About

Alex Conway, LMHC

My work in LGBTQ+ mental health started in 2012, first as a crisis counselor with The Trevor Project and then as an intern with the ACLU of Michigan's LGBTQ Project, where I worked on legal advocacy for LGBTQ+ civil rights. A year later I began clinical training at The George Washington University's Professional Psychology program, earning a Master of Psychology in 2015 and continuing in doctoral-level training across the following years.

During those years I also began reading and writing seriously about what Eastern contemplative traditions could offer Western therapy — particularly on the question of how a person moves from managing difficulty to building a life that feels worth the trouble. That line of thinking became my first book, The Path to Enlightenment, in 2019.

I was licensed as a Mental Health Counselor in New York in 2024. My clinical training includes EMDR through the Trauma Specialists Training Institute, an EMDRIA-approved program; I am currently working toward EMDRIA certification.

Most of my clients come to me at a particular intersection: something is hard, and they are also asking a larger question about what they want their life to be. I take both seriously.

Approach

My practice draws on three clinical traditions.

Positive psychology — the empirical study of what makes lives go well. Meaning, engagement, good relationships, accomplishment. Positive psychology asks what you are working toward — your strengths, your values, the specific shape of a life you'd be glad to be building. In practice, this means we spend real time on those questions alongside the work on what is painful.

EMDR — a structured method for processing trauma that has gotten stuck. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based protocol for working with traumatic memory and the emotional and somatic patterns that form around it. I use it with clients whose difficulties are rooted in specific events, and often with clients navigating the layered, long-duration trauma of minority stress, family rejection, or religious rupture.

Buddhist psychology — contemplative tools well integrated into Western clinical practice. Methods drawn from contemplative traditions for working with attention, emotion, and the relationship between thought and self. Seeing clearly what the mind is doing, and having choices where before there were only reactions.

Peer endorsements

I'm endorsed by eight clinicians on Psychology Today — social workers, mental health counselors, and addiction specialists working alongside me in the LGBTQ+ and mental health space in New York.

"A genuine-hearted listener capable of holding complex space... His critical analysis assists in challenging our emotional turmoil." — Dr. LA McCrae, LCADC, FOT, CCTSA, CCTP

"His approach of incorporating Buddhist philosophy and Western psychology guides his clients in developing skills such as savoring and self-compassion." — Silas Norum-Gross, LMSW

"Alex infuses positivity into his approach to therapy. His centering of joy and identifying strengths is deeply powerful and transformative." — Jamie Tanzer, LMHC

Working together

Sessions are individual, 55 minutes, weekly, conducted by secure video for clients located in New York State. Fees are $325 per session; I am an out-of-network provider and do not bill insurance directly.

The first step is a free 15-minute consultation. We talk briefly about what is bringing you in and whether the fit feels right. If it does, we schedule. If it doesn't, I'll do my best to point you toward someone who might be a better match.