Kurtz Psychology Consulting PC was formed in 2014 to serve the needs of children and families struggling with Selective Mutism. The founder, Dr. Steven Kurtz, is an internationally recognized expert in Selective Mutism (SM).

Dr. Kurtz and his team offer additional expertise in a number of other areas as well, including but not limited to ADHD, oppositional and defiant behavior, anxiety, and educational challenges. He founded the Selective Mutism Programs at both the NYU Child Study Center and the Child Mind Institute.

Kurtz Psychology Consulting PC currently offers an intensive group behavioral treatment (IGBT) called Mighty Mouth Kids in New York City based on the original IGBT model created by Dr. Kurtz that is now replicated at 11 sites internationally including: NYC, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Seattle, Vancouver and even Hong Kong!

Dr. Kurtz developed the Selective Mutism Behavioral Observation Task, a validated assessment specifically designed for children with SM where children are observed speaking with their parents without the undue pressure of being expected to talk to a new person! He also developed the Selective Mutism Interaction Coding System (SMICS-R) to provide a window into the adult-child interactions in SM.

Our SM work at Kurtz Psychology has been presented at numerous national and regional scientific conferences including SMA, ABCT, and ADAA among others. Our work has also appeared in scientific journals: Carpenter, Aubrey L., et al. “Extending Parent–Child Interaction Therapy for Early Childhood Internalizing Problems: New Advances for an Overlooked Population.” Clinical child and family psychology review 17.4 (2014): 340-356.

Kurtz Psychology Consulting PC provides families and schools numerous treatment and training options including:

1. Individual Treatment at our office in midtown Manhattan. For many families our intensive treatment option is most practical and effective.
2. Intensive treatment where you live. We have the capacity to come to embed with you and your family to provide intensive treatment onsite where you live and where your child goes to school. We have worked with many families in this format which includes our going to school with the child for a week to live with them in school, modeling how others can successfully engage them and teaching the staff how to carry on.
3. Mighty Mouth Kids: We are thrilled to offer our intensive group for children 3-9 years of age twice each year in the summer and winter. See our website https://www.kurtzpsychology.com/selective-mutism/mighty-mouth-kids-camp/ for current dates and registration.
4. Adolescent SM and Social Anxiety Skills Group: A weekly hour-long skills group for teens ages 12 to 16, currently open for registration.
5. Child SM Group: 75 minute sessions delivered in a 4-week cycle using the intensive group behavioral treatment model mimicking a classroom setting for children ages 4 to 6.
6. Internet Skills Group for Parents of Children with SM: This monthly skills group is facilitated by one of our clinicians to support families who have or are currently receiving SM treatment services through Kurtz Psychology.
7. Distance case consultation: Many children with SM have local therapists who are not specialty trained in SM but who are willing to be coached to advance their SM-specific skills. You as the parent can engage us to work with your therapist.
8. Teacher or staff training: We can design a staff training to suit your school or agency needs varying from half-day to multi-day trainings. Our focus is on skill development so all of our trainings involve actual practice and coaching of skills in the school or agency setting. We provide online follow-up case consultation in as desired.

Please visit our website or call for more details about any of the above treatment options!

Kurtz Psychology Consulting PC
57 W 57 Street, Suite 1007
New York, NY 10019
212-658-0110 ext 122
info@kurtzpsychology.com
www.kurtzpsychology.com

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The KPCPC Team

Steven Kurtz, PhD, ABPP is an internationally recognized and leading clinician in the treatment of children’s behavioral problems and disorders. He is a renowned mentor and teacher of innovative and empirically-supported treatments for children with disruptive disorders such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder and has been a cutting-edge pioneer in the development and dissemination of evidence-based treatments for internalizing disorders including the social anxiety disorder Selective Mutism (SM). He is a widely respected clinical researcher and child psychologist, one of only 21 Certified Master Trainers in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy endorsed by PCIT International. Dr. Kurtz is a tireless advocate for children with special needs.

As an assistant professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine, Dr. Kurtz founded and served for 10 years as the clinical director of the NYU Child Study Center’s Institute for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity and Behavior Disorders. He was also the founding co-director of the NYU Child Study Center’s Selective Mutism Program.

Dr. Kurtz was pivotal in the development of the Child Mind Institute where he served from 2010-2014 as the inaugural Senior Director of the ADHD Center and Director of the Selective Mutism Program. During his tenure at NYU and CMI, he created the Brave Buddies Program, a weeklong intensive day treatment program for children with SM. The Brave Buddies model pairs counselors with children, one-on-one, in a simulated, analog school classroom where brave talking is shaped, nurtured, and reinforced while social anxieties are lessened. Our model for treating SM happens twice each year at KPCPC and has been adopted at the NYU Child Study Center, the Child Mind Institute, Boston University, Florida International University, and at Adventure Camp in the Chicago area.

As a PCIT Master Trainer, Dr. Kurtz actively trains clinicians worldwide in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy ~ a gold standard treatment for young children with disruptive behaviors. PCIT is an amazingly innovative and effective treatment model where parents are coached live, via bug-in-ear technology, by the therapist standing behind a one-way mirror while the parent and child practice playing and calm, effective discipline strategies. Dr. Kurtz has also pioneered and published on PCIT adapted for young children with anxiety disorders, including SM, separation anxiety, generalized anxiety and other conditions. Dr. Kurtz also has specialization in the assessment and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Dr. Kurtz earned his PhD in 1985 from Washington University in St. Louis and is Board Certified as a Diplomate in Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology, for which he also serves as a volunteer examiner. He was Chair of the Treatment Adaptations Task Force on the Advisory Board of PCIT International and a board member of the Selective Mutism Group (SMG), the nation’s leading advocacy group for SM. He is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), the New York State Psychological Association (NYSPA), the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) and the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) and a fellow in the American Academy of Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology.

