Therapy for identity & self-esteem

Questions of identity can feel especially layered when you're navigating more than one world. You're allowed to not have it figured out yet.

Who are you when you're not performing or holding it together for everyone else? Identity questions can be layered and hard to name. Especially when you're moving between cultures, meeting expectations that feel impossible to reconcile, or sensing that the version of yourself you show the world isn't quite the whole picture.

For some people, identity work centers on culture: moving between worlds, carrying your family's story alongside your own needs and ambitions. For others, it's about sexuality or gender, career, religion, or a quiet sense that the life they're living doesn't quite fit.

Often it's some combination, and the threads are hard to separate. This is a space to explore all of it without judgment and without pressure to arrive at a tidy answer.

You might recognize:

A harsh inner critic narrating your days
Success that never lands as feeling enough
Shape-shifting to match whoever you're with
Difficulty naming what you actually want
Shame that predates anything you can point to
Confidence that collapses under one piece of criticism
Feeling like a stranger to yourself

Where the critic comes from

Growing up seen for what you did, not who you were
Cultural and family scripts about worth
Experiences of exclusion or othering
Perfectionism worn as armor
Never having had room to experiment with who you are

Self-worth isn't built by arguing with the critic — it grows from being known and accepted, starting here.

How therapy helps.

Self-esteem is part of this too

Self-esteem is about untangling the messages you received about who you're supposed to be, what you're worth, and what you're allowed to want, and finding your way back to something more honest. That work is slow and real, and it's worth doing.

We'll look at where those messages came from, how they've shaped you, and what it might look like to relate to yourself differently.

LGBTQ+ and queer-affirming therapy

Many of our clients are queer, questioning, or somewhere in the middle of figuring out what their sexuality or gender means for the life they're building — sometimes alongside a culture or family where that conversation feels impossible. This is an affirming practice. Your identity is not treated as a problem to solve, and you set the pace for what we explore and when.

Start Your Therapy Journey

Sliding scale spots are currently open with Laila Siddiqui, MHC-I for clients located in New York — you choose what you can pay, from $30 to $80 per session. See fees & insurance.

Who you'll work with.

Tina Liu, LMHC-D

Founder & psychotherapist. EMDR-trained, culturally attuned, licensed in New York & Florida.

About Tina →

Laila Siddiqui, MHC-I

Mental Health Counselor. Works with teens and young adults in New York, under the clinical supervision of Tina Liu, LMHC-D. Sliding scale spots available.

About Laila →

Junli Xiao, MHC-I

Mental Health Counselor. Works with adolescents and young adults in New York, in English and Mandarin, under the clinical supervision of Tina Liu, LMHC-D.

About Junli →

Our clinical team is growing — new therapists joining soon.

Not sure where to start? Send us a note and we'll figure it out together.