Carolina Franco PhD
Clinical Psychologist
She/Ella
Welcome to My Practice
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Starting therapy is a leap of faith, often taken at moments of limited hope. It is an act of courage that never ceases to amaze me. I aim to meet that moment and harness the transformative power of that decision.
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I believe lasting change begins with relief. My first priority is helping you feel more stable, more grounded, and more like yourself. From that foundation, we engage in the deeper work.
I work best with people who are curious about their own
complexity; those willing to explore the unconscious forces, intergenerational legacies, social and political realities that shape our identities, our suffering, and our opportunities for growth.
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About Me
I am a bilingual (Spanish/English) clinical psychologist and equity consultant with over two decades of experience in therapeutic settings.
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My road to psychology was winding, but never without coherence or direction. From the hardships of personal loss and immigration in childhood, to the whirlwind of growing up in New York at a time of immense creativity and social change — life was preparing me long before I knew it. Two early work experiences crystallized my path: late-night conversations with recently sober teenagers in a halfway house, and later in Europe, facilitating experiential drama therapy workshops for patients, families, and medical staff navigating the end of life in palliative care settings. These encounters with human suffering and resilience led me to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology at City College, CUNY — one of the few psychoanalytically oriented doctoral programs in the country.
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My approach is psychodynamic at its core, drawing also from liberation psychology and intersectional frameworks. I bring both commitment and experience to working with people of all races, cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, sexualities, and gender identities.
Clinical Services
Individual Therapy
I work with individuals from late childhood through older adulthood, who present with mental health conditions appropriate for a practice practice setting. I have particular expertise working with people holding marginalized identities, and with professionals at high risk for burnout-including human rights advocates, healthcare workers, and journalists.
Group Therapy
Group therapy provides a unique and invaluable opportunity for interpersonal growth and connection. I offer process oriented, support, and Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy groups as well as short-term skill building groups, day workshops, and retreats.
Couples and Family
I offer psychodynamic couple and family therapy. Couple therapy can heal the wounds of relational conflict so that you and your partner can grow and evolve within your relationship. Family therapy is a powerful intervention both in times of crisis and across the lifespan — offering families with young and adult children a space to process relational challenges and shift longstanding dynamics.
Organizational Consulting
I work with businesses and nonprofits navigating internal relational conflicts or struggling to meet their goals due to inefficient, unclear, or unbalanced distributions of work. I have particular expertise identifying and addressing toxic power dynamics, especially those that replicate systemic inequities rooted in histories of injustice, and creating opportunities for organizations to operate with greater equity, clarity, and collective purpose.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy and Psychedelic Integration Therapy and coaching
I provide therapy to process and integrate non-ordinary states of consciousness, including those arising from psychedelic and meditative trance experiences. Integration therapy uses the insights from these experiences as a doorway into the unconscious; uncovering hidden dynamics, processing what emerges, and making meaningful changes in response to new self-understanding.​
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) pairs the widely used anesthetic ketamine with evidence-based psychotherapy to promote cognitive flexibility, emotional release, and lasting change. By gently lowering psychological defenses, ketamine creates an opening for deeper therapeutic work. Research has shown promise in treating depression, anxiety, PTSD, complicated grief, and substance use disorders. I offer KAP exclusively as an adjunctive treatment, meaning I work only with clients who are engaged in ongoing therapy — either with me or with another clinician — and plan to continue therapy after KAP. I partner with licensed medical ketamine prescribers to ensure safe, integrated care, and collaborate with therapists supporting their clients through this process.​
Please note that I do not provide therapy to people under the influence of illegal psychedelics. And I do not refer clients to psychedelic experiences outside of legal contexts. That said, I work from a harm reduction perspective, recognizing that people have psychedelic experiences and deserve a safe, thoughtful space to explore and process.
Clinical Training and Supervision
I offer warm, expert clinical supervision and professional development coaching to psychologists and psychotherapists at any stage of their career, with hours that count toward New York State licensure requirements. Whether you are just starting out, mid-career, or currently in training, I would love to support your professional journey.
Clinical supervision
Professional Development
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy Supervision
I offer individual and group supervision grounded in psychodynamic thinking, with close attention to the ways identity, culture, power, and social context shape the therapeutic relationship. Together we explore the unconscious dynamics at play in your clinical work — helping you grow into a more reflective, effective, and ethically grounded practitioner.
Whether you are navigating the early stages of your career, transitioning into private practice, or looking to deepen your clinical identity, I offer practical, thoughtful coaching tailored to where you are. We work on the real challenges — building a caseload, setting fees, managing burnout, and finding your voice as a clinician.
I offer specialized training and supervision in KAP for licensed clinicians ready to integrate this powerful modality into their practice. Drawing on psychodynamic principles and harm reduction, I help therapists develop the clinical framework, ethical grounding, and hands-on confidence needed to work skillfully with non-ordinary states of consciousness.
GET IN TOUCH
11 Broadway
New York NY 10004
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110 Prospect Pl
Brooklyn , NY 11217