About Polly
Polly Mortensen is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) based in New York with 21 years in the field. She focuses on helping people who feel stuck by listening, asking practical questions, and finding steps that fit each person's life. She began working in psychiatric rehabilitation and home-based therapy, supporting people with long-term mental health needs and those living with HIV.
Polly later spent time helping people involved in foster care and people who have experienced trauma.
How Polly works
Her background also includes many years in vocational and rehabilitation counseling across New York and Florida, where she helped people pursue education and work goals. Polly uses straightforward methods. She draws on client-centered care, cognitive behavioral ideas, dialectical behavior strategies, mindfulness, and motivational interviewing.
Sessions often focus on small, concrete changes that reduce stress, manage anxiety, and improve daily coping. Common concerns she addresses include stress, depression, anxiety, grief, relationship strain, career questions, parenting stress, ADHD, and compassion fatigue. She also works with issues such as abandonment, attachment problems, body image, chronic illness, and the effects of domestic violence.
Her style is warm and practical. Polly helps people build resilience and find what works for them. She aims to make therapy feel useful from the first sessions so clients can move toward clearer goals and manageable next steps.
Polly lists 7 ways of working on the entry:
What Polly works with
The areas below are the ones Polly selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Family conflicts
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LMHC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 21 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | New York |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Approaches that work well online
Client-centered therapy centers on the person's own goals and strengths. The therapist listens, reflects, and helps guide discussions so clients can set the direction for their work together. This approach can help with low self-esteem, life transitions, and when people want a supportive space to sort priorities.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on identifying patterns of thinking and behavior that get in the way. Sessions often include practical exercises and homework to try between meetings, which can help with anxiety, depression, and managing mood swings.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, offers skills for regulating intense emotions and improving relationships. It teaches concrete techniques for distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and clearer communication.
Finding the right approach is part of the process. Polly will work collaboratively to figure out which methods fit a person's needs, goals, and preferences, and she will adjust as progress unfolds.
Online therapy lets people connect in ways that fit their day. Video calls are useful for a traditional face-to-face feel, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, and live chat or text messaging work for quick check-ins or when writing helps clarify thoughts. These options make it simpler to keep regular progress while fitting sessions into work, school, or caregiving schedules.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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