From Political Campaigns to Psychotherapy: What Karina Polonskaya, Founder and Clinical Director of the Mental Health Clinic KP MindCare, Learned About People Along the Way
Before Karina Polonskaya became a psychotherapist, she learned to understand people from a very different perspective. Her earlier career took her into political campaigns, public programs, and community work. She worked as a campaign manager in the office of New York State Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz and later in political consulting. She also led a Russian-language program at the JCC of Greater Five Towns and worked with youth programs.
Today, her work is much more intimate. As the founder and Clinical Director of KP MindCare, Karina works with individuals, couples, children, and families, helping people navigate anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, major life transitions, and the complicated space between the life they have and the life they want.
Another important aspect of Karina’s practice is its accessibility to a diverse New York community. She works with clients in four languages and accepts Fidelis Care, helping make mental-health services more accessible to people who might otherwise face significant barriers to care.
At KP MindCare, therapy is not limited to a single age group or therapeutic approach. The practice brings together specialists working with children, teenagers, and adults, as well as couples and families, across areas including trauma, ADHD, family therapy, EMDR, and other mental-health needs.
The transition from politics to psychotherapy raises an interesting question: what does working with people in such different settings teach you about human behavior? Karina’s experience in both fields offers an opportunity to explore how people communicate, what makes them feel heard, and what lies beneath their words and actions.
As she explains in this conversation, being right and being heard are two different things. Understanding what lies beneath a person’s words, behavior, or reactions can be just as important as understanding what they say.
We spoke with Karina Polonskaya about her career transition, the challenges facing individuals and families, the role of cultural identity in mental health, and what it means to help people find their way forward.
Beyond the Symptom: A Conversation with Karina Polonskaya, LMHC
1. You moved from political campaigns and public work into psychotherapy. What did politics teach you about human behavior that you still use as a therapist?
Politics taught me that being right and being heard are two different things. If someone feels dismissed, even a flawless argument will fail. It also taught me to be curious about what lies beneath someone’s position. Identical words can conceal very different fears and hopes. In therapy, the question isn’t simply, “What is this person doing?” It’s “What does this behavior mean to them?”
My career change was unusual, but I brought those lessons with me. I went from trying to change people’s minds to helping people understand their own. And I’ve found the second much more rewarding.
2. New York is full of people who seem successful but are privately struggling. What do you think physicians and even family members often fail to notice?
How well people can function while suffering. Someone may run a business, raise children, and care for parents while barely sleeping. Their calendar is full, so everyone assumes they’re fine. Sometimes a primary care physician notices first. The person comes in about fatigue, headaches, or stomach discomfort. Those symptoms require medical evaluation, but anxiety or depression may contribute.
I often hear a version of: “I have a good life. Why am I unhappy?” As though achievements somehow disqualify us from needing help. In New York, busyness is a badge of honor. But functioning isn’t the same as being well.
3. You founded KP MindCare as a multidisciplinary practice. What did you want to create that patients might not find in a traditional psychotherapy office?
I wanted people to feel understood before they even began treatment. Finding a therapist is difficult when you’re seeking help for a child, prefer another language, or don’t know which treatment you need. At KP MindCare, we have clinicians with different specialties, provide care across four languages, and offer both online and in-person appointments. We work with individuals, couples, children, and entire families. In-person sessions can benefit younger children; telehealth helps working adults and parents.
Financial access matters too, including our work with Fidelis Care. We help people understand their options. The idea is simple: don’t force every patient into one method. Find the right care for the person in front of you. That’s also the standard I want referring physicians to expect from us.
4. Immigration can mean starting a new life while still carrying the emotional weight of the old one. What psychological challenges do you see among immigrant families, particularly those affected by war?
Immigration is often described as a fresh start. But it can mean losing your language, professional identity, grandparents around the dinner table, and sense of belonging. For families displaced by war, there may also be frightening memories, separation from loved ones, and persistent worry about those left behind. A parent can feel grateful their children are safe and simultaneously overwhelmed by grief or guilt.
