About Rita
Rita Simmonds is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) practicing in New York. She focuses on helping people who are feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, grief, depression, or struggles with self-esteem. Rita also assists clients dealing with trauma, relationship strains, addiction, and life transitions.
Rita uses clear, practical steps in sessions. She draws on approaches like client-centered therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), existential therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).
How Rita works
She offers a Christian-informed perspective when clients ask to include faith in their work together. Sessions are collaborative and paced to each person. Rita emphasizes building coping skills, improving communication, and reducing symptoms that get in the way of daily life.
She also addresses issues such as sleep and eating concerns, caregiving stress, chronic illness, and career-related stress. Rita brings five years of clinical experience to her practice. She supports people through attachment and abandonment wounds, body image and identity concerns, and struggles with impulsivity or isolation.
Her approach blends practical strategies with attention to meaning and values. People who choose Rita can expect a mix of evidence-informed techniques and a focus on personal goals. She aims to help clients develop greater emotional resilience and clearer direction in life.
Work is client-led and tailored to each person’s needs.
Rita lists 8 ways of working on the entry:
What Rita works with
The areas below are the ones Rita selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Training and background
| Register | LMHC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 5 |
| 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
Therapeutic approaches and remote care
Rita often uses client-centered therapy to keep sessions focused on each person’s priorities and experiences. This approach means the therapist listens closely and follows the client’s lead to build trust and personal insight.She also applies cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help identify unhelpful thinking patterns and practice concrete behavior changes. CBT is useful for anxiety, depression, sleep and eating concerns, and many daily stressors.
EMDR is another approach Rita includes for people who are processing trauma. It involves guided recall and techniques aimed at reducing the intensity of traumatic memories and improving coping after difficult events.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Rita will collaborate with each client to choose methods that match their goals, needs, and preferences. That may mean combining approaches and adjusting over time as progress is made.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people use face-to-face conversation from different locations, while phone sessions can fit a tighter schedule or lower bandwidth. Live chat and messaging are useful for short check-ins, skill practice, or when writing feels easier than speaking. These formats make therapy more flexible and easier to fit into a busy life.
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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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