About Ellie Farmer, Ph.D.
Psychology Fellow

“It is a joy to be hidden, and a disaster not to be found.” – Donald Winnicott

I believe therapy offers the opportunity for patients to see and understand themselves and others in a new light, and through that live a more fulfilling life.

Leading with empathy, curiosity, and a little playfulness, I foster a collaborative space where you can discover new ways of relating to yourself and integrate those fresh perspectives into your daily life. I work with adolescents, adults, couples, and families who seek relief from emotional distress and conflict, deeper self-understanding, and greater fulfillment in their lives and relationships.

Whether working with individuals or couples, my goal is to make therapy accessible and useful to you. I do this by meeting you where you are, whether you’re familiar with therapy or trying it for the first time. I’m interested in the way you think, feel, and understand the world. I also recognize that opening up and “doing the work” of therapy may take time, and requires genuine feelings of safety and alliance. In our work together, I will always meet your strength and courage to seek positive change with compassion, honesty, and authentic connection.

With patience, warmth, and attunement, I help build a safe and collaborative space where we can reflect on the qualities that make you “you,” explore how these feel congruent or incongruent with your authentic self, and identify goals that feel both achievable and generative. I believe that our interactions in the therapy room—whether they are playful, challenging, skills-based, or exploratory—can be transformative and serve as a steppingstone for meaningful and lasting change.

Availability: I provide in-person therapy in New York City, and telehealth sessions across New York state.

Specialties

My Approach

I believe it’s essential to meet each patient where they are—without judgment or fixed agendas. My nonjudgmental and reflective stance encourages you to raise new questions, explore previously unprocessed thoughts and feelings, and address challenging issues in new ways. I view this process as both collaborative and individualized, playful and meaningful, as well as effortful yet rewarding.

My insight-oriented approach actively attends to immediate symptoms while helping us to assess, alleviate, and ultimately reframe their purpose and meaning. Taking a direct yet conversational stance, I hope to tailor this intimate and exploratory experience in ways that foster compassion and curiosity about your internal world. In this regard, my therapeutic style is primarily relational and psychodynamic. I also have specific training in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT).

In our work together, I hope you will feel both inspired by and less alone with new insights, and I look to embolden you to apply them to your everyday life. In this way, I’m also integrative and proactive: Our discussions and clinical interactions will offer you opportunities to acquire and practice new skills, techniques, and ways of being with yourself and others. Whether drawing from trauma-informed, cognitive-behavioral, or mindfulness practices, I seek to help you identify not only how present distress relates to the past but also what are tangible ways to break free of old patterns of thinking and feeling.

My Background

As a lover of literature and writing, I studied English and Anthropology in college before pursuing a career in documentary filmmaking. My affinity for storytelling has remained a throughline in my professional and creative work. While I loved filmmaking, I experienced the camera as a barrier to authentic interpersonal connection and ultimately discovered in psychotherapy a more immediate way to engage with the raw, unscripted drama of human experience.

When I shifted my focus to psychology, I was fortunate to train under Dr. Beatrice Beebe, whose work instilled in me an appreciation for the subtle, unspoken moments of the therapeutic exchange—from laughter and knowing glances to heavy sighs and shared silence. In my clinical work, I strive to bring this attunement to the unspoken together with my love of storytelling and see therapy as an opportunity to make meaning of our experiences and develop a more coherent narrative of ourselves.

I trained in inpatient and outpatient hospitals, urban mental health clinics, psychoanalytic settings, and high school and college counseling centers, which helped me appreciate and learn to meet broad and varied patient needs. I am particularly interested in supporting individuals through life transitions and in understanding people within the relational and systemic contexts in which they live. I also enjoy working with couples, families, and groups.

My goal in therapy is to create a space where you feel safe and supported to use your voice. Through empathy, curiosity, and insight, I hope to help you better understand your experiences and develop a renewed narrative for how you move through the world.

Education, Training & Experience

Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, The City College of New York, CUNY

Postdoctoral Fellow in Advanced Psychotherapy, The Flatiron Center for Psychotherapy

Certificate in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

Advanced training in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT)

  • Maimonides Medical Center

  • New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis

  • The School of Professional Studies (SPS), CUNY

  • The Psychological Center at City College

  • NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health

  • New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), Columbia University Medical Center

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