Hi! I’m Rachel Chada.
writer ✷ performer ✷ cat mom ✷ Bravo devotee
Curiosity and creativity have always been at the core of what I do and love.
I started my career as a creative strategist in the advertising world, helping brands connect to the people they often viewed purely as sales numbers. It was here that I discovered my curiosity for understanding what made people tick.
At the same time, I was pursuing my passion for comedy while performing in NYC + beyond. Here, I began to see that laughter has a beautiful, magical connecting power. Being in a room with an audience, laughing at the painful, scary, or dark parts of the world, had an inherent ability to bring us closer together.
Everything clicked for me in my own therapeutic journey when I realized I could combine these passions while supporting others. Since then, I’ve been working with clients, joining them on a journey of self-discovery, learning to take power back from the things that scare us, and sharing a few laughs along the way.
✷ MSEd, Mental Health Counseling — Hunter College
✷ LGBTQ+ Affirming Therapy Certification — Institute for Human Identity
✷ LGBTQ+ Youth Crisis Counseling — The Trevor Project
✷ Level II Hagadorian Sandplay Therapy
Training
When I say I practice affirming therapy, it means I work to understand your unique identity + experiences. Above all else, therapy is your space to explore, be challenged, and to grow.
Approach to Therapy
Self-Knowledge
At the foundation of my work is a desire to uncover the unconscious motivations for our actions, most of which are derived from our youth and early experiences. For couples, we do this work side-by-side to understand and gain empathy for the individual perspectives that are influencing the relationship dynamic.
Self-Acceptance
Going beyond gaining a more profound sense of self, we will work to develop an appreciation for each unique part of your identity—from the ones you work to project into the world to those that you work to hide away.
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Personal Growth
With self-understanding and compassion comes an ability to evolve. Whether it’s a shift in perspective, a change in behavior, or a combination of the two, this progress is possible.
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In therapy-speak, my approach is integrative, combining psychodynamic theory with parts work and skill development through a social justice framework. Therapy with me is LGBTQ+ affirming, poly/CNM affirming, and rooted in anti-oppression.