Online Therapy in New York | Sports Psychology, DBT & LGBTQ+ Affirming Care
Serving New York Residents (and Beyond) Exclusively Online
Finding a therapist you actually connect with is hard enough without the added pressure of location logistics. At Grand Slam Psych, Dr. El McCabe offers the same clinical expertise and warmth you’d get in an in-person office – except you can access it from anywhere in New York, right from your home or wherever feels comfortable.
Why Dr. McCabe & New York
Dr. McCabe graduating from University at Buffalo
Dr. El McCabe isn’t just licensed to practice in New York – she was shaped by it.
Born and raised in the New York City area, El developed an early love for New York sports teams that stuck with her into adulthood. (Yes, she still roots for her favorite NY teams, and yes, that passion informs her work with athletes.) She went on to earn her Ph.D. in Counseling & School Psychology from the University at Buffalo, SUNY, where she deepened her understanding of mental health through rigorous research and clinical training.
During her doctoral training, she completed a psychology internship in Rochester, where she worked directly with diverse populations and honed the skills that now define her practice: warmth, curiosity, clinical rigor, and an unwavering commitment to meeting clients exactly where they are.
Today, Dr. McCabe brings all of that – her New York City roots, Western New York training years, her big-picture perspective on mental health, and her love for this state’s people and culture – to her work with New Yorkers struggling with performance anxiety, identity questions, emotional dysregulation, and the thousand other things that keep us up at night.
And she does it entirely online, so whether you’re in Manhattan, Buffalo, Rochester, or anywhere else in New York, you can work with her without changing your schedule.
What We Treat (New York Focus)
Sports Psychology | Mental Performance for NY Athletes
Empire State Building Lit Up for the New York Knicks
New York produces some of the country’s most driven athletes – from D1 college competitors to professional athletes to everyday people training at a high level. But raw talent and physical conditioning only get you so far. When the pressure is highest, when the stakes are real, it’s the mental game that separates athletes performing at their ceiling from those performing below it.
Dr. McCabe specializes in sports psychology with experience working with:
- D1 college athletes (she completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Princeton supporting athletes across 15+ teams)
- Professional and semi-professional athletes navigating the mental side of performance
- Coaches carrying enormous performance pressure of their own
- LGBTQ+ athletes navigating identity and belonging in sports
Whether you’re dealing with performance anxiety, burnout, confidence issues, or the mental side of injury recovery, Dr. McCabe helps you build the psychological skills that translate directly into better performance.
Learn more about sports psychology →
LGBTQ+ Affirming Therapy | Identity-Conscious Care
Niagara Falls Lit Up in Rainbow for Pride Month
Finding an LGBTQ+ affirming therapist is hard. Finding one who truly gets it – not just clinically, but from lived experience – is even harder.
Dr. McCabe is an openly Queer licensed psychologist and the 2024–2025 President of APA Division 44 (The Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation & Gender Diversity). She brings clinical expertise, lived experience, and a genuine commitment to identity-conscious care to every client she works with.
Whether you’re exploring your gender identity, coming out, navigating relationship dynamics, or processing discrimination, therapy with Dr. McCabe is a space where your identity isn’t something to explain or work around – it’s centered, validated, and honored.
She has particular expertise working with:
- Bisexual and pansexual individuals
- Queer athletes (the intersection of sports + identity + mental health)
- Non-binary and gender non-conforming individuals
- Transgender clients exploring or navigating transition
Learn more about LGBTQ+ affirming therapy →
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) | Skills That Work
Dr. McCabe’s Camping Spot in the ADK
DBT is one of the most well-researched, skills-based therapies available. It’s built around four core pillars: mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.
Unlike rigid, manualized DBT programs, Dr. McCabe takes a personalized approach: she hand-selects the most relevant DBT skills for your specific situation, teaches them in plain language, and helps you practice them in real moments that matter.
If you’re struggling with emotional dysregulation, persistent conflict in relationships, or patterns of self-destructive behavior, DBT can help. For athletes especially, DBT-based emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills translate directly into better mental performance under pressure.
How It Works: Exclusively Online
Dr. McCabe’s Family House on Shelter Island, NY where she spends time over holidays and summers
All therapy at Grand Slam Psych is conducted 100% online via secure video sessions. Here’s what that means for you:
✅ No commute, whether you’re in Brooklyn or Buffalo, you log in from home
✅ Schedule flexibility, sessions fit your life, not the other way around
✅ Complete privacy, therapy from your own safe space
✅ Same quality care, Dr. McCabe brings the same warmth, expertise, and clinical rigor as any in-person practice
✅ Secure & confidential, HIPAA-compliant video platform
What to Expect in Your First Session
Your first session is about getting to know each other and figuring out if we’re a good fit. Dr. McCabe will ask thoughtful questions about what brings you in, what your goals are, and what you’re hoping to get out of therapy. She’ll also share about her approach so you can decide if it resonates with you.
If you want to move forward, you’ll complete some brief (and confidential) intake paperwork, and from there, you set the pace. Sessions are collaborative, conversational, and tailored to you.
Insurance, Costs & Access
Licensed in New York: Dr. McCabe is fully licensed to see clients in New York state.
Insurance: We accept several in-network plans including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Quest. If we’re not in-network with your plan, we provide superbills for out-of-network reimbursement.
Private Pay: Intake sessions are $225. Individual therapy sessions are $200. Limited sliding scale slots are available based on income.
Therapy Intensives: 3–4 hour immersive sessions (great for making rapid progress on a specific concern). Pricing ranges from $650–$850 depending on the intensive type and whether you’re a new or existing client.
See full pricing and payment options →
Why Choose Grand Slam Psych?
Licensed psychologist, not a coach. Dr. McCabe is equipped to work with both the performance/skill side and the deeper mental health concerns that often underlie it. Anxiety, depression, identity struggles, and burnout don’t stay in the locker room – they deserve real clinical attention.
Real expertise, not generic advice. With a Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellowship at Princeton, published research in LGBTQ+ mental health, and years of clinical experience, Dr. McCabe brings depth to the work.
Warm and challenging. Her style is genuine, curious, and often playful – but she’ll also push you. That combination of challenge and support is what drives real growth.
Built for New Yorkers. Dr. McCabe understands the particular pressures and culture of New York – whether you’re an athlete, a professional, an LGBTQ+ person, or someone navigating multiple identities at once. She’s invested in this place and the people in it.
Ready to Work Together?
You deserve a therapist who understands your world – your ambitions, your identity, your pressures – and who will meet you exactly where you are. If you’re a New Yorker looking for online therapy with a licensed psychologist who brings real expertise and genuine warmth, Grand Slam Psych is here.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation →
All therapy sessions are conducted online. No in-person office location currently available.