Shulamit Rishik, M.A., LCSW

Shulamit Rishik specializes in pre and post international adoption and family issues, including issues around infertility and the transition to adoption. She also works with problems of childhood and adolescence. In all areas working with children, Ms. Rishik facilitates parental guidance.

Working with adults, her expertise includes the diagnosis and treatment of depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, prolonged grief reactions after loss, as well as other types of psychiatric conditions.

Ms. Rishik brings twenty years of clinical experience to the field of psychotherapy.

Born in Riga, Latvia, in the former Soviet Union, Ms. Rishik received her professional education in the United States and earned her BA and MSW degrees at Hunter College and a second Masters degree in Education at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College. Fluent in both English and Russian, she worked with New York City’s Board of Education, as Administrator of Bilingual Programs and as Counselor for Students and Parents; with the American Jewish Committee’s William Wiener Oral History Project; and with the International Claims Conference Hardship Fund, which secured restitution for survivors of the Holocaust from the German government. In 1990, Ms. Rishik began her clinical career as a psychotherapist for the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. She went on to hold a six-year position in the Out-Patient Clinic in the Department of Psychiatry at Montefiore Hospital.

Ms. Rishik began her private practice in 1993.

In 1999, Ms. Rishik became an adoptive parent becoming acutely aware of the complex issues surrounding international adoption—its emotional challenges, as well as its supreme joys. She works with families considering adoption; helping them to work through any ambivalence they may have in determining whether adoption is an appropriate choice. Her many life experiences of transition, immigration, separation and loss have helped her build a practice with unique insight and sensitivity.

Ms. Rishik is currently a senior candidate at the New York Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (NPAP).

Degree

M.A., M.A., L.C.S.W.

Title

Psychotherapist; Consultant for Internationally adopted pre-school and school age children and families; Senior Candidate Psychoanalyst (NPAP)

Description of Practice/Services Offered

Ms. Rishik’s private practice provides psychotherapy for adults, families, children and adolescents. As an International Adoption Specialist she offers pre and post-adoption services which include: Parent consultations; Child/parent consultations; and child-centered psychotherapy, including play-therapy. Parental guidance plays a key role in all of her work with children. Ms. Rishik’s approach is integrative and helps to insure the building of skills that will provide an emotionally protective environment for the adoptive child. She also provides insight into any cultural issues which may affect the bonding process. Ms. Rishik also helps older adopted children to work through and integrate early life deficits to gain self-confidence and sense of self.

Her work in child-centered psychotherapy includes trauma-focused therapy, attachment-focused therapy and play therapy. Ms. Rishik also specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of various disorders related to stress, trauma, and loss. She helps children and adolescents cope with emotional trauma, separation anxiety, reactive attachment disorder and childhood and adolescent depression.

Ms. Rishik also provides counseling and advice for the single parent, helping them to recognize their inner resources, guide them toward building realistic expectations of self, and developing nurturing support systems.

Professional Education

M.S.W. – Hunter College, School of Social Work, 1988
M.A., Education – Teacher’s College, Columbia University, 1982
Certificate: JBFCS Training Programs (in house 3 yrs./advanced 2yrs) 1990-1995
Senior Candidate - NY Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (NPAP) Degree 2009

Professional Affiliations

Cognitive Remediation Center, Contributor
Women’s Mental Health Consortium, Member

Languages

English, Russian (bilingual), some Hebrew

Presentations

“Identity in a State of Transition” delivered at conference of the APA

Contact

350 Central Park West, 1F
New York, NY 10025

Phone: (212) 665-6693
Fax: (212) 787-6867
Shulamit171@yahoo.com

Appointment Scheduling: by telephone

Office Hours: Wednesday – Saturday/ 9:30 – 8:00

Insurances Accepted/Managed Care Accepted: Major Insurances accepted. Ms. Rishik’s services take into account Patient’s financial circumstances.