Mara Heiman-Sunshine

My approach as a therapist is collaborative and integrative, informed by over 25 years of experience and training in relational psychoanalysis, couples and family therapy, child and adolescent psychotherapy, treatment of eating disorders and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. I try to be responsive to the unique needs of each individual or couple within an environment of respect, empathy and confidentiality. As a psychoanalyst, I am particularly interested in how early experience shapes our present ways of being and feeling, and in understanding and working through unconscious obstacles that hold people back from finding more meaning, connection and fulfillment in their lives. Through my work with children and adults, I have learned the importance of helping people develop the capacity to be more reflective which leads to improved functioning, relationships and self-esteem. I believe that development and healing take place in the context of significant, nurturing relationships, and view an interactive, therapeutic relationship as a catalyst for personal growth and change.

In addition to my work as a psychoanalyst, I am dedicated to contributing to the development of therapists-in-training and early and mid-career therapists in private practice through my work as a teacher and clinical supervisor/consultant. I am a training analyst for therapists-in-training who seek personal analysis. My faculty and supervisory affiliations include the William Alanson White Institute and Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy.

Faculty and Supervisor: William Alanson White Institute in the Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Training program and the Intensive Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program

Supervisor and Training Analyst: Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy

Supervisor and Consultant: For early and mid-career psychotherapists in private practice