Meet Lisa Kothari

Meet Lisa Kothari

Certified Telehealth Counselor in NJ, WA, and MD

Lisa Kothari, a jersey city therapist smiles for the camera

Aerodynamically, the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know it, so it goes on flying anyway.

– Mary Kay Ash

From the first day we enter the world, life is full of forces that seek to contradict our fullest and highest expression of ourselves. I believe the therapeutic relationship is a safe space to find healing from our past and present patterns through meaningful presence and attunement with another person.

I have benefitted from such a therapeutic presence in the many paths that I have walked in my life, including: 

Biracial Identity

My racial identity is half East Indian and half Caucasian.  Although I am made up equally of both racial identities, I appear to be wholly white. As such, my identity of color is not recognized in the world. 

Married, Cis-Gender, Childless Woman (Pronouns: She/Her)

I am a married, cis-gender woman who chose to not have children. Given the general cultural ethos that a woman should have children in America and in India, the choice to remain childless has been a challenging path of non-conformity to stereotypical gender roles.

Life in America

I grew up in the Midwest and in a small rural town in Central Pennsylvania. I moved to Washington, DC after college and eventually settled in the Pacific Northwest for 17 years. Recently, I have moved to the greater New York City vicinity – returning to my East Coast roots from my early adulthood. I hold a curious posture regarding the ways people are similar and different based on where we have lived and live in America.

Life Abroad

I have lived for periods of my life in India, Canada and Australia. Living abroad, I experienced the many ways there are to live in the world that exist outside of American norms.

Varied Career Paths

Over the course of my career, I have worked in the non-profit world and the tech start-up field, taken up creative writing, and, finally, undertaken the path to become a telehealth therapist.  The journey has been varied with many transitions — some of my making and others foisted upon me.  

My capacity to sit in difficult spaces with myself is the cornerstone of the work I do with those who engage with me in a therapeutic relationship.

I have incredible respect for the work that therapy requires, and I will be right beside you as you undertake it for yourself.

Education:

I received my MA from Antioch University in 2019.

License:

I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Washington State (License # MHC.LH.61176770), New Jersey State (License #37PC00876500), and Maryland State (License #LC13180).

Therapeutic Orientation:

I work within a psychodynamic and psychoanalytic framework, informed by our early attachment patterns to our caregivers, and what we can perceive through our somatic (body) experiences in the “here and now” moment.

Further, I appreciate working from an intuitive approach that includes accessing parts of our inner selves via various card decks, from cards of imagery to color cards. If you are interested in integrating cards into your therapeutic process, please let me know