Couple and Family Therapy

At the Ackerman Institute clinic, trained therapists help families from all ethnic, economic and religious backgrounds. We serve both heterosexual and same sex headed families and couples.

Couple and Family Therapy​

At the Ackerman Institute clinic, trained therapists help families from all ethnic, economic and religious backgrounds. We serve both heterosexual and same sex headed families and couples.

Family Therapy at Ackerman

At the Ackerman Institute Clinic, our therapists help families from all ethnic, economic and religious backgrounds. We serve both heterosexual and same sex headed families and couples.

Family therapy is a way of understanding and treating emotional problems and personal crises by working with the entire family rather than the individual. Therapy sessions focus on understanding individuals’ thoughts, feelings and behavior within the context of their families. The goal is to harness and strengthen family resources, and help family members work collaboratively toward solutions to their problems.

We help couples and families with problems including, but not limited to, school difficulties, child and adolescent problems, gender and LGBTQIA+ topics, marital issues, divorce, bereavement, learning disabilities, conflictual family relationships, child abuse and incest, and chronic medical illness including AIDS. Families from all boroughs of New York City and from the larger tri-state area are welcome. Fees are on a sliding scale based on family income. Ackerman is an in-network provider for a wide range of insurances. Medicaid is accepted.

Before you call, please read our Clinic Welcome Page.

Make an Appointment

Start Here: Read our Welcome Page.

Our clinic is at capacity. For appointments, please check back for updates.

For more information, call the Intake Department: 212 879-4900, ext. 122

Due to HIPAA regulations, scheduling of appointments and other clinical services are arranged by phone only.

Frequently Asked Questions

Family therapy is a method of understanding and treating emotional problems and personal crises by working with family members, rather than the individual. Therapy sessions focus on aiding families in developing more effective, less stressful patterns of living.
Ackerman family therapists try to understand individuals’ thoughts, feelings and behavior not only as a personal expression, but within the context of their families. The goal is to harness and strengthen existing resources, and help family members work collaboratively towards inventive solutions of their problems.

Just as all families are different, each family’s first session will differ. However, the therapist will be interested in having all of you talk about your problems, how they developed, what you have tried to do about them, and what changes you would like to see happen. The therapist will also give you feedback about how he or she understands your family and set a plan for treatment.

Family therapy is provided by psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers on the Ackerman faculty, and by clinicians in post graduate training and supervision at Ackerman. Many of the Ackerman faculty have national and international reputations, and their workshops, training tapes and publications set standards for the profession.
Founded in 1960 by Dr. Nathan Ackerman, the Ackerman Institute for the Family is the foremost institute of its kind in the U.S. In addition to helping families through treatment, Ackerman trains family therapists in New York City, the U.S., and throughout the world. Ackerman also conducts research independently and with major forces for change such as universities and other educational institutions, hospitals, and social service agencies.
The Treatment Center helps families with a broad spectrum of problems including, but not limited to, school difficulties, childhood and adolescent troubles, marital issues, divorce, life cycle changes, bereavement, learning disabilities, family violence, substance abuse, child abuse and incest, chronic medical illness including AIDS, and infertility.

Arthur Maslow, who was a member of the faculty at the Ackerman Institute for many years and former chair of the Board of Directors, once said: “Family therapy works because it’s reality. The greatest support a child can get is from the family.”

In family therapy, family members work together to reconnect, harness and strengthen existing resources and find inventive solutions to tough problems. The connection that takes place may be between parents and children, between siblings or between couples. The issue that brings a family to therapy may be a problem a child is having in school, the serious physical illness of a family member, depression in an adolescent or dissatisfaction in a marriage.

Some of the families that come to the Ackerman Institute are traditional nuclear families. Others are single parent families. Some are families headed by gay couples or families in which the parents are straight and the children are gay. Some are intergenerational families or stepfamilies or families with mixed ethnic or religious backgrounds. At the Ackerman Institute, we are committed to recognizing diversity in all of its forms and working with all kinds of families in ways that are sensitive to their specific needs.

Family is a powerful concept. The word family can be highly charged because while many of our problems can stem directly from our family relationships, just as often, the solution to our problems lies within our family relationships.

This is because the one thing all families have in common is that fact that each family is the single most powerful resource available to all of its members as they try to cope with all kinds of concerns and issues at all stages of life. Family therapy works because no matter who you are, no matter where you come from and no matter where you want to go … it all starts with the family.

For more information about family therapy please contact our Intake Department at (212) 879-4900, ext 122.

We provide therapy services to families living in New York State and all five boroughs of New York City.

Please call the Intake Department at (212) 879-4900, ext 122, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Appointments (subject to the therapist’s availability) are from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Our clinic offers a sliding scale fee based on household income. The full fee is $300 per session. We accept a number of insurance plans. See insurance section below for a complete list.

If you know in advance that you will not be able to keep your appointment, it is very important to contact your therapist. If you do not come for a scheduled appointment and do not contact your therapist, you will be charged for the session.

All therapy sessions are currently held online.

The Ackerman Institute for the Family is located on the second floor of an office building at 936 Broadway, between 22nd and 21st Streets. The Institute is one block of the F, M, N, R, and 6 trains. NYC buses M1, M2, M3, M5 run on 5th and Park Avenues and the M23 runs cross town on 23rd Street.

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Ackerman is in-network with the following insurances:*

  • Beacon Health
  • BCBS (except plans whose ID’s start with JLJ, JLH or BCBS Medicaid)
  • Emblem Health
  • GHI
  • Healthfirst
  • MetroPlus
  • MHAP
  • NY State Health Insurance Plan (NYSHIP) 
  • Optum
  • Oxford
  • United Behavioral Health  
  • United Behavioral Health Community Plan
  • UMR
  • United Healthcare
  • Value Options 

*Please consult with your insurance company to confirm coverage for mental health services. 

We accept straight Medicaid and Medicaid plans attached to a plan we are in network with (aside from BCBS as indicated above)  

We are not in-network with Medicare at this time and are unable to accept a secondary plan if your primary plan is Medicare.  

Family Resources

Watch Ackerman Parent & Caregiver Webinars on our YouTube Channel.