Psychotherapy · Telehealth · Mentalization-Based Therapy
Feeling understood changes what feels possible.
I'm Devin Wiesner, a licensed clinical social worker. I help people whose emotions move faster than their ability to make sense of them — in therapy that is active, collaborative, and grounded in how minds actually work.
The approach
Mentalization-based therapy, in plain language
Mentalizing is the everyday act of making sense of what's happening in your own mind and in the minds of the people around you — what you're feeling, what they might be thinking, why either of you just did what you did.
When emotions run high, that ability is the first thing to go. Certainty rushes in: I know what they think of me. I know how this ends. Relationships become minefields.
Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT) rebuilds that capacity. It was developed for exactly the moments when feelings are most intense, and it has one of the strongest evidence bases of any treatment for borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation.
The goal isn't to think instead of feel. It's to keep your mind — and other people's minds — in view while you feel.
Who I help
You don't have to be in crisis to start. You don't have to wait until you are, either.
Relationship issues & relationship dynamics
Patterns that follow you from relationship to relationship: keeping people at arm's length, losing yourself in someone else, reading rejection into silence, or finding that closeness itself sets off alarms.
These patterns were learned somewhere, usually for good reasons. Working from an attachment-based framework, including the Dynamic-Maturational Model, we trace what your strategies protect — and what they cost you now. I work with individuals and couples.
Anxiety & depression
Worry that loops without resolving, dread that arrives before the day does, or a heaviness that drains color from things you used to care about.
Anxiety and depression rarely live in a vacuum — they live in how we read ourselves and the people around us. We address what's pressing now while working out where it comes from, so relief actually holds.
Alcohol & substance use recovery
Whether you're questioning your drinking or use, newly sober, or years in and discovering that stopping was only the first step.
Substances quiet feelings that have nowhere else to go. We work on what the substance has been managing — the emotions and relationships underneath — so recovery rests on understanding rather than white-knuckling.
Borderline personality disorder & emotion dysregulation
Emotions that go from zero to overwhelming, relationships that swing between too close and gone, a sense of self that shifts depending on who's in the room. If this is familiar, you've probably also been told you're "too much."
MBT was built for this. Not to make you feel less, but to give you back the ability to understand what you feel while it's happening — which is what makes different choices possible.
Narcissism & self-worth
A sense of self that needs constant shoring up, criticism that lands like a verdict, and relationships that keep ending in the same confusing place — often alongside real accomplishment the outside world sees.
MBT is one of the few approaches developed for exactly this. I trained in its application to narcissism with Robert Drozek at McLean Hospital, and the work is practical: less defending a self, more understanding one.
Couples
The same argument on repeat, distance that neither of you chose, or two nervous systems that keep setting each other off — even when the love is real.
I work with couples using the Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) and mentalization-based therapy, with an attachment focus informed by the Dynamic-Maturational Model — how each of you learned to stay safe in relationships, and how those strategies collide.
How I work
Active, curious, and honest — therapy as two minds working
I won't just nod along
MBT is a conversation, not a monologue with an audience. I ask real questions, share what I'm noticing, and tell you when I'm confused — because my mind being visible is part of how yours becomes clearer.
We slow down and rewind
The moments that go wrong fastest — the fight, the silence, the message you regret — are where the work is. We rewind them together and look, with curiosity, at what each mind may have been doing.
The relationship is data
What happens between us in session — misunderstandings included — is treated as useful information, not a problem. It's the safest place to practice noticing what you assume about another mind.
A supportive, non-judgmental space
It takes courage to acknowledge your struggles, and none of this work happens without safety. A supportive, non-judgmental environment isn't a nicety here — it's an integral part of the therapeutic process itself.
Depth and the day-to-day, together
We work to identify, understand, and address the underlying causes of your distress — to make the unconscious conscious — while simultaneously building more effective responses to life's immediate challenges.
Telehealth, by design
Sessions are held by secure video. You meet from wherever you're most comfortable, without commutes or waiting rooms — and consistency, which matters more than setting, gets easier to keep.
About
Devin Wiesner, LCSW
I'm a licensed clinical social worker in New York (LCSW #102638) practicing psychotherapy via telehealth with adults and couples.
I trained in Mentalization-Based Therapy with Dr. Anthony Bateman at the Anna Freud Centre and with Robert Drozek at McLean Hospital, and in attachment and human development — including the Dynamic-Maturational Model — with Dr. Patricia Crittenden. My couples work draws on training with Dr. Stan Tatkin in the Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT).
I hold an MSW from the University at Buffalo and a BS from Cornell University. I am honored to collaborate with and support people in their journey of change — and I know the choice to begin therapy can be a difficult one. It takes courage to acknowledge your struggles; meeting that courage with a supportive, non-judgmental space is where my work begins.
Practical details
Questions people usually ask first
What does a first session look like?
We start with a free 15-minute video consultation — a low-stakes conversation about what's bringing you in and whether we're a good fit. If we are, the first full sessions map what you want to change and how we'll know it's changing.
How often do we meet, and for how long?
Weekly 50-minute sessions is the standard rhythm — MBT works through consistency. Length of treatment varies; we review progress together openly rather than drifting.
What are your fees? Do you take insurance?
Sessions are $140 for 50 minutes. I'm an out-of-network provider, and I can provide superbills — a detailed receipt you submit to your insurance — for possible partial reimbursement based on your plan's out-of-network benefits.
Is telehealth as effective as in-person therapy?
For talk therapy, research consistently finds comparable outcomes. What matters most is the quality of the working relationship and showing up regularly — both of which telehealth tends to make easier, not harder.
Do I need a diagnosis to work with you?
No. Many people I work with have never been diagnosed with anything — they just recognize the patterns. A diagnosis can be a useful map, but it's never a requirement or a verdict.
Contact
Start with a conversation
The easiest first step is a free 15-minute video consultation. Reach out by email with a sentence or two about what's bringing you in, and I'll reply within two business days.
Email me