Dr. Kurtz’s team has also pioneered efforts to bring the teacher equivalent of PCIT to schools in a model called Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT). TCIT is a school-based, live coaching model to help teachers with preventive discipline strategies. The aim is to let teachers teach and ensure that disruptive behavior does visited schools to train educators in new discipline strategies and behavior management techniques, an empirically supported approach called teacher-child interaction therapy (TCIT). Dr. Kurtz’s research has shown that teachers trained in TCIT are better able to serve children with special needs in a mainstream, general education setting.

Dr. Kurtz has published numerous scholarly papers and lectured widely; his research on TCIT has been featured at national, regional, and city conferences. Over the course of his career he has also mentored hundreds of psychology undergraduates, graduate students, and psychiatry residents. In 2005, students and faculty at the NYU Langone School of Medicine nominated him for the prestigious Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2006, he was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award by the graduate students of the NYU Child Study Center.

Dr. Kurtz continues to be a significant public voice, dispelling myths about childhood psychiatric disorders and advocating for comprehensive, individualized care for all children struggling with behavioral or other mental health issues. An expert commentator, he has appeared on numerous programs addressing child mental health, including NBC’s Today, CBS’s The Early Show, and PBS’s Keeping Kids Healthy. Dr. Kurtz’s signature Brave Buddies treatment was highlighted on ABC’s Nightline.

Licensed in New York and Virginia

Katherine (Kate) Gibson, PsyD, ABPP

Dr. Kate Gibson is a licensed clinical psychologist who is board certified in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. Dr. Gibson specializes in the treatment of selective mutism, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs), trauma, and behavioral problems. Dr. Gibson has dedicated her career to providing evidence-based treatments to children, teens and their families, as well as training and supervising clinicians in the provision of evidence-based treatments.

Dr. Gibson is the Director of Training at Kurtz Psychology Consulting PC (KPCPC). Dr. Gibson was the Summer 2019 Co-Director of Mighty Mouth Kids, KPCPC’s intensive selective mutism camp, and provides PCIT-SM throughout the year at KPCPC using live coaching of parents to develop skills for supporting their children with selective mutism.

Dr. Gibson is certified by PCIT International as a Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) therapist and Level 1 within program trainer. PCIT uses live coaching to help caregivers manage disruptive behaviors in children ages 2-7. Dr. Gibson is currently working toward certification as a level 2 PCIT regional trainer to be able to train clinicians within other programs and practices. Dr. Gibson is a certified Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) therapist. Dr. Gibson has completed advanced training in the treatment of OCD using Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) through the International OCD Foundation Pediatric Behavior Therapy Training Institute. Dr. Gibson has presented at regional and national conferences on the topics of trauma, PCIT, and evidence-based treatments.

Senior Psychologist/Director of Training
New York Licensed Psychologist #018505
Board Certified in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
PCIT Level 1 Trainer, PCIT International
kgibson@kurtzpsychology.com

Licensed in Florida, New York and Virginia

Caroline Harvey, PsyD

Dr. Caroline Harvey is a licensed clinical psychologist in New York and Idaho. She provides individual and family therapy to children, adolescents, and parents utilizing evidence-based approaches. She specializes in treating youth who suffer from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), as well as children suffering from child anxiety disorders, including a subspecialty in selective mutism (SM). Dr. Harvey is certified in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and PCIT-SM and trained in parent management training (PMT) and additional cognitive behavioral approaches. She has a passion for empowering parents to appropriately manage their children’s challenging behaviors while also improving the parent-child relationship. She additionally is committed to collaborating with teachers and other providers (e.g., psychiatrists) to best support children across all settings.

Dr. Harvey is a staff psychologist at Kurtz Psychology Consulting PC (KPCPC). She is the Director of Mighty Mouth Kids Camp, KPCPC’s intensive selective mutism camp for children 3 thru 9 years of age. Dr. Harvey runs short- and long-term selective mutism groups at KPCPC for young children and adolescents with selective mutism. She lastly provides PCIT-SM throughout the year at KPCPC, coaching parents in highly specific skills to target their child’s brave talking and living an exposure-based lifestyle.

Dr. Harvey obtained her BA in Psychology from the State University of New York at Geneseo and her PsyD in Clinical-School Psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University. She received pre-doctoral training at the ADHD and Behavior Disorders Center at the Child Mind Institute as well as at Children and Youth Services at South Beach Psychiatric Center. Dr. Harvey then completed her APA-accredited pre-doctoral internship at The Help Group in Los Angeles, California where she provided individual, group, and family therapy and administered comprehensive psychodiagnostic assessment batteries to children and adolescents in school and outpatient settings. She lastly completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Therapy West and Academics West in New York City where she provided individual, group, and family therapy, and trained, consulted, and coached teachers in vivo in the use of effective behavior management strategies with students.

Staff Psychologist
New York Licensed Psychologist #022956
Idaho Licensed Psychologist #PSY – 203414
charvey@kurtzpsychology.com

Licensed in Idaho and New York