OUR TEAM
Groundwork Therapy is a team of licensed clinical psychologists and therapists based in Brooklyn, NY. We work with clients across Manhattan and throughout New York State via virtual sessions, bringing expert care within reach. Read more about our practice’s specialization in relational psychodynamic therapy.
MELISSA JOHNSON, PSYD | Co-Director & Licensed Psychologist
Dr. Melissa Johnson is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 15 years of clinical experience, including the provision of brief and long-term psychotherapy to adults and couples. She has a strong clinical background and interest in treating depression and anxiety, as well as issues related to gender and sexual identity, loneliness, dysfunctional relationship patterns, challenges related to life transitions, fertility, pregnancy and postpartum issues, and bi/multicultural identity issues.
Dr. Johnson believes that a safe, authentic, and trusting therapeutic relationship plays a key role in the healing, learning, and growing process. Her approach to therapy is relational, collaborative, active, and nonjudgmental. She values transparency and flexibility and encourages open and direct feedback from clients.
Dr. Johnson earned a MA and PsyD in clinical psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology in San Francisco. Her dissertation research focused on provision of gender-affirmative psychotherapy with gender-diverse children. She earned a BA in psychology with a minor in critical gender studies at the University of California, San Diego.
Dr. Johnson can provide therapy bilingually in Spanish and English.
Pronouns: she/her ~ New York License Number 021039
PHILICIA RUBIN, PSYD | Co-Director & Licensed Psychologist
Dr. Philicia Rubin is a licensed clinical psychologist who provides psychotherapy to adolescents, adults, and couples. Her work focuses on helping people better understand who they are, how their experiences have shaped them, and how they want to move through the world with greater clarity and authenticity. She has particular expertise in depression, anxiety, relationship challenges, and concerns related to gender, sexuality, and identity. She works with couples across relationship stages, helping partners better understand recurring patterns and develop more intentional, effective ways of connecting.
Dr. Rubin’s approach to therapy is relational and psychodynamic, grounded in the belief that insight and connection drive change. She helps clients explore the deeper roots of their thoughts, emotions, and relational patterns, with attention to how early experiences and family dynamics shape current ways of relating. This process often fosters a stronger sense of self, greater relational flexibility, and increased capacity to navigate change and uncertainty.
She views therapy as a collaborative process and emphasizes creating a space where clients feel comfortable, understood, and able to be fully themselves. Dr. Rubin is known for being warm, down to earth, thoughtful, and easy to connect with.
Dr. Rubin is the co-founder of Groundwork Therapy, which she established with her wife. She also created a Brooklyn-based community for local group practice owners to foster connection and collaboration among peers. Prior to founding Groundwork Therapy, she worked at Fordham University’s Counseling and Psychological Services, serving as Group Therapy Program Coordinator, Outreach Coordinator, and Supervising Psychologist. She also has extensive experience supervising and mentoring early-career clinicians.
She earned her PsyD in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in San Francisco, her MS in psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and her BS in psychology from the University of Florida.
Pronouns: she/her ~ New York License Number 021098
Emily is a therapist who works with couples and adults navigating life transitions, relationships, gender, sex and sexuality, grief, trauma, anxiety, depression, and mood instability. She is trained in reproductive mental health and has a particular interest in supporting clients through family building, fertility treatment, third-party reproduction, perinatal and postpartum mental health challenges, pregnancy loss, and medical complexities. With over twelve years of corporate experience, she also brings insight into career transitions and demanding workplace cultures.
Emily’s approach is trauma-informed and grounded in relational, psychodynamic, and narrative frameworks. She helps clients explore attachment patterns, deepen self-understanding, and make meaning of their experiences and relationships. She believes the therapeutic relationship itself can be a powerful tool for growth and healing.
Drawing from Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Emily works collaboratively with couples to better understand relational patterns, strengthen connection, and navigate challenges with greater clarity and insight. She also offers premarital counseling, preconception counseling, and sex therapy.
As a queer, sex-positive, and trans-affirming therapist, Emily is committed to creating a space where clients feel supported, respected, and understood. She earned her Master’s in Social Work from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College with a specialization in Gender and Sexuality, and completed clinical training in perinatal bereavement and pediatric complex care settings.
Pronouns: she/her ~ New York License No. 127939
Supervised by Dr. Corinne Lykins
EMILY CAPPELL-SCHULTZE, LMSW | Therapist
ANA LOMIDZE, PSYD | Postdoctoral Psychologist
Dr. Ana Lomidze is a postdoctoral clinical psychologist who provides brief and long-term therapy to adults, couples, teenagers, and young adults. She has experience working with concerns including complex trauma, anxiety, depression, disordered eating, grief and loss, life transitions, identity development, and existential concerns. She also works with couples navigating challenges related to communication, connection, and recurring relational patterns.
