Karen Pelligra, LMHC

Karen Pelligra is a licensed mental health counselor practicing in New York with more than two decades of experience working across outpatient community mental health clinics, inpatient psychiatric hospitals, and home-based family services. As an LMHC - a Licensed Mental Health Counselor - she focuses on creating a collaborative and empowering space where individuals can address depression, anxiety, life transitions such as divorce or an empty nest, eating disorders, and trauma. Karen draws on a broad range of counseling styles to tailor care to each person, prioritizing support and practical coping strategies that fit daily life.

She approaches therapy as a partnership, meeting clients where they are and helping them develop skills to manage stress, rebuild relationships, and move through difficult emotions. Clients can expect an emphasis on feeling heard and gaining tools to face challenges with greater resilience. With a calm, steady presence developed over 22 years of clinical work, Karen aims to guide people through change without judgment and with a focus on real-world progress. She looks forward to working with those ready to take the next step toward healing and growth.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Care

Karen Pelligra often uses client-centered therapy to build a foundation of trust and collaboration. This approach emphasizes the client's own goals and perspectives, helping people feel understood and supported while they explore change and healing.

She also draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, a structured method that helps identify unhelpful thoughts and patterns and replace them with more effective ways of coping. CBT is commonly used for anxiety, depression, and stress-related concerns. For clients who benefit from learning emotional regulation and interpersonal skills, Dialectical Behavior Therapy techniques offer practical tools for managing intense emotions and improving relationships.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process, and Karen works together with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences. That collaborative decision-making helps shape a plan that feels manageable and relevant.

Online therapy provides flexibility to meet by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging, making it easier to fit sessions into busy lives and to access care from home or other convenient locations. These options allow licensed professionals to offer consistent, ongoing support while accommodating different communication styles and schedules.