WHO WE ARE
Dr. Michael Costa
Michael L. Costa, Psy.D., is the founder of Balanced Mind Psychology and a clinical psychologist specializing in children, adolescents, and young adults. He is licensed in New York and Connecticut, and is also a certified school psychologist. Dr. Costa has extensive experience providing evidence-based therapeutic interventions and psychological assessments . He has developed expertise in providing Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to individuals with anxiety and related disorders, as well as those with mood disorders and behavioral difficulties. Dr. Costa has gained experience in a variety of settings, including an outpatient psychiatry department, adolescent inpatient unit, day treatment/partial hospitalization program, behavioral health urgent care center, a community clinic, a college counseling center, and a child trauma clinic, as well as multiple public schools.
Dr. Costa is passionate about providing treatment that is based on scientific research. As such, he has gained significant experience in the provision of individual and group therapy using evidence-based treatments, such as exposure therapy, exposure and response prevention (E/RP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Dr. Costa also provides behavioral parent training (BPT) to address disruptive behavior in young children, as well as provides school-based behavioral consultation. In addition, he has provided clinical supervision on the implementation of CBT interventions to doctoral level psychology trainees in multiple settings.
Balanced Mind Psychology is dedicated to providing tailored interventions that are individualized to each patient's specific area of difficulty. Dr. Costa utilizes diagnostic assessment in order to fully understand patients’ presenting problems in a way that directly informs his therapeutic approaches. He focuses on providing targeted treatment to meet each patient’s goals using a warm, flexible manner. Dr. Costa also has significant experience working with multidisciplinary teams in multiple settings, and as such, seeks to form collaborative relationships with psychiatrists or school staff.
Dr. Costa received his Doctor of Psychology and Master of Science degrees from St. John’s University, graduating summa cum laude. He completed three years of specialized training in CBT and DBT interventions for children/adolescents at Northwell Health Long Island Jewish Medical Center (Zucker Hillside Hospital and Cohen Children’s Medical Center), including a pre-doctoral internship program accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). Dr. Costa also received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the Honors Program at the State University of New York at New Paltz.