About Me
Pain Reprocessing Therapy | Somatic Therapy
Sean Hershey (he, him)
Psychotherapist in New York
I'm a human, with a brain and a nervous system. Just like you.
That means I'm susceptible to chronic pain. Just like you.
People have called me sensitive. People are right. I am sensitive.
I am who I am.
I can’t control my basic nature. And, just to say, neither can you 😉
My name is Sean and I'm a gay White cisgender man.
I’m capitalizing the word White because, as Nell Irvin Painter once wrote, leaving the w lowercase falsely situates Whiteness as neutral and normal. It's not neutral and normal.
I question my presumptions and my cultural assumptions. And you are welcome to question me too.
I grew up in an Irish Catholic community in St. Paul, Minnesota. I spent my childhood gay and closeted and alone in the Catholic Church.
To get through my childhood, I had to hide.
I hid myself from others, and I hid myself from myself. And not just my sexuality. To escape judgment, I felt I had to hide so much of my real, authentic self.
Years and years later, I would learn that chronic pain is caused by emotional repression and misattunement with oneself.
Now it’s clear—that childhood set me up.
Today, though, here I am.
Still me. And still queer as ever.
I'm trained in many therapeutic modalities including psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, trauma-informed therapy, attachment-based therapy, emdr, and pain reprocessing therapy.
My training makes me a good therapist, but my humanity makes me a great therapist.
I, like you, have emotions.
But my feelings don’t scare me.
And your feelings don't scare me either. Bring them on. It's therapy.
In our work together, I'll help you learn to tolerate who you really are and what you really feel. I’m gonna gently challenge you—and we’re gonna go deep. Because doing this emotional work is a key part of the treatment that'll resolve your chronic pain. And that’s what we’re here for.
Over the years, I've had: a childhood of chronic headaches, years of chronic back pain, decades of chronic hip pain, severe (like, severe) chronic irritable bowel syndrome.…
I've had a lot of issues.
And I was one of those people who tried everything in the medical system—doctors, medications, alternative doctors, herbs, cleanses, elimination diets, acupuncture, chiropractors, back stretches, sacroiliac joint exercises, supplements, unconventional supplements, very unconventional supplements, you know the drill.
And nothing worked.
My chronic pain took me to a place of absolute desperation.
You probably get it—because you've been there too.
But all those treatments were based on the wrong paradigm.
Eventually, finally, I learned how to apply mindbody medicine to chronic pain.
That changed everything.
Now, I'm experiencing true, deep symptom recovery.
After all the symptoms I’ve dealt with, feeling well feels like a miracle.
My recovery's going great.
This stuff works.
And, if you’re open, if you give yourself over to this process… let me be the one to tell you, I know that your recovery will go great too.
Your Identities Matter
We all bring our identities into therapy.
In order for us to have an authentic connection, it's important for us to acknowledge our intersectional identities. In my career, I've worked with clients across the wide spectrum of races, cultures, ethnicities, immigration statuses, sexualities, gender identities, relational styles, and religious beliefs.
I make space for and value conversations about you. The whole of you—including your unique background, identity, lived experience, perspective, and worldview.
All are welcome.
