You’re here because things can be overwhelming! Especially when something from your past feels unresolved, or keeps you from being at your best
About Heather Herz, LCSW
I’m a NJ and NY-licensed trauma therapist who believes the therapeutic relationship can be a secure space in which clients can discover their authentic selves
I initially came to this work, driven by a determination to help children - particularly adolescents - who were going through hard times. I began my career in adolescent substance abuse, and, after graduating Columbia University’s School of Social Work, gained extensive clinical experience at the Child and Family Institute outpatient mental health clinic at St. Luke’s Hospital (now part of Mt. Sinai). I was amazed by the resilience and strength of families who had been through so much trauma, and I began to understand the impacts of trauma on one’s nervous system, and the intergenerational effects of trauma on family attachments and other interpersonal relationships. As a social worker, I also realized the daunting hurdles of systems of inequality, which cause and/or exacerbate trauma. I came away with an important truth that has informed all of my work since: I am not the “expert;” rather, my clients inherently know what they need - I just have to help them reveal it.
Through advanced postgraduate certificate training in trauma treatment at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, I continued my education in “bottom-up” therapy techniques (such as EMDR, IFS, and somatic techniques), which recognize that just talking through problems is often insufficient when “the body keeps the score.” I started my private practice, shifting to work with adults as they discover their “inner children.”
My clients are motivated to really grow as people; I love working with cycle breakers. I also have special interests in working with those with infertility/reproductive health issues, parents, creative artists, writers/journalists, and LGBTQ+ folks. Also surfers!
Outside of the therapy room, I love travel, live music/theater, reading, writing, and nerdy tv shows.
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Brandeis University, BA - Waltham, MA
Columbia University School of Social Work, MS (Master of Science in Social Work) - New York, NY
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Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy - postgraduate certification in advanced trauma treatment
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) certification
DART Center for Journalism & Trauma, Columbia Journalism School, JTSN (Journalist Trauma Support Network) training certificate
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EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
IFS (Internal Family Systems therapy)
CBT/TF-CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
other mindfulness/somatic interventions
How I work
I have a flexible mindset when it comes to therapy: there are no set number of sessions, and I don’t have an agenda on what to “fix.” As I stated before, you are the expert and I want to empower you to be in the driver’s seat of your own healing. Some clients come for brief, very focused work on something, and I see others long term. I believe a warm, empathic therapeutic relationship is of utmost importance, and I enjoy being “with” my clients as they navigate life’s ups and downs.
I am often asked specifically for EMDR treatment, either for an individual client, or adjunctive EMDR when a client is seeing another primary therapist. EMDR is a very effective tool that can produce notable results quickly; however, not all sessions involve EMDR processing all the time.
Who I work with
I work with individual adults; sometimes a family member or partner may be brought in for a focused session with the client, but I do not provide couples’ or family therapy.
As noted, I specialize in trauma treatment - either single-incident or complex/attachment - and trauma treatment is the lens through which I see therapeutic work, but the modalities I use don’t require trauma at all! Many of my clients do not have trauma in their backgrounds, and come to work on issues such as anxiety/stress management, relationship issues, assertiveness training, work-related stress, adjustment to stressors/life cycle changes, or issues around executive functioning.
By coming here, you’ve already taken the first big step!