About Ben

• Recently founded, with a group of NYC-based clinicians, the New York Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples
• Facilitator of numerous workshops and retreats including an annual men’s retreat at Rowe Camp and Conference Center (Rowe, Mass)
• MSW from Fordham /  BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Numerous post-graduate certificates in EMDR, NLP, EFT and others
• Fluent in Spanish / Lived in Latin America
• Former career as Art Director at The Wall Street Journal

Letter from Ben

Dear visitor,

Let me thank you for visiting my site. I'd like to take this chance to tell you about my perspective on psychotherapy. I believe that this single most healing aspect of psychotherapy comes from the chance to have an authentic relationship with a person who is actively investigating the nature of being human and the nature of being oneself.

Despite all we know, the jury is still out on how exactly we become who are. We know childhood, biology, and society all play a part in what makes life both really wonderful and sometimes really bad. What gives us the ability to face life's challenges, however, comes down to our relationships. This may sound simple, but it is in others that we see ourselves - our beauty, our talents, our self-worth, the resources with which we address the needs of the day. If you review any mythology from current pop songs to ancient Biblical texts, the theme of being there for each other unites us in the human experience.

What does this mean for me working with you in therapy? It means that I don't approach our beginning relationship from a standpoint of what's wrong with you. Most likely you already have struggled with those kinds of questions and come up short. It's more a question of what's been wrong for you. I'm asking myself what's been lacking for you, and I'm wondering how our working relationship could supply some of that.

This doesn't mean I will be the mother or father or big brother you never had. But it means I'll be a witness to what life has been for you, and still is, and I will be committed to having life go a new way in our relationship. This is the promise of Relational Psychotherapy, and I think it's the only promise we as therapists can make.  In the future I'll be writing more here about what Relational Therapy is all about but for now I wanted to leave you with this: you are entitled to a life that is abundant, full of satisfying relationships, with a sense of humor, optimism and purpose. I trust you will find your way to the people that support your mission.

With respect,

Benjamin Seaman