Cara Dineen

Pursuing an M.A. in Mental Health Counseling at Brooklyn College, Cara brings curiosity, creativity, and deep presence to her relational and experiential approach to therapy. Her warm, collaborative style draws from psychodynamic, trauma-informed, and somatic perspectives and is uniquely shaped by her background in music and Alexander Technique training. Much like jazz, Cara believes therapy can hold both structure and improvisation—creating space to listen closely, explore what emerges, and respond to each client’s unique needs and readiness for change.

Cara’s path to becoming a therapist began at age 22, when an illness caused her to lose her singing voice and unexpectedly interrupted her professional singing career. Rebuilding her voice became about far more than singing. It required deep self-examination, a holistic approach to well-being, and learning to practice self-compassion alongside musical scales. When her voice returned, it did so with a deeper sense of strength and self-understanding—an experience that profoundly influenced her work as both a performer and voice teacher.

Through teaching, Cara became increasingly curious about the emotional and psychological barriers that can affect confidence, creativity, self-expression, and our ability to feel at home within ourselves. She began to recognize how these struggles extend far beyond the stage, ultimately inspiring her to pursue a career in mental health counseling.

Cara especially enjoys working with adults and young adults, including creatives, therapists, high achievers, and deep thinkers who may appear capable on the outside while privately struggling with self-doubt, perfectionism, disconnection, or patterns that no longer serve them. Her clinical interests include complex and relational trauma, CPTSD, identity, self-worth, boundaries, and codependency. She also supports clients navigating depression, procrastination, performance anxiety, creative blocks, relationship concerns, career and life transitions, and questions of meaning and purpose. Cara welcomes neurodivergent clients and provides LGBTQ+ and BIPOC-affirming care grounded in cultural humility, curiosity, and respect for each person’s lived experience.

“I’m in the business of empowering people” is a phrase Cara often uses to describe what draws her to this work. She considers the trust clients bring into therapy a privilege and strives to create a space where people can be honest, curious, imperfect, and fully human. Rather than telling clients who they should become, Cara helps them understand themselves more deeply, reconnect with their strengths, and rediscover their authentic voice. Together, therapy can become a space for greater self-trust, meaningful connection, and a more fulfilling, joyful, and embodied way of living.