Dileiny Paulino
Dileiny Paulino
LPC, CCTP-II (she/her)
Works With: Adolescents & Adults
Focus Areas: Complex Trauma, PTSD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders
Modalities: CBT, DBT, TF-CBT, Somatic Interventions
Hi, my name is Dileiny Paulino! I’m an MA, LPC, and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Level II (CCTP-II), and I’m so glad you’re here.
I most enjoy working with adolescents and adults navigating complex trauma—clients who are ready to understand why they respond the way they do, not just manage symptoms. I work well with people who have felt misunderstood in previous treatment, and I’m able to serve Spanish-speaking clients in their first language.
My professional background includes earning my Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Montclair State University and my Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature with a minor in Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University. I have roughly ten years of post-master’s clinical experience across a variety of levels of care, including residential, partial care, community outpatient, school-based, therapeutic foster care, and private practice settings. Throughout my career, I have worked with children, adolescents, and adults experiencing mood and anxiety disorders, complex trauma and PTSD, adjustment difficulties, neurodevelopmental conditions, and co-occurring substance use. I have practiced bilingually in English and Spanish throughout these settings.
My approach to therapy is person-centered and trauma-informed. I believe rapport starts before any intervention does, so I focus on being predictable and transparent, giving clients choice in the process, and allowing treatment to move at a pace that feels right for them. I prioritize validation before problem-solving because clients need to feel accurately understood before skills work will land. I set goals collaboratively so the work belongs to the client rather than to me.
My primary modalities are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), with particular emphasis on Wise Mind, distress tolerance, and emotion regulation. I am also trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and somatic interventions and continue to build competency in both, integrating them where they fit the client and stage of treatment. I believe in matching the modality to the client rather than the reverse—some clients need structure and homework, while others need space and pacing.
Outside of the office, I enjoy reading—mostly fiction—cooking and working my way through pasta recipes, and home improvement and DIY projects.
Some of my favorite words of inspiration are, “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid,” and “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” — Wayne Dyer
I’m proudly first-generation Dominican American and Afro-Latina, and I live with cerebral palsy. I share that because I think it matters for clients to know that the person across from them has also had to build a life around being told what they couldn’t do. It informs how I work—I’m not interested in helping people become more acceptable. I’m interested in helping them stop measuring themselves by a ruler that was never built for them.
