Dr. Eva Leighton is a clinical psychologist who works with adults, couples, children, and families on trauma recovery, addictive behaviors, parenting and behavioral concerns, and complex relationship dynamics. She is also the CFO of Psychology Partners Group and its Training Director, where she coordinates training for the practice's postdoctoral residents. She believes therapy works best when it rests on trust and close collaboration. Her approach combines psychodynamic and developmental perspectives with the structured tools of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). She is warm and supportive, and she uses humor deliberately as a way into honesty, vulnerability, and self-acceptance.
Dr. Leighton completed her predoctoral internship at the VA Hudson Valley Health Care System, where she provided therapy in the PTSD residential treatment program and outpatient care for substance use, depression, and anxiety. She also gained experience treating serious psychiatric illness on the schizophrenia unit at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Westchester. In her individual work she takes a nonjudgmental harm reduction approach, helping clients regain control over substance use or risky behavior that has become hard to manage. With couples, she draws on her training in the Gottman Method to work through stalled conflicts and restore intimacy. She also works with children and families on parenting and behavioral concerns.
She earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the CUNY Graduate Center, through the clinical psychology program at City College of New York, where her research examined loneliness and depression. That background gives her particular understanding of clients who feel isolated or disconnected. Whether she is working with someone recovering from trauma or substance use, or with a couple trying to reconnect, her goal is a steady, secure setting in which clients can recover and rebuild.