Hallie Boas, LMHC, MA, MA

My work sits at the intersection of trauma therapy, anthropology, and social movement work, which allows me understand both my clients inner lives and the systems shaping them.

Timeline of my Professional Path

  • 2008 — BA Environmental Studies, University of Vermont

  • 2015 — MA Sociocultural Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin

  • 2018 — MA Counseling Psychology, Boston College

  • 2018–Present — Psychotherapist in New York City

  • Ongoing — Advanced training in EMDR, IFS, and trauma therapies

I am a licensed psychotherapist based in New York with over a decade of clinical experience supporting individuals and couples through trauma, relational challenges, and life transitions.

Before becoming a therapist, I spent nearly twenty years working alongside social movements and community organizers. That work continues to shape my approach to therapy: I believe personal healing and the social world we live in are deeply interconnected.

My training includes Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR, somatic approaches to trauma, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. I hold a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Boston College and a Master’s degree in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin.

I help clients cultivate a deep sense of worth and find empowerment in every aspect of their lives. Drawing on two decades of experience in community organizing, social science research, and integrative wellness, I bring a nuanced understanding of healing that spans the personal, collective, and cultural.

A lifelong student, I bring curiosity and attentiveness to therapy, exploring the complexities of the world and how they shape our inner lives. I’ve spent nearly twenty years alongside social movements and grassroots organizers, witnessing firsthand how committed individuals and communities can shift culture, policy, and possibility.

I’m guided by values, spirit, and a devotion to justice and beauty. I connect to my Jewish heritage through practice, prayer, and ritual, and I bring that sense of rootedness and lineage into my work with clients. My family and extended has called New York City home for five generations, and I live in Manhattan with my husband and two young children.

Pronouns: she/her

Education & Training

Methodologies + Training Background

Licensure + Education

Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), New York License #011597

  • MA in Counseling Psychology from Boston College

  • MA in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin

  • BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont

  • Certified Yoga and Meditation teacher

My post-graduate training in New York City has been under the supervision of Dr. Natalie Medina-Minton and working with the community of clinicians at the non-profit mental health agency, Maria Droste Counseling Services.

Professional Organizations

my approach to mental health and wellness.

The heart of my work is to hold space for people to feel all their feelings. Many of us believe that we don’t deserve to be happy with all of the injustice in the world. Many of us believe that our struggles pale in comparison to those who are really suffering. Our world is not set up to hold the enormity of our pain and grief, rather it gives us lots of places in which to avoid and then repress them. 

My work centers an understanding that individual, familial, and community suffering are inextricably tied to cultural norms, economic, social, and political conditions. I’m clear that people’s struggles with mental health are appropriate responses to exploitation and repression, and mental illnesses are symptoms of sick, inhumane, and imbalanced systems.

My approach creates a space for people to first understand how interconnected individual, familial, cultural, societal, and institutional factors are ingrained in patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving; which in turn, affects the way clients interact with themselves and the world.

I help clients notice if any feelings are motivating their behavior or attached to an old, inaccurate belief system. These repressed emotions get stuck in our bodies. By acknowledging the presence of our feelings fully and completely, I help clients surrender old stories and beliefs about themselves. I help them honor what those parts and stories did for them.

I believe that people need to tell their own stories in their own time and in their own way. Knowledge is power, and with that power, people can accept and have compassion for themselves, then dismantle interconnected systems both inside and outside of themselves.

My therapeutic work with you is to trust and accept all parts of yourself so that you can build an inner well of courage and resilience. You can take that strength to rise up against the root causes of injustice. Our work together will help increase emotional resilience and tolerance for stress, so that you can continue to do the work you are called to do.

I am honored to work with you to draw from inner strength and peace to show up as your full, authentic self.