The Possibility Practice helps you create your life.

Come to The Possibility Practice for therapy, coaching, supervision, conversation and collaboration in New York City.

It was founded by Karen Steinberg, a progressive thinker who brings intelligence, intimacy and creativity to her work.

Karen believes that in order to change one’s life (and the world) we have to work with others to create the change, to create a new paradigm for relating. She started The Possibility Practice on this premise and has helped thousands of people to transform their lives.Want to participate?

Designing Possibility, Designing Environments, Designing for Life

Do you ever look at something - a gadget, a house, a room, a play or a musical performance - with a sense of awe, of amazement at the creativity and innovation that it took to produce it? I do. All the time. I am blown away at the things that we humans create, and often experience a kind of ...
read more

How to Get Things Done When You Feel Powerless: Karen Steinberg Interviewed by Heather Stagl

On March 19, I was a guest on "The Change Agent's Dilemma: How to influence change without authority," a blog-talk radio show hosted by Heather Stagl of Enclaria LLC. The show explores the different ways to influence organizational change, from the point of view of someone who is not calling the ...
read more

CortNY Pilates+ comes to The Possibility Practice

If you have done exercise of any kind, you know that when it comes to physical development, it is a daunting task. You start out at whatever level you are, and, by engaging in the practice of whatever it is - swimming, golf, running, weight lifting, dance - you develop your capacity to do it. ...
read more

I’ve learned to take a serious look at how I see myself and how my colleagues respond to me as an African American woman. This has allowed me an opportunity to learn more about people- who they are, how I relate to them and they to me. I now have a better understanding of my effect on others, and this has been essential to my growth as a leader in my organization. — Monica, Director of PR, International Beauty Company
Working with Karen taught me how to build much better relationships, whether in my work, or in my personal life. My listening skills have improved greatly. And she has helped me to understand what it means to be truly professional at work. Our work together has changed my life. — J, Technology Specialist
Working with Karen, I’ve learned to listen and connect more with people. I have very loving relationships and I feel settled and emotionally stable. Its a good feeling. — Omar, Professor, African American and Diaspora Studies
Working with Karen has greatly enhanced my personal and professional life. My personal life would not exist in its current beautiful and rich form without her help. I have more opportunities in my professional life because I have learned how to cater to working relationships. Karen challenges you to be in this world. — Michael, Managing Director, Investment Bank
Pre-renovation, my partner and I were jockeying for control. