What Are We Really Fighting About?

Lisa Brateman, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, relationship specialist, public speaker, and media commentator who has offered individual, couples, group therapy, and coaching in New York City for over twenty years. In addition to her private practice, Lisa is the psychotherapy consultant at the office of New York Sinus and Sleep Medicine. As a member of their Dream Team, which offers a multidisciplinary approach to sleep disorders, she works with clients to reduce anxiety and other psychological barriers to sleep. She has also volunteered at Identity House, providing weekly support groups and individual crisis counseling, and has offered therapy groups on women’s issues at the NYC Community Center. For the developmentally disabled community at the New York State Commission on Quality Care, she has participated in hearings and reviewed declarations for informed consent for major medical treatment. At The ARC of Rockland in Congers, New York, she was the Coordinator of Treatment Services for 145 developmentally disabled clients in day treatment/day habilitation programs as well as trainer/supervisor for clinicians in client care; she also designed behavior plans to help clients develop appropriate coping, socialization, and communication skills. She has been an adjunct professor in social work and sociology at Saint Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, New York, teaching a course entitled “Social Work in Today's World." Lisa is a member of the Private Practitioners Group, and The Medical Reserve Corps in New York City, as well as a contributing member of SheSource at the Women’s Media Center, a progressive, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to raise the visibility, viability, and decision-making power of women and girls in media. She is also a regular presence on BBC radio as a guest expert on relationships and sleep issues. The mother of two sons, she lives with her partner in Manhattan.