What is psychotherapy, and how is it different from advice?
Psychotherapy is a structured, confidential relationship with a licensed clinician that helps you understand and change the patterns behind your distress. It is not a friend's advice or a pep talk. A psychotherapist listens for what repeats in your life, such as the same fear, the same argument or the same shutdown, and helps you work out where it comes from and what keeps it going.
Good psychotherapy combines insight with action. Understanding why you react a certain way matters, but so does practicing a different response when the moment comes. Over time, the goal is for you to need therapy less, because the tools and self-understanding become your own.
Dr. Audrey Kteily provides psychotherapy to Monmouth County residents online, through secure, HIPAA-compliant video. Her work centers on trauma and complex PTSD, along with anxiety, depression, identity and the family relationships that shape all of them.
Complex PTSD: when trauma was not a single event
Many people know PTSD as a reaction to one frightening event, like a car crash or an assault. Complex PTSD usually grows out of trauma that was repeated or prolonged, often in relationships where you could not easily leave: an abusive or chaotic childhood home, a controlling partner, or years of bullying or emotional neglect.
Along with flashbacks and hypervigilance, complex PTSD often brings:
- Deep shame or a sense of being fundamentally flawed
- Emotions that swing from overwhelming to numb
- Difficulty trusting people, or getting pulled into relationships that repeat old harm
- Feeling disconnected from your body or from your own sense of self
Research on trauma treatment continues to develop. Journals such as JAMA Psychiatry publish studies on how trauma affects mood and health over time, and the APA Monitor on Psychology regularly covers what clinicians are learning about recovery.
If you are in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or 911. Dr. Audrey's practice is not a crisis service.
How Dr. Audrey works with trauma in psychotherapy
Trauma therapy with Dr. Audrey follows a phased approach, because pushing into painful memories before you feel steady can make symptoms worse.
- Safety and stabilization. You learn grounding skills, ways to settle your nervous system and plans for difficult moments. Her C-DBT certification in Dialectical Behavior Therapy informs this stage.
- Understanding the patterns. Together you map how past experiences show up now: in your reactions, your relationships and your self-talk.
- Processing at your pace. When you are ready, you work through specific memories and beliefs so they lose some of their charge.
- Rebuilding. Therapy turns toward the life you want: healthier relationships, clearer boundaries and a more stable sense of who you are.
Because her doctorate is in family studies, Dr. Audrey also looks at how trauma moves through families. A parent's unresolved history can shape how they respond to a child's fear, and siblings can carry very different versions of the same upbringing. Learn more about her family systems approach.
Psychotherapy for Monmouth County life
Monmouth County stretches from the Raritan Bayshore down through Red Bank, Middletown and Holmdel to the shore towns of Long Branch and Asbury Park, and inland to Freehold, Marlboro and Manalapan. Some residents commute to Manhattan by ferry or the North Jersey Coast Line; others run local businesses that follow the summer season. Hurricanes and storms have also left their mark on coastal communities here.
Those realities make a weekly in-person appointment hard to protect. Online psychotherapy lets you meet from home before a commute, during a quiet hour at work, or after the kids are asleep. In tight-knit shore towns, it also means no one sees your car outside a counselor's office.
Dr. Audrey also helps Monmouth County clients with concerns beyond trauma:
- Anxiety, panic and perfectionism
- Depression and mood disorders
- Identity and LGBTQ+ questions, in an affirming, LGBTQ+-owned practice
- Grief, addictions and life transitions
- Couples conflict and marriage counseling
Teens and young adults
Trauma does not wait until adulthood. Teens ages 12 to 18 may carry the effects of bullying, a frightening event, a parent's addiction or a family breakup, and it can surface as anger, self-harm, panic or a sudden drop in school performance. Dr. Audrey works with teens directly and brings parents in at key points so the household can support the progress.
Young adults ages 18 to 29 often notice old patterns for the first time when they leave home or start serious relationships. Psychotherapy at this stage can stop those patterns from setting into the next decade.
Partners and parents
Living with someone who has PTSD can be confusing and exhausting. Partners and parents sometimes join a few sessions to learn what triggers look like, how to respond without escalating and how to take care of themselves along the way.
How online psychotherapy works in New Jersey
Dr. Audrey is a Licensed Professional Counselor in New Jersey. She can work with you whenever you are physically located in New Jersey for the session, whether that is Freehold, Red Bank or a family member's home elsewhere in the state. She also holds licenses in New York and Texas.
Sessions are held on Eastern Time and scheduled flexibly. You receive a secure link, open it in your browser and meet face to face on screen. Family members or partners can join from separate locations when that is useful. For details on setup and privacy, see how New Jersey sessions work.
Who Dr. Audrey is
Dr. Audrey Kteily holds a PhD in Family Studies from Texas Woman's University, a master's degree in counseling from Dallas Baptist University and a bachelor's in psychology from Texas Woman's University. She has been a Texas Licensed Professional Counselor since 2001 and a supervisor since 2004, and she is licensed as an LPC in New Jersey and an LMHC in New York.
She is a Certified Family Life Educator through the National Council on Family Relations, is C-DBT certified and has published on family dynamics. With over 20 years of clinical experience, she works with adults, teens, couples and families. You can compare her training with standards described by the American Psychological Association and the American Counseling Association, both of which offer public resources on finding qualified help.
What does the first month of psychotherapy look like?
In the first session, Dr. Audrey asks about what brings you in, your history and your current supports. You do not have to tell your whole story at once, and you can decline to answer anything that feels like too much.
Over the next few sessions, you set goals together and begin stabilization work. Many clients notice early relief simply from having a consistent, private hour to think out loud. Deeper change takes longer, especially with complex PTSD, and progress is reviewed openly along the way.
Dr. Audrey is an out-of-network provider. She provides a superbill for possible out-of-network reimbursement, so check your plan's mental health benefits before you begin.
How to get started
To request a first appointment, use the New Jersey appointment request or the secure form on this page. You will hear back within one business day. More about the practice is on the Dr. Audrey home page and the New Jersey therapy page.
You can also text or call (917) 905-3183. Texting is the easiest way to reach Dr. Audrey; please leave health details out of texts.