Children often adapt to a new culture faster than their parents. Now the family must also navigate different expectations about independence.
Our multilingual, culturally sensitive work helps us recognize those layers. The goal isn’t to tell families which culture to choose. It’s to help them rebuild a sense of safety and connection in the life they have now.
5. Trauma doesn’t always look like what people expect. How do you recognize its effects, and how can approaches such as EMDR help?
The danger may be over, but the body doesn’t always get the message. After war, violence, or another traumatic experience, a person may have nightmares and intrusive memories. But sometimes what you see first is irritability, insomnia, difficulty concentrating, withdrawal, or constant vigilance. Those symptoms strain relationships and everyday life.
Not everyone exposed to trauma develops PTSD, which is why careful assessment matters. We assess symptoms, safety, and readiness for treatment.
EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is one evidence-based option for PTSD. At KP MindCare, appropriately trained clinicians can use EMDR when it fits a patient’s needs. It helps people process traumatic memories and respond less intensely to reminders. It doesn’t erase what happened, and it isn’t appropriate for everyone. Our clinicians use other approaches as well, depending on each patient’s needs. Sometimes trauma treatment also calls for coordination with a psychiatrist or physician.
6. When a child or teenager is struggling, how often is the problem really about the whole family rather than the child alone?
Very often, you can’t fully understand a child’s difficulties without looking at the relationships around them. That doesn’t mean parents caused the problem. Family members affect one another.
Imagine a teenager who withdraws. The parent gets frightened and asks more questions. The teenager feels pressured and pulls away further. The parent becomes even more worried. Now both are stuck in a pattern that neither intended.
A family-systems approach helps us recognize and change that cycle. The teenager may need individual therapy, parent guidance, or family sessions. Often we combine them, with clear boundaries around confidentiality. I don’t want therapy to become a courtroom where we decide who’s at fault. I’d rather help family members become allies again.
7. Couples often come to therapy convinced that their partner is the problem. What do you see that they don’t?
Usually, I see two people caught in a dance they no longer know how to stop.
Imagine a couple arguing about chores. One says, “You never help me.” The other says, “Nothing I do is good enough.” On the surface, it’s about dishes. Underneath, one may be saying, “I feel alone,” and the other, “I feel like a failure.”
In couples therapy, the therapist isn’t a referee, and the goal isn’t to declare a winner. We help partners understand the fears and needs hiding inside their arguments, then practice communicating differently. Therapy can support repair or thoughtful decisions about a relationship’s future. Either way, understanding the pattern gives them more choices than simply repeating the same fight.
8. Physicians are often the first to recognize that a patient’s physical complaints may have an emotional component. What makes collaboration between physicians and psychotherapists effective?
Respect for what each of us sees, and good communication. A physician may notice recurring insomnia, pain, or fatigue. A therapist may recognize anxiety, trauma, or depression affecting daily functioning. Neither perspective replaces the other.
I also think referrals should be practical. Patients shouldn’t need a diagnosis or know whether they need CBT, EMDR, or family therapy. That’s what a thoughtful assessment is for. With the patient’s authorization, communication between clinicians can help align treatment, identify concerns that require further medical or psychiatric evaluation, and avoid fragmented care.
What I want a referring physician to know is that we’ll pay attention to the individual, not just the referral label. We’ll also recognize when another specialist or level of care is needed.
9. You once worked in politics, where success often meant changing people’s minds. What does success mean to you today?
Success in therapy is often quiet. A person who lived in fear starts sleeping again. Parents and a teenager have a conversation without anyone storming out. A couple begins to listen instead of preparing the next argument.
We measure progress through symptoms, functioning, and treatment goals. But I also look for something less visible: a person becoming more able to make decisions, build relationships, and experience everyday life.
I wanted KP MindCare to reflect that belief, with a team able to help people at very different stages of life. I used to work in a world where success meant persuading people to believe in something. Today, one of the most rewarding parts of my work is helping people begin to believe in themselves.
For professional inquiries and collaboration opportunities:
Website: kpmindcare.com
Contact: 646-833-8308
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