Affirmative Therapy Collective

Affirmative Therapy Collective Affirmative, responsive psychotherapy and counseling for adults and teens, conveniently located in NYC's west village.

Love is often sold to us in a specific way: romantic, passionate, and usually centered around partnership or s*xual conn...
02/19/2026

Love is often sold to us in a specific way: romantic, passionate, and usually centered around partnership or s*xual connection. Ultimately, most of us are conditioned by media and other social sources to believe that romantic love is the most meaningful version of love.

To be clear, this is not to say that romance does not hold weight; it does. Romantic and s*xual relationships are deeply fulfilling, but they are only one piece of a larger emotional landscape.

Love shows up in countless forms, all of which are vital to our wellbeing: familial love, love within friendships, and self-love. Community-based love, one that is often forgotten about, fosters belonging and collective resilience—a necessity given our current political climate. In times of stress or crisis, community support can be a powerful protective factor.

By broadening our definition of love, we allow ourselves to experience connection in ways that might surprise us. It encourages a more inclusive and compassionate understanding of human connection, and it allows us to recognize that love is not a limited resource but a diverse and evolving experience. When we give equal value to friendships, family, community, and ourselves, we craft a stronger foundation that can sustain us throughout life’s challenges. 

- Lee

Interested in exploring your relationship with love? Want to expand what it means to give and receive genuine care? Lee is taking new clients! Check out the 🔗 in our bio 💌 to connect!
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As we head into Valentine’s Day weekend, ATC wanted to take this moment to remind you that finding safety in your s*xual...
02/12/2026

As we head into Valentine’s Day weekend, ATC wanted to take this moment to remind you that finding safety in your s*xual and romantic experiences is your right as a s*xually active human. And, it makes s*x that much more fun.

S*x can be a complicated topic, and learning how to engage with it in a way that prioritizes safety, autonomy, and mutual pleasure isn’t easy. The culture we live in is a huge barrier, between gender roles and patriarchy and purity culture, there’s a lot to sort through.

For those of us with s*xual trauma, there is an added layer of complexity. With the latest release of the Epstein files, we are once again reminded of the harm of s*xual activity driven by power, control, and force.

But regardless of whether you have experienced s*xual trauma or not, consent is supreme. And, yes, very s*xy. Because to feel s*xy, we have to feel safe. And we all deserve the kinds of s*x lives that offer us that safety.

Interested in exploring your relationship with s*x and intimacy? Sophie is taking new clients! Check out the 🔗 in our bio 💌 to connect!
🏷️ *xy *xtherapy *xtherapist

Every January, the world gets louder about fixing, shrinking, optimizing, and controlling bodies—as if our worth resets ...
02/04/2026

Every January, the world gets louder about fixing, shrinking, optimizing, and controlling bodies—as if our worth resets with the calendar.

The phrase of “New year, new body” is common during this time. These kinds of New Year’s resolutions often present themselves as harmless self-improvement. But the truth? These resolutions are steeped in diet culture, healthism, and fatphobia. In other words, they’re anything but harmless.

This kind of messaging teach us that thinner, more disciplined, more productive bodies are better bodies; that control is a moral virtue.

Over time, this messaging injures our relationship with ourselves.

We learn to mistrust hunger, rest, softness, pleasure—anything that can’t be optimized or measured. Perfectionism slips in wearing a wellness costume, insisting that if we just try harder, plan better, buy the right products, we’ll finally feel okay in our skin.

And when that doesn’t work, the blame lands squarely on us—not the system that profits from our dissatisfaction.

This is where body image injury shows up: in the shame around taking up space, in the anxiety of being seen, in the relentless self-surveillance that replaces self-compassion.

Productivity culture backs this up, praising bodies only for what they can produce, endure, or overcome. Listening to your body becomes a problem if it interferes with goals.

So if this year you feel the urge to reject the “new body” narrative, f**k yea! That’s not resistance to growth—it is growth.

Your body doesn’t need fixing. It needs safety, respect, and maybe a little righteous anger on its behalf.

Looking to work with someone on body image injury in a space that creates safety for all kinds of bodies? Sophie has availability for individual clients!

Are you trans or gender non-conforming and interested in exploring the intersections of eating disorders within your trans identity? Sophie is currently enrolling the second co-hort of her group, COMING HOME TO YOU: Exploring Eating Disorder Recovery and Body Image Injury within the Trans Experience.
🏷️ **kfatphobia

We’re trauma therapists, so we know all too well that you cannot separate the body, or human inhabiting that body, from ...
01/26/2026

We’re trauma therapists, so we know all too well that you cannot separate the body, or human inhabiting that body, from the world it is surrounded by. This moment is unjust, beyond challenging, and sadly all too familiar across history.

Show up how you can, including for yourself. We’re here with you.

Here’s a round up of posts we found helpful in thinking about how to get through this moment.

All sources tagged.

**kice

Taking the opportunity to reflect on your relationship with alcohol in the New Year? You’re not alone! Dry January is a ...
01/14/2026

Taking the opportunity to reflect on your relationship with alcohol in the New Year? You’re not alone! Dry January is a growing trend. But is it right for you? Join Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW in exploring the pros and cons of experimenting with Dry January.

If you’re wondering what it would be like not to drink, give it a try and see what it’s like. Maybe it’s not a new you, just a new experience!

Here’s to a year of honoring yourself, listening to your body, and feeling confident in your choices.

Happy New Year!

Interested in exploring your relationship with alcohol, January or not? Sophie is taking new clients! Find out more about how to work with her at the 🔗 in our bio 💌
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Taking the opportunity to reflect on your relationship with alcohol in the New Year? You’re not alone! Dry January is a ...
01/14/2026

Taking the opportunity to reflect on your relationship with alcohol in the New Year? You’re not alone! Dry January is a growing trend. But is it right for you? Join Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW (https://affirmativetherapycollective.com/who-we-are/sophie-talmadge-silleck/) in exploring the pros and cons of experimenting with Dry January.

