Hello, my name is Julia Massay-Donato. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family therapist and have been practicing for almost 10 years. I live in upstate New York and love spending time outside with my daughter, husband and puppy. I come from an Italian background with a large external family living around me. I have traveled to many different countries and studied in Queens, Nebraska and Colorado. I feel strongly that all individual deserve to feel and experience their best selfs, no matter what has happened for them in life. We have one life, and I want everyone to feel that they can make the most of it. I work to build very strong and longer-term relationships with my clients, to ensure that I am matching and addressing all their needs. I have a lot of experience with many types of populations and can utilize many theories depending on need. I am dedicated and motivated to help you and will work as hard or long is needed to ensure you feel your best. There are three specific pieces of my style that define me as a therapist. First, I am very direct. I will make sure to utilize our time together as efficiently as possible. Second, I am action oriented, which means I am always paying attention to what can be different or changed to help make improvements. Lastly, I am very emotion focused and trauma oriented. I am always paying attention to the emotions and traumas that might underlie whatever the concerns are, in order to help change our foundational emotional understandings, which helps create longer lasting change. I operate more as an analyst in sessions, in order to identify the root creations of problems, how they are affecting individuals now, and how they can be changed.

What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?

Usually in my first sessions, we will have a lot of conversation around your history, treatment needs and therapeutic goals. I am very good at asking questions and can either take the lead in this first session, or allow you to direct the session with your preferred communication topics. Our first session feels very important to me, and I want to start building a strong relationship with all my clients.

Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.

I will work as hard as you need to help identify and create change. I always want to encourage my clients to advocate for themselves, especially with me in our sessions. I feel strongly that I can help people work through any concerns that arise, however in order to do so, I hope for direct communication from my clients.

About Julia Massay Donato