About Dr. Herwitz
Practice
Dr. Herwitz is a clinical psychologist on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Her practice is focused on adults and couples facing high-stakes decisions about their relationships — particularly the decision of whether to stay in a marriage or end it.
She specializes in four areas:
Individual Therapy for adults navigating anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, sexual concerns, and the psychological disruption that accompanies major life transitions.
Couples Therapy using the Developmental Model for partners who have committed to working on the marriage. This is the longer-term work of addressing chronic conflict, emotional distance, betrayal, and entrenched patterns of interaction.
Discernment Counseling for couples where one partner is considering divorce and the other wants to repair the marriage. A brief process — one to five sessions — that helps both partners gain clarity about the future of the relationship without pressure to reconcile or to separate.
Five Windows: The Private Edition — an exclusive, invitation-only three-day retreat for accomplished couples who, after decades together building family, business, and legacy, want to focus on what is possible in the next stage of their marriage. Held in an extraordinary setting with a deliberately small number of couples. Inquire here.
Background
Dr. Herwitz holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University. Her research and clinical work have consistently focused on psychological development at the major inflection points of adult life: partnership, marriage, parenthood, and the complex decision of whether — and how — to remain together or separate.
Her doctoral dissertation, Parenting Against the Odds: Psychological Mindedness Among Teenage Mothers, was published in 2008. She completed advanced training in the RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers) approach and was the first clinician to facilitate RIE Parent–Infant Observation and Discussion Groups in New York City. Her paper Educaring and Attachment Theory (2006) examined how attachment principles apply to early child-rearing — an interest in developmental bonds that continues to inform her work with adult couples.
Before entering the field of psychology, Dr. Herwitz worked in fashion and tabletop design and spent several years as a professional chef in Italy and throughout the United States.
Training and Affiliations
For more than twenty years, Dr. Herwitz has been mentored by Phil Stutz, co-creator of The Tools. This ongoing mentorship informs her emphasis on accountability, directness, and the expectation that clients do real work — not just talk about it.
She served as President of The Women's Mental Health Consortium from 2017 to 2022.
She is trained in Discernment Counseling through the Doherty Relationship Institute and in the Developmental Model of Couples Therapy through The Couples Institute.
Clientele
Dr. Herwitz works with accomplished adults who expect the same level of rigor and candor from their therapist that they bring to their professional lives. Her clients include leaders in business, law, finance, medicine, and the arts.
She is frequently consulted at relationship decision points — particularly when one partner is uncertain about remaining married and is seeking a structured, non-coercive process for determining next steps.
Logistics
Location: Upper East Side, New York City (in-person); virtual sessions available throughout New York, California, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., and Florida.
Referrals: Dr. Herwitz's practice is built on referrals from colleagues, physicians, attorneys, and current and former clients. Direct inquiries are welcome.
Contact: (212) 327-3624 | contactdrherwitz@gmail.com
By appointment only.