A New York state-licensed clinical psychologist with a central location in Manhattan, Heidi Kling, PhD, assists clients in overcoming issues such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. As a therapist, she converses closely with people about past and present experiences and helps them identify negative tendencies and patterns that persist into the present. Dr. Heidi Kling has a compassionate manner that helps cultivate trust and encourages clients to honestly assess aspects of their personalities that are problematic and stand in the way of fulfilling relationships.
Dr. Kling also delivers couples therapy, including sessions focused on divorce and family dynamics. The focus of these sessions is on the complex interpersonal issues between participants. Acting as a mediator, she helps shepherd dialogues in productive ways that identify the root causes of persistent misunderstanding and conflict. Her efforts as a therapist often lead to lasting improvements in mental, emotional, and behavioral health. Dr. Kling also assists with grief and loss recovery. She has particular experience helping clients overcome narcissistic abuse.
Heidi Kling, PhD, believes that therapy should offer a creative, positive, pressure-free process that extends as long as is necessary, rather than being a quick-fix approach to psychological wellness. Having earned her clinical psychology doctorate at Adelphi University with a focus on group psychotherapy, she has extensive experience in assessing and rating people’s personality traits. An avid traveler in her free time, she has taken in historic European cities ranging from Athens to Barcelona. She is also drawn to regions in the western United States, such as New Mexico.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
My day begins with coffee and a light breakfast, 15 minutes of meditation, and then either Pilates, a HIIT class, or a run around the park. This sets me up to feel energized, in good spirits, and ready for my workday. I work four days per week and see an average of eight patients per day. My work is interesting, engaging, and challenging, and I look forward to seeing my patients. I leave the end of the day for notes or sometimes catch up with paperwork on my day off or on weekends.
How do you bring ideas to life?
When I am listening to my patients, I let my mind run free and observe what comes up, what associations come to mind that would be relevant to what they are sharing, and what might lead to a deeper understanding and contribute to the process of psychological change. It’s akin to what Freud called “evenly hovering attention.” It might be a scene in a movie, a well-known television series, a book, a character out of Greek mythology, or other cultural reference. This also helps to bring their experience into the context of generalized human nature and experience and help them see that they are not alone in it.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Studies of neuroplasticity that show that psychological change is possible later in life, whether that be through meditation, psychotherapy, or even guided, clinical use of certain psychedelics.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
I think I would have to say my regular exercise routine. It’s one thing I almost never sacrifice, no matter how busy or stressed I get. It organizes my day, keeps me alert, focused, and feeling good about myself.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Hard work, perseverance, and your natural compassion for others will carry you far. You don’t need to feel so much worry and fear over whether or not you will be successful or happy.
Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you on?
I believe that clarity isn’t always the most important thing to have; sometimes a little self-doubt can be a good thing. We live in a culture that rewards quick judgment, certainty, and the comfort of knowing who’s right and who’s wrong. It’s more reassuring to feel righteous than to sit with ambivalence — especially when we’ve been hurt. But in my experience, real change happens when we’re willing to tolerate that discomfort: to hold both the pain we’ve felt and the impact we’ve had, to look at the full picture rather than a simplified story. This isn’t about blame or erasing harm — it’s about creating the conditions for honesty, accountability, and something genuinely new to take shape. That kind of complexity may not be comfortable, but it’s where transformation begins.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Read before bed. It helps me stay connected to literature and ideas and also helps me get sleepy.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
I go for a run or call my sister, one of the people in my life who knows me best.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
I started out by having a sliding scale, willing to fill my practice with lower-fee people, assuming I’d be able to help them improve in their lives and that they’d eventually improve their incomes. Also, this provided me with a referral base.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
Early in my career, I was so focused on clinical attunement and helping people feel understood that I sometimes overextended myself — returning messages too quickly, accommodating too much, and taking on more responsibility for others’ growth than was actually mine to carry. Over time, I came to see that maintaining firm but compassionate boundaries isn’t just protective — it’s part of the therapeutic work. It allows for greater clarity, a more sustainable practice, and ultimately better outcomes. The failure wasn’t dramatic, but it was formative, and it taught me to value limits as much as empathy.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
meetings, but to block off time for things that don’t look “productive” but actually are. I’ve learned that if I don’t schedule space for thinking, decompressing, or writing, it just won’t happen. So, I treat that time like any other appointment. It helps me pace myself, keep better boundaries, and stay more present with the people I work with. It may be basic, but it plays a key role in helping me manage my time, sustain my focus, and stay available — both clinically and personally.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
One book that’s stayed with me is Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman. He was a Soviet Jewish writer who witnessed both the Holocaust and the Stalinist purges, and the novel explores the brutal contradictions of the 20th century — fascism and communism, private life and state power, cruelty and love — all through the lens of ordinary people trying to survive history. What I found so powerful was his ability to narrate complexity without collapsing into despair or sentimentality. The book doesn’t offer easy answers, but it reflects a deep belief in human dignity, even in the face of dehumanizing systems. It’s brilliant, devastating, and deeply moving.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
I recently finished Fargo and found it both psychologically compelling and socially sophisticated. It explores culture, race, class, and gender in American society with nuance while also portraying characters whose choices reflect deeper emotional and relational conflicts. And the women are written with rare depth — quietly strong, morally grounded, and emotionally complex.
Key learnings
- Feeling conflicted is not a weakness, but a reflection of complexity — and often a starting point for real change.
- In a culture that prizes quick judgments and moral clarity, making space for ambiguity requires emotional maturity and curiosity.
- Sustainable therapeutic work depends on boundaries — not as a retreat from the work, but as a structure that enables presence, availability, and depth.
- Tools as simple as a calendar can help protect time for rest and reflection — both are essential to long-term emotional availability.
- Reading fiction and clinical theory offers a way to inhabit other minds without the pressure to intervene — a reminder of the original draw toward human complexity and story.