About | amy-martins-cox

Amy Cox-Martins

MS, MSW, LCSW

Hello, my name is Amy Cox-Martins and would like to tell you a little about myself.
Basically I have been doing “social work” since high school where I worked in a year round recreational program that in part served youth living in a residential program in Springfield, Massachusetts. Being curious and drawn toward the children who did not live with their families, I decided to combine my interests in art and psychology and studied art therapy at Springfield College. During my years both in undergraduate and graduate school, I began to work as a counselor in a residential treatment center for youth. After moving to New York City in 1985, I attended Hunter College School of Social Work, while managing two jobs, one as a foster care social worker and another as a psychotherapist in a community based mental health clinic. The operations of the human mind was intriguing to me and after completing Hunter College in 1991 and receiving the CSW license, I enrolled in a Psychotherapy training program at the New York School for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (NYSPP) and began my journey in private psychotherapy practice.

In the now thirty years in private practice I have received certificates in Leadership, Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing. (EMDR) as well as a certificate in clinical work with transgender and gender non binary individuals. I offer psychotherapy as well as provide letters for gender reassignment surgery and hormone therapy.

My office at Wellspring Health Collective is a welcoming, comfortable environment. This is a place to relax, feel safe to open up about whatever is going on in your life. You are the focus here. And confidentiality is the cornerstone of trust. I work with zages 10 and up, treating individuals and groups. The areas where I am most experienced in are depression, trauma, anxiety, separation and loss, sexual abuse, substance abuse, fertility issues, foster care and adoption issues, straight and LGBT populations. The primary mode of treatment I utilize is psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

The following are some of the conditions that may bring a person to seek psychotherapy: Trauma, Anxiety, Panic, Depression, Mood swings, Low self-esteem,
Lack of confidence, Difficulty making or sustaining relationships,
Sexual problems,Sexual abuse, Sleep difficulties, Eating difficulties,
Grief, Divorce, Poor job performance, Job loss, Phobias,
Physical Symptoms with no known medical
cause and Fertility issues.

WHAT IS PSYCOTHERAPY

It is actually many styles of treatment under one umbrella, however the different types of psychoanalytic treatment do all have certain fundamental core concepts. To begin with a relationship develops between
a client and therapist as they become familiar with each other during their weekly or more sessions. As the alliance between the two grow, the therapist listens to the client with a “third ear” where things are spoken verbally but could also shed light on some of the earlier experiences the client has had that may be getting in the way of optimal functioning in the present time. A psychoanalytic psychotherapist has been trained to understand that all human brains operate unconsciously at times.
For one example, a child may have had an embarrassing experience in elementary school, like having a bathroom accident in class, and later in adulthood that same person has a panic attack when they are asked to speak publically for work. In therapy, the initial event causing the current day anxiety can be understood, and the adult now can look at their situation from an adult mind, rather than the elementary school-age mind when the original event took place and the anxiety became stuck in that place and time. Some conditions however have a strong genetic base and skills are offered to cope with symptoms that may be recurring. The therapist also helps empower the client to find ways to soothe themselves when they are not feeling well emotionally. Another technique used in treatment is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) which is an eye movement technique that is primarily used to relieve the symptoms of trauma and associated anxiety.