Anya Ford, LMHC
In person and virtual therapy options for adults navigating anxiety, eating and body image concerns, parenting stress, and relationship challenges
Many of the people I work with come to therapy feeling stuck.
They may know what they want to do differently, yet find themselves returning to the same patterns again and again.
I believe there are often good reasons why we get stuck. Therapy offers a space to better understand those patterns and create room for meaningful change.
About
I'm a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in New York. I earned my Master's degree in Mental Health Counseling from Fordham University and began my clinical training at The Renfrew Center of New York, where I worked with adolescents and adults experiencing eating disorders and related concerns. Before entering the mental health field, I spent many years working in arts education and community-based programs focused on inclusion, self-expression, and emotional wellbeing—experiences that continue to shape how I think about people, relationships, and growth. Today, I provide therapy to adults throughout New York. I continue to pursue specialized training in eating disorder treatment and culturally affirming, equity-centered care.
Seeking therapy can feel like a big step.
People often begin therapy when something in their life no longer feels sustainable in the way it once did. They may feel overwhelmed, disconnected, caught in familiar patterns, or uncertain about how to move forward.
I don't believe people are problems to be fixed. More often, I find that the coping strategies, beliefs, and patterns that once helped us navigate difficult experiences may no longer be serving us in the present.
Therapy offers an opportunity to better understand those patterns, build on existing strengths, and create meaningful change with greater self-awareness, flexibility, and compassion.
Approach
I believe therapy works best when it feels like a genuine relationship—one built on trust, curiosity, and collaboration.
My style is warm, engaged, and down-to-earth. I strive to create a space where you can show up as you are, without feeling like you need to have everything figured out before you begin.
I draw from psychodynamic therapy, CBT, and DBT, but I don't believe people fit neatly into any one framework. Instead, I work to understand who you are, what has shaped you, and what you need from therapy at this point in your life.
Together, we'll explore the experiences, relationships, and ways of coping that may be contributing to where you feel stuck today. Often these patterns developed for good reasons, even when they no longer seem to be serving us.
Some sessions may focus on insight and reflection, while others may focus on concrete tools and strategies. Most often, it's a combination of both. I believe meaningful change happens when understanding begins to translate into new experiences—when what we know intellectually starts to feel true emotionally as well.
I also recognize that our experiences do not exist outside of the broader contexts in which we live. Culture, race, gender, sexuality, body size, disability, family history, and other aspects of identity shape how we experience ourselves, our relationships, and the world around us.
I strive to approach these conversations with openness, humility, and curiosity. Whether or not we share the same lived experiences, I believe therapy should be a space where all aspects of your identity are welcome and can be explored without fear of judgment, minimization, or assumption. I am committed to ongoing learning and self-reflection, including awareness of how my own visible and invisible identities may influence the therapeutic relationship.
I see therapy as a place to better understand yourself, strengthen your relationships, and create meaningful change that feels sustainable in your everyday life.
How I Can Help
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Food and body concerns rarely exist in isolation.
They are often shaped by family experiences, relationships, cultural messages, identity, stress, and the expectations placed upon us by the world around us. I believe that many struggles with food and body image make sense when we consider the broader contexts in which they developed.
My work is grounded in an anti-diet, inclusive approach. I work with individuals navigating eating disorders, disordered eating, chronic dieting, body image concerns, and complicated relationships with food, movement, and their bodies.
Together, we can explore how these struggles developed, challenge the beliefs that may be keeping them in place, and work toward greater freedom, flexibility, and trust in your relationship with food and your body.
I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to move through the world with greater freedom from the shame, judgment, and external expectations that so often shape our relationships with food and our bodies.
My hope is that food and body concerns take up less space in your life, creating more room for the relationships, values, interests, and experiences that matter most to you.
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Parenting can be joyful, meaningful, exhausting, isolating, and overwhelming—sometimes all at once.
Many parents find themselves carrying enormous responsibilities while also trying to navigate their own emotional needs, relationships, careers, and identities. It can be difficult to find space for yourself when so much of your energy is devoted to caring for others.
I don't believe parents need to be in crisis to deserve support.
Therapy can provide a place to pause, reflect, and make sense of what you're carrying. Whether you're adjusting to a new stage of parenthood, struggling with the competing demands of caregiving, or feeling disconnected from parts of yourself that have gotten lost along the way, you don't have to navigate it alone.
Sometimes therapy is simply a place where your needs get to matter, too.
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Finding the right therapist is important.
I offer a brief consultation call to learn more about what brings you to therapy, answer any questions you may have, and determine whether working together feels like a good fit.
Sessions can be virtual or in-person. Virtual appointments are available to clients located anywhere in New York State. In-person sessions are available at my Manhattan office.
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I am in network with Aetna, Cigna, Anthem, Optum, Oxford, and United.
Private-pay:
$200 for 45 minute sessions
$245 for 55 minute sessions
A limited number of reduced-fee appointments may be available.
Get in Touch
Office Space
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