If you’re wondering what it would be like not to drink, give it a try and see what it’s like. Maybe it’s not a new you, just a new experience!

Here’s to a year of honoring yourself, listening to your body, and feeling confident in your choices.

Happy New Year!

Interested in exploring your relationship with alcohol, January or not? Sophie is taking new clients! Find out more about how to work with her at the 🔗 in our bio 💌
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There was a stretch in 2021 where it felt like I (Lauren) read this excerpt from Anaïs Nin’s “Journal of a Wife” from 19...
12/31/2025

There was a stretch in 2021 where it felt like I (Lauren) read this excerpt from Anaïs Nin’s “Journal of a Wife” from 1924 to patients on a near weekly basis.

It is truly ever green, and a good reminder for NYE as we revisit our goals and intentions from the year, and the year to come. New Year’s Eve can really push so many of our buttons around how we measure up. To ourselves. To where we thought we’d be. To others and the lives we imagine they have from afar.

Tonight, and this week as folks inevitably share their highlight reels, remember that growth doesn’t happen on a timeline. And certainly not in some perfect, linear, march forward. In one experience we CAN indeed gain leaps and bounds after a long time of protected stillness, as Anaïs wrote. Stillness can even be the goal, particularly in recovery from burnout, trauma, or disordered eating.

It is okay to be wherever you are at this 2026 turning.

And if in your reflections on the year reveal that you need help locating stillness or getting back at it, we’re here to help.

Wishing all a happy and gentle 2026 from all of us at ATC.

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Navigating shopping during the holiday season while struggling with impulse control can be a special challenge. Sophie T...
12/22/2025

Navigating shopping during the holiday season while struggling with impulse control can be a special challenge. Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW offers her tips for avoiding impulsive shopping decisions, including avoiding all-or-nothing thinking, leaning into mindfulness, and focusing on the loved ones around you instead of the gift-giving portion of the season.

Remember, though the holiday season may be one ruled by materialism, the real gift is the time we spend with people we love. At the end of the day, gifts are truly the least important part of the holiday season. Be with your people 🫂

Looking for therapeutic support around impulsivity, shopping or otherwise? Sophie has openings! Find out more about how to work with her at the 🔗 in our bio 💌
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Recovery reminder from ATC associate Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW!Tonight we celebrate the third night of Hanukkah, the...
12/17/2025

Recovery reminder from ATC associate Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW!

Tonight we celebrate the third night of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights.

Hanukkah is a special holiday for the Jewish community that reminds us to stand up for ourselves, celebrate the light in the dark, and find joy where we can.

Hanukkah is also a time that we celebrate by eating fried foods, to honor the miracle of oil lasting eight whole nights when it should have only lasted one. But fried foods have gotten a bad reputation within our culture, and this can make Hanukkah celebrations complicated.

Instead of focusing on spending time with loved ones, the holiday becomes more about the stress and anxiety of navigating a complex relationship with food.

If you are someone who struggles with fried foods, let this be your permission to enjoy the holiday the way everyone else does, diet culture be damned. Stand up to diet culture and eat the food you want to eat!  Enjoy the holiday and the delicious food that goes with it, without guilt or judgment.

Looking for therapeutic support around food and body image? Curious about working with a therapist who shares your cultural background? Sophie has openings! Find out more about how to work with her at the 🔗 in our bio 💌
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December 2025: AIDS/HIV Awareness Month 🌈Helmed this week by Lee Warwick, LMSW, the team at ATC wanted to take a moment ...
12/09/2025

December 2025: AIDS/HIV Awareness Month 🌈

Helmed this week by Lee Warwick, LMSW, the team at ATC wanted to take a moment to reflect on the cultural legacy of HIV/AIDS and honor those impacted by the AIDS epidemic.

The q***r community as it currently stands is missing an entire swath of a generation of beautiful, unique individuals. These q***r community members—people who would likely have survived if the US federal government had appropriately responded to a clear and persistent health crisis—never had the chance to become community elders. They never had the opportunity to pass along their knowledge; to live their own whole, magical lives; to love; to see how the world has changed, and how it hasn’t. And our current q***r collective has suffered from the lack of role models, the anxiety around pleasure, and

While those who survived continue their legacy, the empty places where those who we lost were meant to be are still felt to this day.

In honor of their memory, we as a collective q***r community must continue to destigmatize HIV/AIDS, push for further advancements in treatment and management, and continue to keep one another safe through safe s*x practices.
🏷️ ***rcouple ***rcommunity ***rhistory ***rtherapist *xtherapy *xtherapist ***rlove ***rhealing

No matter what or how you celebrate during the holiday season, alcohol and drinking culture tend to be part of the equat...
11/24/2025

No matter what or how you celebrate during the holiday season, alcohol and drinking culture tend to be part of the equation. This can be stressful for those who are sober, sober-curious, or just trying to cut back.

But it has also become much more socially acceptable to be sober, or to at least be courteous of sober individuals’ needs. You don’t have to spend the holiday season isolated, or feeling like the dud at the party. With a little prep and maybe some planning, you can have an amazing holiday season, whether you’re drinking alcohol or not. ATC associate, Sophie Talmadge Silleck, LMSW, walks us through her tips.

Looking for support around substance misuse and/or your relationship with alcohol? Sophie is taking new clients! Head to the 🔗 in bio or to our website to learn more about working with Sophie.
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Address

80 University Place
New York, NY
10003

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 9pm
Tuesday 9am - 9pm
Wednesday 9am - 9pm
Thursday 9am - 9pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+16464701163

Website

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