Ellen Jacobs

Dr. Ellen Jacobs is a Manhattan-based psychotherapist, author and educator with more than two decades of experience. Dr. Jacobs specializes in working with adults, adolescents and children who are experiencing a range of emotional and social difficulties. Her primary goal is to help individuals and families improve the quality of their lives, increasing self- awareness and self-confidence, and helping her patients to develop and thrive.

Dr. Jacobs is trained in adult and child psychoanalytic psychotherapy. By integrating play therapy, hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioral strategies, she is able to apply the scope of work to a wide range of patients, including preschool-aged children, adolescents, adults and families who are experiencing emotional, developmental and social challenges. She treats patients struggling with depression, anxiety, phobias, and fears. She has focused her private practice on supporting patients dealing with school failure, sibling rivalry, social difficulties and situational stressors stemming from divorce, loss and bereavement, illness and trauma. Parental guidance is a key component to her work with children. She partners with parents on a variety of issues commonly seen in childhood and adolescence.

Dr. Jacobs’ expertise in working with ‘tweens’ and adolescents presenting with issues related to their transition from childhood to adolescence and adolescence to adulthood is extensive. These issues can include depression and anxiety, sexuality and identity/body image issues, low self-esteem, navigating social dynamics and aggression and impulsivity.

Dr. Jacobs’ sub specialty and key focus of her adult practice is working with women experiencing post-partum depression, facing reproductive challenges of infertility, exploring third party reproduction and adoption.

Dr. Jacobs earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Social Work from the New York University Silver School of Social Work and her Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work from the Columbia University School of Social Work. She is a graduate of The Institute for Child, Adolescent and Family Studies, where she received psychoanalytic psychotherapy training. At the Pancella Child Center at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, Dr. Jacobs interned in the infant/toddler socialization groups where she worked with typically developing children. Dr. Jacobs served as an adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work, where she spent twelve years on the pediatric oncology service at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, working with children and families. While at Mount Sinai, Dr. Jacobs lead educational seminars for physicians and social workers.

She received post-graduate training in hypnotherapy, which she successfully uses for pain management and treatment of general anxiety in children and adults. Dr. Jacobs has published articles on hypnotherapy for pediatric pain management and anxiety in leading journals. She served as a consultant for Scholastic Inc. and as a clinical advisor on a series of books on bullying and teasing for school-age children. She regularly conducts workshops and presents lectures for parents, medical and school professionals.