling up on the couch with a good book and her two kittens, Archie and Sawyer.
Sophia Berlin, MS, MHC-LP, CRC
Sophia: (She/Her) completed her Master of Science degree in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After enjoying many years in the south, she is excited to move back to her home state of New York. Sophia uses experience and insights to inform her work and feels fortunate to work with and learn from her clients.
Sophia’s concentration in psychiatric disabilities and rehabilitation counseling offered opportunities to gain experience working in various settings with diverse populations. Her experience in hospitals, specialized mental health clinics, and the VA Health Care system provided opportunities to develop her counseling skills and knowledge. She has experience working with developmental disabilities, chronic illnesses, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance use, self-injurious behaviors, anxiety, and mood disorders. While working with Veterans, she developed her interest in trauma-informed care and addressing co-occurring disorders. Over the last several years, she collaborated on evidence-based psychotherapy research and publications to advocate for access to informed care.
As a therapist, she strives to develop trusting relationships and offer a unique space for authenticity and support. She believes in the importance of recognizing individual strengths, while empowering self-awareness and growth. Her approach is relation-centered and integrative to incorporate modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Humanistic Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Trauma-Informed Care. Sophia uses an eclectic approach, which creates space to recognize different experiences and ensure therapy is accessible and effective.
Sophia could be described as an introverted extrovert. While she enjoys spending time with others and getting lost in conversation, she always carves out time to retreat to the comfort of reading a book on the couch. She is happiest near a body of water and swimming is her favorite form of exercise. Dog time is a staple in her life, and she enjoys any chance to get outside and explore new places.
Michelle Castellanos, MSW, LMSW
Michelle (she/her) is a New York City based psychotherapist and licensed social worker whose focus is building trusting relationships with her clients. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY before she headed off to study Psychology and Spanish at Swarthmore College. She returned to New York where she graduated with a Master’s in Social Work from Fordham University in 2019. Michelle can conduct sessions in English and Spanish. She is passionate about providing quality care to people of all backgrounds. She has gained a wide array of experience working with many diverse types of clients working in agencies, nonprofits, hospitals, and community mental health.
Michelle is enthusiastic about creating strong therapeutic relationships with clients. She knows that the relationship between client and provider is one of the building blocks to achieve a client’s goals and that the vulnerability developed during the session is a sacred thing. She partners with her clients to strive for meaningful change. She has worked with different types of people, including children, teens, birthing people, domestic violence survivors, immigrants and refugees, families, and more. She is particularly focused on the impact of trauma on a person’s life and how the process of healing can create new opportunities for someone. With her social work background Michelle is aware of the effect systems have on a person and a group and uses a social justice approach to help clients reach their goals. She aims to empower her clients to gain self-awareness and to develop effective coping strategies.
An enthusiastic reader, Michelle is always happy to get book recommendations of all genres. She is also a happy pet mom to her cat Chicharron. In her free time Michelle also enjoys baking cakes and pastries, crocheting blankets and sweaters, and watching TV with her husband and her cat on her lap.
Sam Prabhudesai, MS, MHC- LP
Samruddhi, who goes by Sam (she/her), was born and raised in India. She holds a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from Pace University. With experience in working with children, teens, and adults, Sam comprehensively addresses clients’ diverse and intricate needs. She has provided counseling for anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other mental health concerns in settings including a substance rehabilitation program, juvenile remand home, and an orphanage.
Sam’s broad life experiences endow her with a unique capacity to integrate evidence-based treatments such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical-Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), and Art-based interventions. She believes in tailoring treatment plans to suit each client individually. Additionally, Sam ensures that clients’ expectations and needs from their therapeutic journey are met.
Employing a relational approach to therapy, Sam cultivates a secure and supportive environment where clients can authentically explore their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with vulnerability. She empowers her clients to foster resilience, enhance self-awareness, and develop effective coping strategies for managing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, and other mental health concerns. Sam’s sessions are not merely clinical interactions, but warm conversations held in a safe space. At the heart of this space lies unwavering support, empathy, connectedness, and tranquility.
In her pursuit of advocacy and community engagement, Sam applies her expertise in a manner accessible to diverse audiences. She started an online channel where she teamed up with other mental health professionals to discuss various mental health concerns. During the pandemic, she conducted these live sessions where people could join in, ask questions, access, and connect with mental health providers. Sam is also certified in CBT, DBT, and Art-based therapy in Holistic development for children. She is especially interested in marital therapy and is Level 1 certified in The Gottman Method.
Sam’s ability to bridge the gap between clinical knowledge and public understanding contributes to a more informed and empathetic society. With each opportunity to educate and empower, she advocates for equitable access to mental health resources, ensuring that no individual is left behind in their journey toward healing and resilience.
