Licensed to practice in New York and accepts 9 insurances. Specializes in Anxiety, Child or Adolescent, Depression and 2 more.
(she/her)
New to Grow
I’m Katya Camacho, a bilingual Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and proud Puerto Rican, born and raised in the Bronx, New York. As a therapist, I believe you deserve a space where you can feel heard, understood, and accepted without judgment. My approach is warm, collaborative, and culturally responsive, with a focus on helping children, adolescents, adults, and families navigate anxiety, stress, relationships, life transitions, emotional challenges, and difficult experiences. As a mother of two young children, including a child with special needs, I understand firsthand that life can be both rewarding and overwhelming, and I bring that real-world understanding into my work with families. My goal is to help you recognize your strengths, develop practical coping skills, and feel more confident navigating life—because when you feel better, you do better.
Our first session is an opportunity for us to get to know one another and begin building a relationship based on trust, comfort, and understanding. We’ll talk about what brings you to therapy, what you’ve been experiencing, and what you hope to get out of our work together. I’ll ask questions about your background, relationships, strengths, and current challenges so I can better understand the whole person—not just the problem you’re facing. There is no pressure to have everything figured out or to share anything you’re not ready to discuss. My goal is to create a safe, judgment-free space where you can be yourself. Together, we’ll identify goals that feel meaningful to you and develop a plan for moving forward at a pace that feels comfortable. Whether you’re seeking support for yourself, your child, or your family, I want you to leave our first session feeling heard, supported, and hopeful about the work ahead.
One of the greatest strengths I bring to therapy is the ability to create a space that feels both professional and genuinely human. As a bilingual Puerto Rican therapist who was born and raised in the Bronx, I understand the importance of culture, family, community, and the experiences that shape how we see ourselves and the world around us. I take a strengths-based, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive approach, meeting each person where they are rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. I also believe therapy doesn’t always have to feel heavy or intimidating. I incorporate creativity, humor, practical tools, and evidence-based strategies to help clients understand their emotions, build healthier coping skills, strengthen relationships, and navigate life’s challenges. As a mother of two young children, including a child with special needs, I bring personal understanding of the realities, demands, and unexpected challenges that families can face. Most importantly, I see therapy as a collaboration—you know yourself and your experiences best, and my role is to help you recognize your strengths, feel empowered, and build the skills you need to move forward.
My ideal client is someone who is ready to better understand themselves, work through challenges, and make meaningful changes in their life. You don’t have to have everything figured out—or even know exactly what you need from therapy. You simply need to be willing to take that first step. I enjoy working with children, adolescents, adults, and families who may be navigating anxiety, stress, emotional regulation, relationship or family conflict, trauma, life transitions, parenting challenges, self-esteem, or feeling overwhelmed by the demands of everyday life. I especially enjoy working with individuals and families who value a warm, collaborative approach and want practical tools they can use in their daily lives. Whether you’re seeking support for yourself or your family, my goal is to meet you where you are, help you recognize your strengths, and work together toward the changes you want to see. Therapy is a process, and you don’t have to navigate it alone.
I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help clients better understand the connection between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Together, we identify patterns that may be contributing to anxiety, stress, low self-esteem, emotional distress, or difficulty coping, and work on developing healthier and more balanced ways of thinking and responding. I make CBT practical and individualized rather than simply focusing on changing thoughts. Depending on the client’s needs, we may use coping strategies, thought reframing, behavioral techniques, problem-solving, and between-session practice to build skills that can be applied in everyday life. My goal is to help clients feel more in control of their emotions, recognize their strengths, and develop tools they can continue using long after therapy ends.
I use Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) to help clients develop a kinder, more understanding relationship with themselves, particularly when they struggle with self-criticism, shame, guilt, low self-esteem, or feelings of inadequacy. Together, we explore the ways clients may be speaking to themselves and how past experiences may have shaped those patterns. I help clients practice responding to themselves with the same patience and compassion they might naturally offer to someone they care about. Through mindfulness, self-compassion exercises, emotional awareness, and practical coping strategies, we work toward reducing harsh self-judgment and building greater emotional resilience. My goal is to help clients recognize that having difficult emotions or making mistakes does not diminish their worth, while empowering them to move forward with greater self-acceptance and confidence.
I use Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) to support clients who have experienced trauma and are struggling with the emotional, behavioral, or relational impact of those experiences. I provide a safe, supportive, and trauma-informed environment where clients can develop a better understanding of how trauma can affect their thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and sense of safety. Treatment is individualized and paced according to each client’s readiness and comfort. We may work on emotional regulation, coping skills, identifying and challenging trauma-related thoughts, building healthy communication, and developing a stronger sense of safety and control. With children and adolescents, I also incorporate caregivers when appropriate to strengthen support and help families better understand the impact of trauma. My goal is to help clients process difficult experiences in a way that feels safe while building resilience, confidence, and healthier ways of coping.
I use a psychodynamic approach to help clients explore how their past experiences, relationships, and emotions may be influencing the way they think, feel, and respond in the present. Together, we look beyond the immediate concern to better understand patterns that may have developed over time, including relationship dynamics, attachment, self-esteem, and recurring emotional experiences. I create a supportive, nonjudgmental space where clients can explore these patterns at their own pace and develop greater insight into themselves. By increasing self-awareness and understanding the connection between past and present, clients can begin to make more intentional choices and develop healthier ways of relating to themselves and others. My goal is not simply to focus on the past, but to use that understanding to create meaningful change in the present and future.