Therapist profile
Sylvia Leal, LCSW
New York
LCSW - Relationships and Codependency issues
Continue with SylviaWhere Sylvia stands
- Credentials
- LCSW
- License
- LCSW, New York / 076808; LCSW, Connecticut / 16565
- NPI
- 1013152354
- Experience
- 20 years
- Languages
- English, Spanish
- Location
- New York
About
- CBT skills
- Attachment work
- DBT strategies
About Sylvia
Sylvia Leal is an LCSW with 20 years of clinical experience in New York. She offers therapy in English and Spanish and works with people coping with stress, anxiety, relationship problems, low self-esteem, depression, and major life changes.
Sylvia focuses on helping people notice patterns that keep them stuck. She talks through attachment wounds, abandonment concerns, and codependency patterns that show up around other people’s moods or crises. Sessions include practical skills for managing strong emotions and clearer ways to communicate with others.
Her background includes long-term practice using cognitive behavioral techniques and dialectical behavior strategies to teach coping skills and emotion regulation. She also draws on attachment-based ideas to look at how early relationships shape current behavior and expectations in close relationships.
Sylvia uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help clients identify what matters to them and take small steps toward those values, even when anxiety or fear is present. Her work with clients often involves noticing actions that feel automatic and trying different responses in everyday life.
People who see her can expect brief skill-building, thoughtful conversation about relationship patterns, and attention to practical steps that fit daily life. To begin, readers are encouraged to follow the site process to match and schedule a first session.
How sessions work
How her approaches translate to online work
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify what matters to them and take small, practical steps toward those values while learning to live with uncomfortable thoughts and feelings. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on noticing unhelpful thoughts and testing them with concrete behavioral changes to reduce anxiety and improve mood. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationships shape adult patterns and uses the therapy relationship to try new, healthier ways of relating.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Sylvia will collaborate with each person to choose which methods fit their goals and daily life. That means trying different tools from ACT, CBT, or attachment work and adjusting based on what helps the client make steady, manageable changes.
The biography does not list specific remote session formats, so confirm current session options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, avoid travel time, and use shorter check-ins when schedules require them. It also supports continuing work on emotion regulation, communication practice, and values-driven actions between in-person meetings and during life transitions.
Areas of focus
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
20+ years
Listed in
New York, Connecticut
Languages
English, Spanish
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of relationship problems does she address?
She works with people facing relationship conflict, commitment concerns, communication problems, and patterns that feel like codependency.
How would you describe her therapy style?
Her style blends client-centered conversation with skills training from CBT and DBT and attention to attachment patterns.
How much clinical experience does she have?
She has 20 years of experience practicing as a licensed clinical social worker.
Where is she licensed and based?
She is an LCSW licensed in Connecticut and New York and practices out of New York.
Does she offer sessions in other languages?
Sessions are offered in English and Spanish.
Can people outside the United States work with her?
She does not accept international clients at this time.
How does payment and cost work?
Cost varies with location; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
What do I do to begin working with her?
Select the See online therapy options button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.
Details come from information the therapist supplied to BetterHelp. A license can be checked with the state board.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If you are not safe at home, use the crisis and helpline numbers.