Dr. Irina Volynsky

Clinical Director psychologist working with adults, kids and families, licensed in New York, New Jersey

Languages: English, Russian, Ukrainian

Education

  • 2007 PhD in Clinical Psychology, City University of New York
  • 1996 MA in Psychology, Kiev State University, Ukraine

 

I am a product of two cultures and two education systems; therefore I have a first-hand experience of going through many complicated transitions, including immigrating to a foreign country, overcoming a language barrier, acquainting myself with a foreign method of graduate studies, and familiarizing myself with peculiarities of the market economy. That is probably one of the reasons why a large area of my practice has always consisted of people at various stages of their immigration journeys.
I had completed my first graduate degree in psychology while still in Ukraine, my native country, and my first clinical experience was at an inpatient adolescent unit in a largest state hospital in Ukraine A combination of these experiences in addition to the year I spent as a doctoral psychology intern at Bellevue Hospital’s adult inpatient and outpatient units, while finishing my graduate studies in New York, made it difficult for me to be staggered by the vast range of human suffering. While still completing my PhD, I worked with the Federation of Employment and Guidance Services, giving lectures and seminars on various topics and providing therapy for people from all walks of life. While there, I also participated in Project Liberty, which served people affected by the September 11 attacks. I provided counseling and therapy for families of victims and for individuals who sustained various levels of trauma during that period of time. Upon finishing graduate school, I spent a number of years doing research at Mount Sinai Hospital/Bronx VA Hospital. While looking at the biological basis of various personality disorders, our research team was developing and fine-tuning advanced methods of early diagnosis of personality pathology. I am currently an adjunct professor at the City University of New York Ph.D. Program in Clinical Psychology. Here, I have the privilege of overseeing psychological and neuropsychological testing performed by very talented, advanced PhD students who tend to relentlessly challenge their professors and supervisors, thus keeping us on our toes in terms of being professionally up-to-date. I have over 15 years of experience working in an eclectic model of treatment. This means that I will not try to mold your difficulties and your personality so that it fits into my treatment approach, but rather, I will pick and customize an approach that works best for you. In addition to working with adults, I do parent-child consultations (including at-home consultations for toddlers) and developmental consultations, as well as psychological, educational, and neuropsychological testing. This is exactly the type of testing your child’s educators may request from you, especially when they feel that something is off in your child’s performance, but they cannot get to the root of the problem. I am licensed in 32 states and I also consult and teach internationally in Ukraine, Georgia, Russia, Poland, and the UK.

 

English

Important Insurance Information

We only take insurance as out of network providers. The reason for this is that we don’t want the insurance to dictate us what to do in therapy, how much, and how frequently. We, as professionals, feel very strongly that this decision should be between the patient and the doctor or the therapist, without the third party intervening into this process. We have staff members who will work with you around your budget to make it affordable for you and/or for your children to undergo necessary psychological treatment. Because of their licensure requirements, some of our highly qualified junior clinicians currently work under supervision of the clinical director. The perks of working with one of our junior clinicians, besides the lower cost for services, also include that our junior clinicians get hour to hour supervision from the director of the center who is a licensed PhD psychologist with extensive experience in the mental health field. Hour to hour supervision means that, in addition to a session with this particular clinician, two people will put their heads together while puzzling over your case and drafting out ways to approach all of the pertinent issues. If there is a piece of the puzzle that will be better solved by a social worker, because, say, your anxiety stems not only from psychological problems but also from a dire housing situation, the clinician will get “on a flight” consultation from one of our social workers and will provide you with available resources. So let me use the sales people cliché here: it is two for the low price of one! Jokes aside, this model of work ensures that our center provides the best possible care for you and for your loved ones in the most cost-effective manner.