Ida Hammer, LCSW
Online Counseling & TGNB Letters
California // New York
About Me
Ida Hammer (she/her)
I am experienced in working with transgender, gender nonbinary, women, and LGBQ clients. As a lesbian and transgender woman, I understand the value in seeing a therapist with a shared identity.
A life-long feminist activist, I have worked to promote the rights and wellbeing of women, LGBQ, and TGNB people. I know first hand that being an social justice advocate is hard work that can take a toll. It was my own experience as an community journalist and organizer that led me to becoming a therapist.
For me, pursuing an education in clinical social work meant developing new knowledge and skills that I could use to further my social justice and anti-oppressive work. I received my MSW from Hunter College in 2014.
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker providing online counseling to residents of California and New York.
My Approach
Science
I provide therapy that is rooted in and guided by science. This includes looking to social, developmental and evolutionary psychology and neuroscience to help understand how our minds develop and work, and the problems we encounter.
Integration
I utilize a range of Eastern and Western methods to enhance wellbeing. Attentional training, breathwork, mindfulness and imagery are combined with techniques from cognitive, behavioral, humanistic, narrative, eco and systems therapies.
Growth
I take a non-pathologizing approach that recognizes how struggles often labeled as “disorders” are actually adaptions to conditions that are not our fault. I place an emphasis on our ability to grow and change ourselves, as well as society.
Therapeutic Approach & Training
My practice is based on the Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) model. I have received training in CFT from a number of experts in the field, including Post-Graduate education at the University of Derby in England. I have also received specific training in mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing, Trauma-Informed Therapy and other techniques that I am able to draw on to help clients reach their goals in therapy.
Services
TGNB Surgery Letters
Single evaluation appointment
Currently accepting in-network insurance (see list below)
Individual Therapy
Weekly sessions (45 minutes)
Currently accepting in-network insurance (see list below)
In-Network Insurance
Optum, United Healthcare, Oxford, Oscar, Bind, Harvard Pilgrim, UHC Student Resources, UMR, UHSS, All Savers (UHC), Aetna, Allied, Meritain, Nippon
