Danielle Kwait

I'm a psychotherapist (LMSW) in private practice in New York City, and the bulk of my work is with women in the perinatal period, whether that means fertility treatment, pregnancy, the first months postpartum, or a year in and still not feeling like yourself. Much of what I see is postpartum depression and anxiety, pregnancy loss and miscarriage, births that were frightening or nothing like what was planned, the return to work, and the pressure a new baby puts on a marriage. I also work with women in their late twenties through forties on anxiety, perfectionism, burnout, and the patterns they keep finding themselves in, and a good number of those clients are carrying all of that alongside a pregnancy or a newborn.

I focus on this period because I think it gets far less attention than it deserves. Within a single year your role in your family changes, your understanding of yourself changes, and your body goes through the largest hormonal shift it will ever go through, and the general expectation is that you manage it without much fuss. I don't think that expectation is reasonable, and I don't think you have to meet it in my office.

My approach is psychodynamic at its core. I draw on Bowen family systems to understand how the family you came from shows up in the one you're building, and I bring in ACT when something practical is needed in the moment. In session I ask for the specifics of what actually happened, I listen, and then I tell you what I notice, including the connections I see to other moments you've described. I'm warm and I'm direct, and I've never found those two things to be in conflict.

I earned my MSW at Columbia University and trained on an inpatient psychiatric unit at Mount Sinai before moving into outpatient private practice, where I'm currently completing the Seleni Institute's training in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Before social work I spent several years in venture capital, which left me comfortable with clients whose jobs are demanding and who are used to being the capable one in every room they walk into.

For referring clinicians: I see adults individually by telehealth across New York State. I'm private pay at $200 per session and provide superbills for out-of-network reimbursement, with a limited number of reduced-fee spots held for perinatal clients. I can usually offer a first appointment within a week and am glad to coordinate with OBs, reproductive psychiatrists, lactation consultants, and pelvic floor PTs. Email dkwait.therapy@gmail.com or call (203) 461-5085 for a free 15-minute consultation, or find more at daniellekwait.com.