About Me
I’m Laila AbdelSalam, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist providing psychodyamic psychotherapy to adults in New York and New Jersey with a background in clinical practice, teaching, and supervision. I earned my doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University and completed my predoctoral internship at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance, followed by postdoctoral training at Columbia University Medical Center. I later served on the faculty at Columbia University.
Over the course of my training and career, I have worked across a range of clinical settings, including hospital systems, academic medical centers, counseling centers, and private practice. My clinical experience spans the continuum of care, including emergency room, inpatient, intensive outpatient, and outpatient settings. Working with patients across these different contexts has given me experience with a broad range of clinical presentations and levels of acuity.
“My hope is to help you uncover a more authentic way to live, and to express your feelings, needs, and desires.”
Teaching, Supervision & Ongoing Learning
Currently, I serve as voluntary faculty and a clinical supervisor at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where I supervise clinicians training in psychodynamic psychotherapy. I am also an adjunct professor at the American University in Cairo, where I teach and supervise graduate students and clinicians.
Alongside my clinical and academic work, I am a Fellow at the Beirut Institute for Psychoanalysis (BIPsy), where I continue to advance my training in psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalytic thinking.
I believe that being a therapist requires an ongoing commitment to learning. My involvement in psychoanalytic training, supervision, and teaching reflects my desire to continue deepening how I listen, think, and work as a clinician. I value being part of professional communities that encourage curiosity, reflection, and continued engagement with evolving psychodynamic thought.
Culture, Identity & Belonging
A central interest throughout my work has been the role of culture in our inner and relational lives. Culture can show up in ways that are both explicit and difficult to name, including in our relationships, our expectations of ourselves and others, our sense of belonging, and the ways we understand and express our needs.
I am particularly invested in creating a space where Arabs and other Middle Eastern (MENA) people, immigrants, and third-culture adults can feel understood in the complexity of living within, between, or across different cultural worlds, without having to explain or simplify important parts of themselves.
I am also a founding member of AMENA-Psy and previously served on its Steering Committee and as Secretary. My involvement with AMENA-Psy reflects my broader commitment to advancing culturally responsive perspectives within psychology and to thinking more deeply about how culture, migration, identity, and belonging shape our psychological lives.
Across my work as a psychologist, educator, and supervisor, I remain deeply invested in psychotherapy as a discipline that asks us to keep learning about our patients, about the worlds they inhabit, and about ourselves as clinicians.
Education, Clinical Training & Faculty Positions
Clinical & Academic Roles
Education & Clinical Training
Selected Scholarship & Presentations
My academic and professional work has explored trauma, culture, identity, belonging, psychotherapy, and culturally responsive approaches to care.