Culturally Informed
Mental Health Services in NYC
Dr. Jonathan Mathias Lassiter is currently accepting clients for in-person and virtual sessions* at Lassiter Health Initiatives in New York City. Reach out for a free consultation.
One-on-one, working together, we dive deep into your emotions, into your bodily sensations, and the unconscious messages you tell yourself that keep you from living life fully. On a schedule that works for you, together we will create a safe and brave space where you can be emotionally vulnerable.
Learn tools to heal the wounds and increase your capacity to navigate life in a way that is aligned with your higher self.
When working with couples, I am committed, equally to you both. I don’t take sides. My role is to facilitate an environment that is safe so that true emotions can be felt, and sincere words can be spoken to each other. Communication is key, so I will teach you both how to communicate honestly and directly. We will also work on identifying emotions and expressing them with compassion and bravery. The best relationships are flexible and have a focus on the us and not the me.
As your therapist, I will help you gain clarity on your relationship and find the best path forward.
There is nothing like a person with a plan. Life can be hard. It can be tough to figure out what you want to do or how to do it. And procrastination is a…, well you know. As your life coach, I listen to your words and your emotions. I help you gain clarity on your vision. I aid you in homing in on the voice inside you that is courageous not the one that is afraid to fail.
I will assist you in creating and pursuing goals that are specific, measurable, actionable, and realistic.
Philosophy
As people who have often experienced trauma – big and small – from our families and a biased/oppressive society as a whole, we sometimes doubt ourselves, suppress our own emotions, and find ourselves in relationships and situations that continue the harm. Even when we overcome, we can still have difficulty enjoying the rewards from our hard work, navigating new environments with unspoken rules, and healing from past pain. I am here to help you break unhealthy patterns, get connected to your emotions, and cultivate relationships that affirm you.
I believe that everyone deserves to not only heal but to also thrive. You are inherently special and connected to something greater than yourself. It just may be the case that the tools and coping strategies you once used are no longer working for you. It’s time to learn something new, figure out a different way of communicating, and embrace a different perspective.
I am here to help you become the person you are destined to be, the real you, not a persona, or who you think you should be. I am here to teach you the skills you need to move through the pain to live a life of purpose. You don’t have to be “just like your daddy” or “end up alone.” You don’t have to “sacrifice yourself like your mother did.” You don’t have to be “an abomination” or “a statistic.” You are not “shameful.” “Bad,” “bougie,” and “boss” do not have to be negative things. There is nothing innately wrong with you. Let’s work together to build a healthier relationship with yourself and others.
Combining the strengths of your culture, mindfulness, spirituality, and research-based therapeutic approaches, I will guide you on a journey of getting in touch with your emotions and the trauma that lives under your skin. Together, we will process past and recent events, the emotions attached to them, and determine where those emotions live in the body. We will also examine the hidden messages about your emotions that you may have unknowingly internalized. I'll teach you how to challenge, accept, and change emotions – as appropriate – to learn new ways of being.
The relationship between you and me will be a unique one. The focus is on you, but you are not alone. With me as your therapist, you will have a partner, an advocate, a co-conspirator, and a protector of the most vulnerable parts of you. Clients have described me as direct, down-to-Earth, empowering, skill-oriented, warm, and sometimes humorous. Clients often tell me that I make them feel comfortable to share openly and be vulnerable. They feel seen and heard, not judged.
Both of us are in this together. I invite you to be an active participant in this partnership. You are the expert on you. I am an expert in mental health. Let’s combine that expertise to reach your goals.
Therapeutic Approaches
Dr. Lassiter has specialized training and experience in using the therapeutic approaches below. The approaches are listed with the types of mental health problems for which he uses each. All of these approaches have been researched by scientists who have found evidence of their effectiveness. Please note, that often Dr. Lassiter is combining approaches to meet the unique needs of clients. No one approach works for all clients and none work the same across clients. Thus, Dr. Lassiter tailors his approach for each individual client. All of these approaches are practiced with cultural humility that seeks to understand and honor the client, their culture, and their context.
Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders/Cognitive Behavior Therapy
- Dr. Lassiter implements this framework to teach you to identify your emotions, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Once identified, there is an emphasis on exploring how these things influence your behavior. Emotional awareness, mindful emotional experiences, thought restructuring, and emotion exposures are the tools used to help you find relief.
- Ideal for clients who may be experiencing:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Trauma- and stressor-related disorders
- Substance-use and other addiction problems
Compassion-focused Therapy
- Dr. Lassiter leverages this approach to help you develop kindness for yourself and your perceived flaws; feel more connected to yourself and others in your humanity; and cultivate a practice of being in the moment on purpose without judgement.
- Ideal for clients who may be experiencing:
- Grief
- Imposter syndrome
- Negative self-talk
- Hypercriticism of self
- Poor boundaries in relationships with others
- Perfectionism
- Pressure to be strong and silent
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Dr. Lassiter uses ACT to assist you in identifying your values, decouple yourself from emotional pain, develop psychological flexibility, and accept your power to change what you can and let go of what you cannot. The goal is to change your relationship to your emotions and thoughts, not to change or suppress your emotions and thoughts or their expression.
- Ideal for clients who may be experiencing:
- Lack of purpose
- Feeling unsettled in life
- Having to navigate inflexible, toxic family members or other loved ones
- Racism
- Sexism
- Heterosexism
- Transphobia
- Chronic pain or other medical concerns
Belief Systems Analysis
- This explicitly African-centered approach is used to help you move away from the stress, anxiety, and despair of living in a world steeped in oppression. Using this approach, Dr. Lassiter joins you on a journey of examining your belief systems and learning new ways of interpreting yourself, others, and the world around you through the lens of pre-colonial African values. The work requires deep reflection and is a long-term process of optimizing your way of being through harnessing culture and spirituality. This therapy is ideal for people from marginalized backgrounds who are not suffering from acute mental health disorders but who wish to use psychotherapy for deep self-exploration, learning how to connect more in their personal and communal relationships, and transcend the confines of societies that were not designed with them in mind.
- Ideal for clients who may be experiencing:
- Racism
- Sexism
- Heterosexism/Homophobia/Biphobia
- Transphobia
- Ableism
- Church hurt
- A desire to dive deeper into their culture and spirituality to become more aligned in their life
Emotionally Focused Therapy - For Couples
- Dr. Lassiter draws from the principles of EFT to help you and your partner identify unhealthy patterns of communication and engagement/avoidance with each other. The aim is to help you and your partner understand and express your emotions, cultivate empathy for each other, and build stronger, more empathetic connections in your relationship.
- Ideal for couples who may be experiencing:
- Poor and negative communication
- Infidelity
- Clash of values and beliefs
- Stress from outside sources such as family, society, and work that is negatively impacting your relationship