Yessenia Aponte

Growing up in the Bronx as a first-generation Dominican American shaped how I think about mental health — and who I became as a therapist.

I'm Yesenia Aponte, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and psychotherapist. I've spent 8 years working with adolescents and adults navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, life transitions, and the specific weight of living between cultures. I work with clients from all backgrounds, but I have a particular connection to clients from immigrant families, Latinx communities, and anyone who's ever felt like a therapist didn't fully understand their world.

I got into this work because mental health support wasn't always visible or accessible in communities like the one I grew up in. Beyond my practice, I'm involved in community outreach and advocacy to make mental health less stigmatized and more reachable — especially for people who've been told it's not "for them."

I also offer therapy in both English and Spanish.

My practice is built around cultural humility — which means I'm not approaching your experience with a one-size-fits-all model. I want to understand your specific context: your family dynamics, your background, the pressures that don't always have clinical names.

I draw on Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), and several forms of Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) among other theraputic techniques— and adapt based on what resonates for you. For adolescents, I focus on building self-awareness and coping tools during a stage of life when identity, relationships, and pressure are all colliding at once. For adults, I often work at the intersection of present-day stress and deeper patterns that developed earlier in life.

I believe therapy works best when it doesn't require you to translate yourself. My goal is that you feel genuinely understood from the first session.

My clients often describe feeling more like themselves after we've worked together for a while — less overwhelmed, clearer about what they want, and better equipped to handle what comes at them.

In our first session, I'll ask questions and listen more than I talk. I want to understand what's brought you in, what's felt hard, and what you're hoping changes. By the end, you'll have a sense of what we'll work on and whether this feels like the right fit.

You don't need to have the perfect words for what you're feeling. That's what we figure out together.