My name is Polina Levit, LPC, and I am an Assistant Director and a Licensed Professional Counselor. I have received my BA from University of Minnesota and my Masters Degree from Alfred Adler Graduate School. After graduating my first job was working for a leading EAP company, where I learned how to quickly screen and assess people for mental health issues and direct them to appropriate resources to get help.
Soon afterwards, I met my husband who lived in NJ and I made my decision to move to the East Coast. I then started working as an EAP counselor for Morristown Memorial Hospital. The job was very interesting and challenging. I learned how to use different therapeutic approaches to help people achieve their goals.
I have been trained in numerous psychotherapeutic approaches and have been practicing in the field since 2000. I have been with STA since 2005.
I was born in the former Soviet Union and moved to US as a teenager. I had to face culture shock and learn how to speak English. In addition, I was a teenager going through teen issues while also facing differences between American and Russian perspectives on education and friendships. Language barriers prevented my parents from helping me academically so I had to depend on only one person, myself. Today I am fluent in English and Russian and enjoy working with individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds and am knowledgeable in the process of acculturation after a move from a foreign country.
As long as I can remember I have enjoyed helping people. I have developed programs on anxiety, dating and relationships, and on coping with traumatic events (i.e. car accidents). I specialize in effective treatments of depression and anxiety in children, adolescents and adults. I also specialize in relationship enhancement counseling, and I enjoy working with teens and kids (I have two kids of my own).
I try to provide an environment which allows clients to feel comfortable and secure. This gives them the ability to more openly talk about their problems and struggles and allows me to help them resolve issues along their life journey. I believe in goal oriented approaches and believe that every person has an opportunity to make some changes in their lives