Dr. Lomidze is dedicated to ongoing learning and growing as a professional. She uses an integrative approach to therapy, utilizing relational psychodynamic psychotherapy, person-centered therapy, attachment-based therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). She is highly flexible and able to use different techniques catering specifically to the individual needs of clients. She is a direct therapist and will challenge patients to help them achieve their goals in treatment. She believes therapy should provide a safe, trusting environment where clients can explore their inner world and create meaningful change.
Dr. Lomidze earned her PsyD and MSEd from Pace University, where her dissertation explored the mental health implications of name mispronunciation. She also holds an MA in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University and a BA in Psychology from Pace University.
Pronouns: she/her ~ New York Permit Number P125279
Supervised by Dr. Melissa Johnson
Hannah is a depth-oriented therapist providing therapy to adults and couples across the lifespan. She particularly loves working with clients around identity-related and interpersonal issues, and finds joy in helping people build their curiosity and insight about themselves. Hannah also supports clients around issues of self-acceptance, sex and sexuality, loss and grief, loneliness, depression, anxiety, dysfunctional relationship patterns, and existential concerns.
Hannah believes that it is in the context of our most intimate relationships that our most engrained and dysfunctional interpersonal patterns tend to manifest. She strives to help her clients cultivate more self-awareness and intentionality in their relationships (including the relationship they have with themselves), in order to foster the types of connections they want to have, rather than unconsciously repeating what is familiar.
Hannah’s approach to therapy is warm, nonjudgmental, and collaborative. She uses compassion and humor to cultivate meaningful connections with her clients, and to create a space where individuals feel safe to explore all parts of themselves. As a relational, process-oriented therapist, Hannah believes in the importance of attending to the here-and-now of the therapeutic relationship, and encourages transparency and ongoing feedback from clients. She meets with select clients on a twice-weekly basis to deepen the therapy experience.
Hannah earned her bachelor degree in psychology from Bowdoin College, and a master degree in clinical social work from Hunter College.
Pronouns: she/her ~ New York License No. 119292
Supervised by Dr. Philicia Rubin
HANNAH GARTNER, LMSW | Therapist
Abbey provides therapy to adults and couples navigating concerns related to relationships, intimacy, family dynamics, chronic illness, depression, anxiety, trauma, and identity. Providing queer- and trans-affirming care is central to her work, and she believes identity can evolve and change throughout life.
Abbey has specialized training in eating disorders and works from a Health at Every Size perspective. She supports clients struggling with eating, exercise, body image, and feeding concerns, including those navigating the intersection of eating concerns with queerness, gender, and dysphoria.
Her approach is grounded in psychodynamic and relational therapy, with an emphasis on the therapeutic relationship as a space for growth, self-understanding, and healing. She also incorporates cognitive and behavioral strategies when helpful.
In couples work, Abbey helps partners navigate challenges ranging from communication and intimacy concerns to infidelity, compatibility questions, chronic illness, disability, and longstanding relational patterns. Abbey also provides premarital counseling, a structured space for couples to strengthen communication, explore values and expectations, deepen understanding of relationship patterns, and proactively navigate important topics before marriage or long-term commitment. She approaches couples therapy with curiosity, compassion, humor, and a focus on deeper understanding and connection.
Abbey earned her Master's degree in Social Work from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, and her Bachelor's degree in Fashion Design from Washington University in St. Louis.
Pronouns: she/her ~ New York License Number 124184
Supervised by Dr. Corinne Lykins
ABBEY MAXBAUER, LMSW | Therapist
Dr. Corinne Lykins is a licensed psychologist with experience providing long and short-term therapy to adults in a variety of settings including college counseling, group private practice and community mental health. She is experienced in working with concerns related to depression, anxiety, trauma, and life transitions. Dr. Lykins is especially interested in issues of identity, self-acceptance, trauma recovery, the process of building and deepening relationships, and couples therapy.
Dr. Lykins incorporates relational, psychodynamic, and attachment-focused approaches in psychotherapy and recognizes the importance of humor, connection, and creativity in both coping and thriving. She enjoys the imperfect process of meaning-making, helping clients tap into their own resilience, as well as exploring self-acceptance and self-expression as forms of healing.
Dr. Lykins approaches therapy with an awareness of the impact of social, cultural and systemic factors on wellbeing and centers trauma-informed, feminist, and culturally responsive frameworks in session. She believes that consent, collaboration, and attention to power dynamics are necessary in creating safe and mutually empowering therapy relationships with her clients. She has worked with a diverse range of queer and trans clients and is experienced in therapeutic approaches that affirm gender and sexual diversity. She values multicultural and queer perspectives on wellbeing and believes that affirmative care should reflect the diversity of queer and trans communities.
Dr. Lykins completed her Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology at Rutgers Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology and received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of New Mexico.
Pronouns: she/her ~ New York License No. 026409
CORINNE LYKINS, PSYD | Licensed Psychologist