Every Day is An Opportunity
This is not grief therapy. This is your empowerment for healing, connection, joy, and meaning-making in life lived on your terms.

River-Aaerin Niahll, LMFT, NYCPS, NCPS

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

IAP Certified Death Doula

A terminal illness diagnosis can be just as much about living as it is about dying. I provide warm, judgment free presence, conflict resolution, and problem solving that is tailored specifically to you, and free from denial, despair, toxic positivity, or agendas from family members or organizations.

{ I can help with }

Healing or ending Relationships / trauma / hard conversations / rituals / spiritual growth
fun and Creativity / legacy planning / forgiveness / Fears / meaning / identity and authentic expression

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Specializing in Supporting you Through Those hard But Essential Conversations with Others

{ About me }

My Offerings Versus hospice therapy

First off, you do not need to choose between my support and that offered by Hospice and other programs- use both! Hospice and many other organizations offer immensely valuable services at no or little cost. There is no conflict to using both, and you can use my services as an as-needed add-on, no commitment.

Also, you do not need a diagnosis of terminal illness or be at any particular stage of life/age to book my services- any day is a great day to begin living authentically in full embrace of the reality of living and dying.

So, why book my services when there are already free options available to you?

Limitations of Organizational Support Services:

* The Priorities of the Service's Funders and Insurance Companies Dictate your care and the conversations that can be had. Their idea of quality care is one-size fits all, not what you feel you need, and will direct what they ask you and where the conversations will focus.

*Generalized Care by Staff and Volunteers with Generalized Training. These organizations serve the general public, not the individual, and get funding by proving they are a high-impact (valuable) service by making a difference through large-numbers served impact. They thus have training that focuses on the most common concerns of most people they serve.

* High case loads and organizational demands may lead to staff and volunteers feeling rushed, micromanaged, burnt out, and giving disconnected and impersonal care.

*Reactionary model of care focused on treating grief, not proactively making this time a meaningful way to find yourself and express yourself, enjoy yourself, heal and create.

Benefits of My Services:

*Individualized therapy for you, determined by you. I use my training and experience to make my support deep and effective for you, not to tell you what you need. Only you have a right to say how you should think, feel, live and die, and I am here to make sure that that right is upheld as you discover your needs, share those with others, and take action. Your care plan is YOURS. There is no template limiting your care.

*Specialized Training and Experience: My background is in Marriage and Family Therapy, helping adults resolve conflicts and find new closeness and appreciation of each other. I am here all the way with specialized skills for your hard and meaningful conversations of breaking the news, making arrangements, reconnecting or disconnecting from people, and sharing your heart and your needs.

*More Specialized Training and Experience: My background focused on people with extreme trauma, Plurality, alternative relationships (ethical non-monogamy, kink) and queer and neurodiverse identifications. I have studied many spiritual and philosophical paths and will respect you whether you are agnostic or atheist, Buddhist or Benedictine, Thelemic or Jewish. I will NEVER push any belief system on you or try to change yours and will embrace any weirdness you can throw at me with open-minded respect. This is your time to be you, to embrace an identity that is authentic and fulfilling.

*Proactive empowerment- I will be at your side, warm, calm, present, patient, nonjudgmental- as you make this time whatever you need it to be- fun, creative, healing, focused on healing, forgiving, and connecting, or even telling people to F off. My work is about giving you this time to really LIVE, not passively sit and process grief.

COST

I offer free 15 minute phone consultations by appointment. Online sessions are $135 per 55-minute appointment, covering all participants included in the session.

A $35 fee applies to cancellations made without 24 hours' notice.
No hidden costs.
Sliding scale rates may be available based on current openings—please reach out to discuss.
I operate outside of insurance networks to ensure your care is never restricted by provider mandates focused on treating you for mental illness. Private pay only.

All participants must be at least 18 years old, New York State residents, have completed all intake paperwork and identification submission, and be physically located in New York State during session.

I am UNABLE to provide therapy for anyone involved in disability cases or other legal matters where therapy records/diagnoses will be needed for your case.

Dreaming

Who have you been in relationship to yourself? Who have you been in relationships with others? Who do you want to be going forward?

What do you want to heal? Forgive? Be forgiven for? Ask? Give? Create? Walk away from? Get closure over? Learn? See? Do?

Who do you need to tell? What do you need to tell?

Maybe you want to express that there will be no religious conversations or prayer, that your son will need to complete rehab and sobriety testing to receive your estate, tell your cousin that yes, you are gay with three partners and he will respect them all at all times, work the Qlippoth, or have both your Master and your mother at your bedside as you pass. This is what I am here for- to make this possible for you.

Are you called to create prayers, rituals, or celebrations? Whether it is to St. Christopher or Kali, I'm here for you. We'll research and write.

Are there things that happened or were done to you that need to acknowledged and processed and dealt with? Things you did? Trauma healing is a focus of my work.

I will help you explore, process, grieve, accept, and dream.

I use Narrative Therapy, Cognitive Processing therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Acceptance And Commitment Therapy, and more to empower you.

Donnie Lambert

Planning

Now is your time to speak your truth.

I can help you plan who you want to reach out to as well as what to say and exactly how to say it. We will discuss each person individually, looking at how they'll likely take your news or message and how to work with that to make things helpful and healing rather than harmful.

There is no need to feel alone.

Whether you want to do a session with your parents, your ex husband, or your priest, have me be present online while you make a phone call to your high school crush that you need to see again, or just have me present to support you after these intense conversations, that is why I am here.

I excel at building connection and understanding, empathy in strained relationships, and will help you and the other parties say what really needs to be said rather than hinting at it or repeating unhelpful conversation patterns. I will be at your side as you face an abuser or apologize to an ex. Whatever needs to be said will be said.

I do not make anyone into a "bad guy" and will not allow you to abuse others or them to abuse you. I will hear your truth and their truth and yet not take sides, and will meet with you and the other parties both together and individually so that I can hear all sides of the story, make feel feel seen and respected, and assist in helping everyone express themselves in a way that is honest, accurate, and also helpful instead of hurtful.

Doing

{ Contact }

Book a free Consultation

Please Note: I am unable to respond to emergencies. If you or a loved one is in crisis, please call 988, 911, or proceed to your nearest emergency room. Thank you!

Tel: 716-235-3100

Fax: 716-236-8860
Email: EveryDayAnOpportunity@proton.me