Laura G Bermudez LCSW PhD
MEET OUR THERAPISTS
Laura Gauer Bermudez
LCSW, PhD
Laura is a psychotherapist, social scientist, and advisor based in New York. Through therapy and coaching, she assists individuals through life transitions, grief, anxiety, trauma, relationship conflicts, and planning for a more resilient and fulfilling journey ahead. Laura is an integrative clinician pulling from multiple modalities to best serve client needs - including CBT, DBT, and EMDR while being firmly rooted in an existential-humanistic approach. As an advisor, she provides guidance on global mental health, leaning on her experience with international non-profits, UN agencies, and governments partners. As a clinician, her therapeutic process is both trauma-informed and globally-oriented, harnessing the similarities that bind the human experience across cultures and communities – a desire for meaning, mastery, purpose, belonging, and hope.
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She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, a Master’s Degree in International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in Social Work from Columbia University. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in New York State and has specialized training in Forced Migration, Grief Counseling, Mental Health in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies, and Clinical Care for Individuals on the Autism Spectrum. She provides pro-bono psychological evaluations to the Physicians for Human Rights' Asylum program and is a Fulbright Specialist on Global Mental Health.
Gwyneth Kirkbride, LMSW
Gwyn Kirkbride is a clinical social worker and program director based in New York with more than a decade of experience at the intersection of research, program development, and direct service. She integrates evidence-based and mind–body approaches—including CBT, Motivational Interviewing, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction—to help individuals navigate trauma, chronic illness, anxiety, depression, and major life transitions. With a foundation as a massage therapist, she brings a unique somatic perspective to healing and is especially interested
in the interplay between body and mind. Her clinical practice is trauma-informed and resilience-focused.
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In addition to clinical care, Gwyn serves as the Director of Programs at the Workplace Center at Columbia University where she designs, implements, and evaluates comprehensive career and job readiness programs for people made vulnerable by child welfare involvement, juvenile justice or court supervision, and poverty. She partners with community-based organizations, public agencies, and national institutions to advance reforms and equip staff with the knowledge and support needed for effective program delivery. A graduate of the Columbia School of Social Work, Gwyn grounds her leadership in the belief that work is a fundamental right, focusing on economic mobility and creating systems that empower individuals and communities to thrive.