Experience and credentials matter, but they do not a good counselor make. As you search for someone to work with, I encourage you to listen to your own sense of the potential connection between you and the counselor. That connection is much more important than credentials, coursework, and licensures.

With that said, I have a doctoral degree (1988) in Counseling Psychology from the University of Connecticut, am Licensed in New York as a Mental Health Counselor (006354), and in Connecticut as a Professional Counselor (001419). I’m certified by the National Board of Certified Counselors and am a Certified Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I’m committed to continually learning about mental health, mindfulness, nutrition, cultural differences/identity, creativity — all fields that support the search for meaning and well-being.

In the first decade of my career I served as Associate Dean of Students, Minority Student Advisor, and International Student Advisor at a liberal arts college. I then moved to the independent school world where I served for 10 years as Academic Dean and then 6 more as Director of Counseling (teaching throughout). I shifted to a private practice in 2006. I’ve been a faculty member at the Stanley H. King Institute since 2001 and have taught basic counseling skills at the Blackberry River Retreat (for independent school college counselors) since 2008. I frequently visit independent schools to give trainings on deep listening skills, social styles on teams, and on anti-bias research and practice.

I have extensive training in EMDR (level II), grief work, cognitive-behavioral therapies, coaching, energy therapies (advanced certificate in Emotional Freedom Technique), positive psychology, and creativity in counseling. I’ve taken numerous courses on nutrition and its relationship to mental health, including classes provided by Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, and other training providers.

I love my work and am committed to helping my clients develop their inner resources of courage, kindness, insight, humor, and resilience. The qualities of curiosity and wonder are core values for me, providing an endless source of delight and meaning. I’m continually learning, for my own growth and for the growth of my clients.

I am a BRCA2-positive, breast cancer survivor/thriver, and live on a school campus where my spouse works in Dobbs Ferry, NY; we have three grown children.

If you are interested in working together, send me an email at paula@paulachu.com or call me at 860-677-1157.