GENERAL MENTAL HEALTH & WELLNESS
Dr. Brofman supports adults who are struggling with depression, anxiety, grief, relationships, career and social pressures, and life transitions. Emphasizing individual strengths and personal goals and values, she helps people to engage in self-observation and exploration, to feel less overwhelmed and stuck, and to improve healthy coping, relationships, and quality of life. Dr. Brofman also works diligently and energetically to connect people to additional resources and sources of support when necessary. Her therapeutic style is warm, active, and down to earth.
Dr. Brofman provides diagnostic assessment, short-term and long-term psychotherapy, counseling, and coaching. She is trained in therapeutic approaches from psychodynamic psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and her work also incorporates mindfulness techniques.
Dr. Brofman has enjoyed working with patients in public, private, inpatient, outpatient, and school settings across the Greater New York Area since 2008. She emphasizes and values the important and rich role that diversity and culture play in our life experiences and welcomes people representing diverse backgrounds, identities, and family structures.
REPRODUCTIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Dr. Brofman has spent the majority of the past 18 years developing clinical and research expertise in reproductive and perinatal mental health. She offers clinical assessments, psychotherapy, counseling (including infertility counseling), coaching, educational workshops, talks, and trainings, and consultation services in this area of expertise. People often seek therapy when something has not gone as expected, and reproductive life transitions can be a major source of stress. Dr. Brofman helps people to find meaningful paths forward, sometimes in the midst of uncertainty or crisis.
Dr. Brofman provides support before, during, and after pregnancy and birth, as well as around pregnancy loss (including miscarriage, stillbirth, and termination for medical reasons, or TFMR), and recovery from birth trauma. She helps individuals, couples, and families through prenatal depression, prenatal anxiety, postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, and the wide range of emotional adjustment experiences during this time of transition. She supports people through a variety of complex medical issues related to reproductive life transitions, including high risk pregnancy, prenatal testing, NICU experiences, and parenting children with special needs. Often, her work includes a collaborative discussion to answer questions about which perinatal and parenting experiences are to be expected, and which may need additional support.
Dr. Brofman helps people who are navigating fertility, infertility, Assisted Reproductive Technology (e.g. IUI and IVF), third-party reproduction (e.g. egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation, and surrogacy), and other ways of building families (e.g. adoption and foster parenting), as well as the decision of whether to have children. She offers support for intended parents, donors, and gestational carriers and provides psychoeducational consultations related to third-party reproduction. Dr. Brofman provides education and guidance to help parents navigate conversations with children (including adult children) and community about family building via ART and third-party reproduction. She also provides support for donor conceived people (DCP), and remains active in ongoing learning via the Donor Conceived Community and the U.S. Donor Conceived Council.
Dr. Brofman supports individuals who may be going through assisted reproductive technology treatments (e.g. preimplantation genetic testing, or PGT) in the context of genetic disease or cancer. Additionally, she meets with people pursuing or considering medical or elective fertility preservation, i.e. cryopreservation (egg freezing, sperm freezing, and embryo freezing). Dr. Brofman actively supports single and LGBTQIA+ people. She supports families built without children (people who are childless not by choice or who are childfree).
Pregnancy loss, reproductive trauma, and family building via assisted reproductive technology are complex and often deeply stressful psychological experiences that can stay with individuals, couples, and families long after a pregnancy or another family building decision is reached. Much of Dr. Brofman’s clinical work focuses on supporting and advocating for these families before, during, and after pregnancy (or family building outside of - or unrelated to - a pregnancy), and through the experience of parenting - or not parenting - and identity when the reproductive story may not have gone as originally expected.
YOUNG ADULTHOOD
Dr. Brofman supports college students and young adults who are working through the transition to adulthood and navigating stressors related to relationships, family, friends, moves, school, and work, as well as healing from traumas, grief, and loss. Questions about reproductive identity (see Dr. Brofman’s colleague Dr. Aurelie Athan’s important work on this here!) are also an area of expertise, including explorations related to whether, when, and how to have children, and other topics related to reproductive identity. Dr. Brofman also supports young adults through conversations about egg freezing, sperm freezing, egg donation, and sperm donation, and she provides support for donor conceived people (DCP).
Dr. Brofman has also written a mental health column for the wedding and relationship blog APracticalWedding.com. She offers premarital counseling, couples therapy, and support through wedding planning and partnership.
CONSULTATION SERVICES
For information on clinical consultation (for NY State Mental Health Professionals) or other consultation services with Dr. Brofman, please contact her here.
FEES FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES
Please contact Dr. Brofman to discuss fees for psychological services.
Dr. Brofman does not participate directly with health insurance plans. She is considered an out of network provider. Please check with your individual insurance plan regarding whether you have benefits for out of network behavioral health services, and what those benefits specifically are, as plans vary widely. Dr. Brofman is happy to answer questions as is feasible related to out of network reimbursement, as well as to provide billing statements.
NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES
A Notice of Privacy Practices is provided once a first appointment with Dr. Brofman is scheduled, and a copy is available on the secure online portal or by request at any time.
GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE
Under the No Surprises Act, health care providers need to give patients who do not have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the bill (or “Good Faith Estimate”) for medical and mental health services.
You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency services. This includes related costs like therapy session fees.
Estimates will be furnished upon request when scheduling an appointment. You can ask your provider to provide this in writing at any time prior to scheduling an appointment.
Estimates are for your information only, and do not imply any commitment or agreement to pay for an unknown length of treatment.
Estimates do not include any unknown or unexpected costs that may arise or be requested during treatment, such as more frequent or longer appointments. You may be charged more if these special circumstances occur. Your Good Faith Estimate will be updated if there are changes in your treatment plan.
If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you have a right to dispute the bill.
Make sure to save a copy of your Good Faith Estimate.
For questions or more information about Good Faith Estimates, visit https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises/consumers or call 1-800-985-3059. (Notice effective 1/1/22.)