“I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival.”
-Audre Lorde
Bellamy Psychology provides therapy for people seeking to improve their self-care and overall wellness experience.
Services are offered through the use of culturally relevant, trauma-informed, and strengths-based therapeutic approaches. Specialty services address concerns including ADHD/executive functioning, trauma, experiences of marginalization and oppression, and relationship difficulties. Services are also provided for career and identity exploration issues.
Meet the team
Get to know Dr. Vanessa D. Bellamy
Pronouns: she/her/hers
My education and training.
I am a New York state licensed psychologist, and graduate of the combined doctoral program in Counseling Psychology and School Psychology at Florida State University. I completed my doctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania (Counseling and Psychological Services). Prior to obtaining my Ph.D., I earned my M.A. in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and my B.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.
I have extensive experience working in college counseling centers, and I most recently served as a Staff Psychologist and Outreach Coordinator at Barnard College (Furman Counseling Center). I also enjoy providing clinical supervision to therapists in training.
During my time in college counseling, some of my most meaningful work included facilitating support groups for women of color, survivors of sexual assault, adults managing ADHD, and students experiencing interpersonal difficulties. I also greatly enjoyed facilitating trainings and workshops focused on goal setting and career development.
My passion.
As a Black, Haitian-American woman, I am passionate about empowering Black women and people who hold other marginalized identities. Systems of oppression can impact the wellbeing of marginalized individuals, leading them to experience self-doubt, anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns. I specialize in helping people from marginalized communities tap into their strengths and make their wellness, self-care, and healing a priority. I believe that when we prioritize our own self-care and wellness, we can show up better for ourselves and our communities.
My style.
My therapeutic style is trauma-informed, collaborative and compassionate. I see the relationship between client and therapist as essential to promoting change, and I help hold space for clients to feel supported in our work together. My go-to therapeutic interventions are based on evidence-based treatment models including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, EMDR, and Emotionally Focused Therapy, as well as psychodynamic, relational, and multicultural modalities. Learn more about these approaches here (under Treatment Models).
I also use tools such as humor, homework, and additional resources (journaling prompts, worksheets, assessments, etc) to assist clients in doing the work during and outside of our sessions. My main goal is to address clients’ specific needs and help them feel validated, seen, and heard.
Contact me today if you believe that I can support you on your wellness journey.
Get to know Dr. Christy DaBreo-Otero
Pronouns: she/her/hers
I am a first-generation, Black, Grenadian-American woman born and raised in New York City. I am a licensed clinical psychologist in New York. My path toward being a psychologist includes being awarded a Ph.D. at St. John’s University, coupled with my predoctoral internship at Kings County Hospital and my postdoctoral fellowship at Barnard College-Rosemary Furman Counseling Center where I currently serve as the Associate Director. In my role, I lead outreach efforts as well as manage the center's referral system in matching clients to long-term care providers. Meanwhile, I carry a clinical caseload providing individual and group therapy to clients and supervising doctoral-level trainees. Additionally, I facilitate wellness programming and training for the Barnard community with the focus of decreasing the stigma associated with mental health care.
My clinical interests include navigating identities in work and academic spaces, emerging adulthood, life transitions, social connections, anxiety, depression, and impostor syndrome. My clinical training has afforded me the opportunity to work with clients from all walks of life including different ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and social-economic-status. I am deeply committed to helping people of color navigate systems and access their own empowerment and needs.
It is my belief that therapy should be tailored to the specific needs of the client. To facilitate this, I use an integrative approach in my work with clients drawing from different treatment modalities such as cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, family systems, multiculturalism, and psychodynamic approaches. Additionally, I incorporate mindfulness and other relaxation techniques to help clients center the mind, body, and access rest.
Our path towards wellness will be an active and collaborative approach with YOU the client. There may be homework, worksheets, journal prompts, and other activities to guide you in your own wellness work outside of session. Together, we will nurture your own emotional and physical needs while exploring systemic barriers that may impede this. We will explore the spaces and contexts that shape your personhood while you care for yourself and others.
I am excited to be part of your wellness journey with you!