Tamie Pushlar LCSW-R

My path into this work started with a Master of Social Work from the University of South Carolina, and today I hold the LCSW-R (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) credential in New York State. Trauma became my focus early: in 2012, I completed a Trauma Counseling Certificate at the University of Buffalo, and I've kept building on that foundation ever since. I'm certified in EMDR therapy, currently working toward certification in DBR (Deep Brain Reorienting), and serve as an Approved EMDR Consultant, helping other clinicians develop those same skills.

Professional Experience

Nearly thirty years in social work have taken me through a range of settings, each one teaching me something the last one couldn't. I started at MHA of Westchester County as a clinical care coordinator, working in an urban setting with adolescents facing severe mental health and behavioral challenges who were at risk of hospitalization. In 2003, I moved to the Ithaca area and joined Cornell University's AgrAbility program, traveling across rural New York to provide supportive counseling and connect farming families with the resources they needed.

When that grant ended, I moved to the William George Agency, counseling adolescent boys with mental illness and intellectual disabilities through individual, group, and family sessions, and helping coordinate discharge planning with schools and community services. In 2007, I joined the Lighthouse Program, providing individual, family, and group counseling to 6th through 12th graders navigating crisis and needing extra social, emotional, and academic support. By 2014, I was with the Possibilities Program, training and consulting with local school district personnel on trauma, attachment, and compassion fatigue/vicarious trauma, work that sharpened my sense of what it really means to collaborate with individuals, families, and the communities around them.

I've been in independent practice at Community Corners in Ithaca since 2013, working with young adults and adults in individual therapy while offering clinical consultation, supervision, and training.