About Karissa
I always knew I wanted to help people. It took a while to learn what that meant.
I started out working with vulnerable people in their own homes, and I saw, up close, how unmet needs ripple into every part of a life. Food, safety, communication, connection, rest. When those needs went unmet, everything else frayed. And when they were finally met, I watched people change in ways they had long ago stopped believing were possible.
That work pulled me toward eating disorders, where the unmet needs are quieter, and harder to spot. The behaviors look like they're about food. They almost never are. What looks like a problem with eating is usually something underneath asking, often for the first time, to be noticed.
Sitting with that, over and over, is what convinced me lasting recovery is real. Not a slogan, not a best-case exception. I've watched people who were certain they were the exception get better, and stay better. That's the work I built my practice around.
I won't pretend the work is easy. It's hard, and some days it's heavy. But I've never once doubted it's worth it, and I think that conviction is half of what I bring into the room.
Off the Clock
When I'm not in session.
Most of my free time is spent with my husband, daughter, and our dog. I'm forever chasing down some new outlet for my competitive streak, I read a lot, and I'm genuinely happy to drive around with nowhere in particular to be. If I weren't a therapist, I'd still be doing something with people, building community, advocating for inclusivity and equity. That part of me doesn't really clock out.
Let's make sense of this together.
Fill out the contact form and I'll get back to you within 24 hours. We'll start with a free phone consultation, no pressure, just a conversation.
Karissa Mercado, LMHC · Licensed Mental Health Counselor, New York · Trained in FBT, CBT, CBT-AR, DBT & ACT