About
Giving you the tools to build a happy, fulfilling life.
Psychotherapist in New York working with individuals, couples, and high-achieving leaders and executives.
Meet David B. Alexander, LP
A Licensed Psychotherapist guiding others to find peace, connection, purpose, and energy.
Maybe you are managing the necessities of life, but you are often stressed, feeling overwhelmed, or having doubts about how to feel better and do better.
Or, your life reads well on paper — steady work, good relationships, pleasant weekend plans. But you find your mind running laps — unresolved goals, relationship challenges, and a question about purpose that never quite settles.
When people reach this place of uncertainty or restlessness, they come with different histories and life contexts. I work with individuals and couples of any race, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation, offering each person the same steady respect, openness, and care. Therapy works best when you can show up fully as yourself, and supporting that is central to how I practice.
Bringing decades of perspective and wisdom to the therapy work.
I am a Licensed Psychotherapist (LP) in New York with deep training in gestalt therapy, existential issues, nonviolent communication (NVC), and modern psychoanalysis. That’s the formal part. The substance of therapy goes beyond training to the connection, empathy, and insight of our sessions.
One aspect of my work draws from gestalt therapy, which keeps focus on what’s alive now: how you feel, relate, and respond. We touch the past or future when they are appearing in the present, but we do not get stuck there.
I am also trained in Nonviolent Communication (NVC), a practical, clear, empathy-based approach to effective communication that helps individuals and couples understand where they get stuck in trying to relate better with the important people in their lives.
Earlier in my career, while deepening my practice of Zen and while teaching Tai Chi Chuan, I spent 25 years consulting for hospitals, banks, and Fortune 500 firms, negotiating, writing agreements, and working with executives in the corporate hierarchies — experience that helps me understand high-performing individuals who are trying to enjoy more each moment at work and at home, and trying to feel personal fulfillment and reduce stress while pursuing important life goals.
My life outside of the therapy room.
I’ve practiced Zen meditation and Tai Chi Chuan since the 1970s, and have taught Tai Chi Chuan for more than 30 years.
Those aren’t side interests — they are foundational for my approach to healing. In addition to my thorough clinical training, they shape how I sit with clients, and how I see the realities of what causes pain and how to overcome the pains that life can bring.
I’ve also lived through a lot of what brings people to therapy. I’m a father of two grown children. I’ve been divorced and afterwards built a wonderful relationship and partnership over more than a decade. Like most people, I’ve faced the usual challenges — and a few unusual ones. One was a family member’s serious addiction, and overcoming that. Through it all, I have persisted in practicing and offering the skills that can help heal the wounds of life and find new, revitalizing purpose in each moment and each day.
Living well, everywhere you are.
We want to be at our best in all parts of life – feeling steady and clear-headed in everyday moments and in challenging moments. Grounded in daily choices. Able to enjoy what’s going well and to persist and handle what is not ideal. That is the kind of balance most people say they are looking for.
Insight + Energy
Insight helps you see what’s really going on. Energy helps you live it. Effective therapy strengthens both — so the change you feel in your sessions flows into the rest of life.
Built‑in Potential
You already carry the immense potential to grow and excel. While at times I provide direct “answers”, for the most part I help you clear the clutter and the loops in thinking, so your next step becomes clearer.
Whole‑life Balance
You want to be the same person in traffic, in a meeting, and at home. Calm and internally joyful, even while handling any situation that arises. That is the real balance in life.
Courageous Curiosity
Some of the most important questions are the ones we avoid. In therapy, we ask those, together, and see how they gradually open up new possibilities.
Radical Respect
You are not a diagnosis; you are a person. You have a history, goals, and dreams. And you have some struggles. I work with respect for all of that.
Plain Speech
We don’t dress things up. We say what’s true but with an empathetic mindset. Once an issue is clear for the client, the next step shows itself and growth continues.
What happens when you decide to take charge of your well-being?
The words here come from clients who’ve shown up, done the work together, and experienced something different and better on the other side.
eBook
Escaping From Freedom
Why do conspiracy stories spread? Why do people cheer for authoritarian leaders? In Escaping From Freedom, I unpack the quiet anxieties that leave societies ripe for division — and outline approaches that can heal divisions and nurture genuine freedom in society.
Get clearer. Feel empowered. Live more fully.
Reach out when you’re ready to explore what true well-being will be like for you.