Dr. Almas (Ally) Merchant received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the Institute for Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University, Garden City, NY. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at the Jewish Board for Family and Children, specializing in treating adolescents with trauma histories. Since then she has served as a program psychologist at SCO Family of Services in their residential program for adolescents within the juvenile justice system, followed by her job as a psychologist at Brightpoint Health, a nonprofit agency providing integrative care to community members in New York City. Besides her clinical work, she is also the externship coordinator at Brightpoint Health, where she supervises students from doctoral programs in psychology. 

Dr. Merchant has worked extensively within the field of trauma—ranging from early childhood abuse to domestic violence, and the traumatic impact of structural racism, homophobia, and transphobia—as well as with anxiety and panic disorders, mood disorders, and personality disorders. The scope of her experience includes working with children, adolescents, adults, and families, in both inpatient and outpatient settings. She is trained in Brief Psychodynamic Treatments, Transference Focused Psychotherapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation-Narrative Story Telling (STAIR-NST) for adult trauma survivors as well as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (TF-CBT) for children. Currently, she is a candidate at NYU’s postdoctoral program in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. 

Her treatment approach is collaborative; she ensures that she and her patients agree upon an integrated treatment plan, blending multiple modalities specifically tailored for each individual and family. Dr. Merchant has also held a two-year Research Fellowship at the Pacella Parent-Child Center, New York Psychoanalytic Institute. She has taught both undergraduate and graduate-level college courses and has contributed multiple presentations in the fields of trauma, family dynamics, and the psychotherapy process. She is an active member of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Psychoanalysis, where she serves as a co-chair on the Scholars committee for graduate student and early career professionals.