Where grace meets growth
Meet Ray Corbo, LMFT.
I'm Ray Corbo, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist working online with men and couples across New Jersey and New York. I've been doing this work for over fourteen years, and I still find it the most interesting thing I could be doing.
My story
People are not problems to be solved.
My path into this work started with a plain curiosity about people: how we are formed, where we get stuck, and what it really takes for something to change. I studied Pastoral Counseling at the University of Valley Forge, then completed a master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at the Alliance Graduate School of Counseling in Nyack, where I received the Clinical Skills Award. Those two threads, the clinical and the pastoral, still run through how I work.
Before private practice I spent twelve years at Redeemer Counseling Services in New York, most of that as a clinical supervisor: seeing clients, and training and supervising other therapists. Earlier on I worked with children and families in their own homes, which taught me early that change happens in the middle of real life, not in a tidy hour set apart from it.
I opened Corbo Counseling because I wanted to work the other way around: fewer clients, longer relationships, deeper work. Most people who find me are functioning well on paper and stuck somewhere underneath. They are not looking for a diagnosis or a lecture. They want a place where they can say the true thing out loud and have someone stay in the room with them while they do.
My wife Heather and I have four young children. We are part of a church in Rockaway, New Jersey. When I am not working you will find me watching or playing sports, playing the saxophone badly enough to keep it fun, arguing about films, and cooking for people who did not ask.
Growth begins when we learn to approach ourselves with curiosity and grace.
Ray Corbo, LMFT
How I work
Internal Family Systems, held loosely.
Much of my work is informed by Internal Family Systems, usually shortened to IFS. In plain terms: we all carry different parts of ourselves, some of them protective, some of them carrying old pain, and some of them running patterns we never consciously chose.
Curiosity instead of judgment
The habits you like least about yourself usually started out as a solution to something. If we can get curious about where a pattern came from, it stops being a character flaw and becomes something you can work with.
That sounds gentle, and it is. It is also the fastest route I know to change that lasts beyond the weeks you are motivated.
Attachment and family systems
I also work from an attachment and family systems perspective. Who you learned to be close to, and what happened when you were not, shapes how you show up in relationships now, including the ones you are proudest of.
For couples I am a certified PREPARE/ENRICH facilitator, which gives us a structured place to start when you would rather not begin by relitigating last Tuesday.
Credentials
The paperwork, in full.
Everything below can be checked against the public license registries in New Jersey and New York, which is the point of listing it.
- License
- LMFT, State of New Jersey, license 37FI00250900, active and expiring June 30, 2028.
- License
- LMFT, State of New York, license 001391, registered through December 31, 2028.
- Graduate
- M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy, Alliance Graduate School of Counseling, Nyack, New York, 2012.
- Honor
- Recipient of the Clinical Skills Award at the Alliance Graduate School of Counseling.
- Undergraduate
- B.A. in Pastoral Counseling, University of Valley Forge.
- Experience
- 14+ years in practice. Twelve of them at Redeemer Counseling Services in New York, most of that as Counselor and Clinical Supervisor, training and supervising other therapists. Earlier work with children and families in their own homes.
- Approach
- Internal Family Systems (IFS)-informed, with attachment-based and family systems influences.
- Couples
- Certified PREPARE/ENRICH facilitator for premarital and couples work.
- Member
- American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).
- Practice
- 100% online by secure video for clients located in New Jersey or New York. Weekday daytime and evening sessions, 50 minutes. No weekend sessions.
- Fees
- $275 per 50-minute session, individuals and couples alike. Out-of-network, with superbills on request. Full fee details
Faith
Faith, if you want it in the room.
I am a Christian, and my faith shapes how I understand people, relationships, grace and growth. It is also not a requirement for working with me.
If faith is important to you, I am comfortable making it part of our work. That does not mean pretending it is always easy, or that the answers are obvious. There is room here for questions, doubt, frustration and anger at God, which is often where the real conversation starts.
If faith is not part of your life, that is genuinely fine. I will not raise it, sell it, or read it into your situation. I work with people of different beliefs and no belief at all, and the therapy looks the same from the outside.
Getting started
What a first session is like.
Not knowing what to expect is one of the real reasons people put off calling. So here is the actual shape of it, with nothing left out.
Before we meet
You send the form on the contact page, or email me directly. I reply and we find a time for the free 30-minute consultation. Nothing is charged, and there is no obligation to keep going afterwards.
Once you decide to start, I set you up in a secure, HIPAA-compliant SimplePractice video portal and send you the link. You do not need to install anything or remember a password, and you do not have to fill in a questionnaire before we have even spoken.
The first fifty minutes
We start with why you are here, in whatever words you have. Most people arrive mid sentence. You do not need a summary, a timeline, or a diagnosis you looked up first.
Then I ask questions, partly to understand the situation and partly to see how you talk about it. Where the story speeds up, where it goes flat, which parts you have already decided are uninteresting. That is usually where the work is.
Near the end I'll say what I think is going on and what I would suggest working on, and we agree how often to meet. Weekly is common to start. You can also ask me anything at this point, including how much of this I have done before.
- 50 minutes, online, with a private link you can use from anywhere in NJ or NY.
- Nothing to prepare and nothing to hand in. If you would rather start with silence, we can start there.
- Weekday daytime and evening appointments. No weekend sessions.
- You can stop after one session. Deciding this is not for you is a legitimate outcome, not a failure.
Honestly
Who I am not the right fit for.
A website that promises to help everyone helps no one. Here is where I would send you somewhere better, and I will say so plainly if it is your situation.
- Anyone in crisis, or needing a clinic-level team. This is outpatient therapy. If you need immediate help, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or call 911.
- Severe and persistent mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder where the main need is medication management or a coordinated care team. I am glad to help you find that team.
- Teenagers as a primary focus. I work with adults, and with couples. For an adolescent who needs their own therapist, I will point you to colleagues who specialize in that.
- Anyone I already know personally, and close friends or family of people I am already seeing. This is an ethical line rather than a preference, and it protects the work you are paying for.
If none of that is you, the work itself is described on the men's therapy, couples therapy and premarital counseling pages, and the fees page covers cost, insurance and what a session includes.
The fastest way to find out if this fits.
A free 30-minute call. You will hear how I talk, ask whatever you like, and then decide. If it is not a match, I will help you find someone who is.