In her free time, Sam enjoys engaging in art, dancing, listening to music, taking walks, and reading. Her natural inclination towards connecting with people and engaging in meaningful conversations is advantageous for building a strong rapport with clients as a psychotherapist. Sam offers therapy sessions in English, Hindi, and Marathi.
Michelle Pinel, MS, NBC-HWC
Michelle is a master’s level counselor who approaches the therapeutic process from an integrative medicine lens, exploring concerns of mind, body, and spirit to help clients achieve optimal wellness. She works with individuals experiencing a range of mental and physical health concerns, including anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, substance abuse, and chronic physical pain. She uses evidence-based treatment models, including humanistic-existential therapy, behavioral therapy, and somatic therapy, to get to the root cause of mental health concerns and connect clients to their innate capacity for personal growth and healing. She also works with couples and is skilled at empathetically supporting couples as they navigate conflict, communication, and intimacy. Her couple’s work is informed by Imago therapy, Gottman Method, and the Non-Violent Communication framework.
Michelle fosters a safe and accepting space for clients to explore their needs and collaborates with clients to create a tailored treatment plan. She lovingly empowers individuals to take control of their life and achieve self-determined goals. Michelle is a warm, caring, creative, and humorous therapist who deeply cares about the suffering of others. It is her heart-filled mission to help people connect to their strengths, values, and life purpose, so they can live a more fulfilling life.
Michelle is in her final year in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Saybrook University. She also holds a Master of Science in Mind-Body Medicine from Saybrook University’s College of Integrative Medicine and Health Sciences. Her research focused on the effectiveness of mind-body therapies in treating chronic health disorders within Mind-Body Medicine from Saybrook University’s College of Integrative Medicine and Health Sciences. Her research focused on the effectiveness of mind-body therapies in treating chronic health disorders, with a focus on gastrointestinal conditions (e.g., irritable bowel syndrome). Michelle is passionate about the mind-body connection and its role in chronic illness. She is also a National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) and is adept at using holistic healthcare practices proven to reduce stress, anxiety, and pain while optimizing sleep and self-care. Before entering the health and healing space, Michelle was a corporate executive with 15+ years of experience leading high performing teams.
David Díaz, MS, LMHC
David’s (he/him) practice incorporates knowledge and techniques from various therapeutic modalities. Fluent in both English and Spanish, David has extensive experience in supporting individuals navigating attachment styles, family conflict/communication styles, trauma work, infidelity, identity issues and issues related to sexuality. Trauma work can incorporate people’ experience with sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, and intergenerational and racial trauma.
He specializes in working with individuals within the Queer and LGBTQIA+ community, offering a supportive and affirming environment. David’s therapeutic approach is rooted in narrative therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy and evidenced-based practices like CBT and DBT. David draws from various interventions such as experiential therapy, family systems, Gottman’s Method, psychodynamic and structural family therapy.
He aspires to undergo training in EMDR and offer Ketamine-Assisted Therapy. Over the last several years, David’s couples counseling experience has involved many different themes such as infidelity, coparenting, Ethical Non-Monogamy (ENM), Poly Relationships, Erectile Dysfunction Disorder (ED), supporting families with life transitions, improving communication skills, mixed families and more.
In his leisure time, they enjoy biking to various restaurants with friends, hosting dinners and gatherings, engaging in painting or pottery, dancing in nightlife scenes, and traveling to new countries. David has a preference for sunny weather and delights in lounging on grassy areas, beaches, and spending time on the floor of living rooms with friends. They have aspirations to learn woodworking, master swimming against currents, surf, and enhance their dance choreography skills.
Rachel Moses, MA, LMHC
Rachel (She/her) is a licensed mental health counselor dedicated to providing a safe space for each client. Compassionate and patient, she fosters authentic therapeutic relationships with clients. The cornerstone of Rachel’s practice is meeting each client where they are and accepting them as they are. She utilizes an eclectic approach to therapy, recognizing that no two clients are exactly alike. She pulls from a variety of modalities, such as Cognitive-Behavioral therapy (CBT), Mentalization-Based Treatment, Motivational Interviewing, and person-centered therapy.
Throughout her career, Rachel has found that she works well with many clients, particularly those experiencing anxiety, depression, avoidance, and life transitions. She maintains a curious and non-judgmental stance with all clients. She holds an understanding that each client is an expert of their own experience.
While studying at Brooklyn College, Rachel took classes that delved deep into various modalities such as psychodynamic therapy, CBT, and experiential/humanistic therapy. Rachel is always eager to learn from others, whether in a classroom setting, attending to other clinicians’ experiences, or actively listening to clients during sessions.
Born and raised in NYC, Rachel appreciates finding more peaceful moments amidst the city noise. She takes walks, bakes, reads, embroiders, and listens to Broadway cast recordings to clear her mind. On a daily basis, you can find her spending time with her pet dog named Link and parakeet named Pesto.
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