Ayana Ainyette

I'm a Black Latina Licensed Clinical Social Worker based in New Jersey, and I work primarily with teens and young adults — the years when everything is changing at once and no one really teaches you how to hold it. My background is unusually wide: I've worked in elementary schools, done in-home counseling with families in crisis, supported patients living with chronic kidney disease, counseled Rutgers students who aged out of foster care, and worked inside New Jersey's child protection system. What that means for you is that I've sat with people in almost every setting a young person moves through, and very little is going to slow us down. I see clients across New Jersey via telehealth on weekdays — so therapy fits around school, work, and real life instead of the other way around.

My work draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and a strength-based lens — which in plain terms means we look at the thought patterns and behaviors that are keeping you stuck, we build on what's already working, and we move at the pace you're actually ready to move at. I bring warmth and curiosity, and I ask direct questions, because young people usually know more about what's going on with them than the adults around them give them credit for. I'm culturally affirming as a matter of practice, not as a talking point, and for clients who want their faith integrated into the work, Christian counseling is available as an option.

The first session is mostly a conversation. I'll ask what brought you in, what's been hardest lately, and what you'd like to be different — but there's no script you have to follow, and you don't need to have the 'right' words ready. We'll start to shape some goals together by the end, but only ones that feel real to you. Nothing is graded, nothing is rushed, and you get to decide what we come back to next time.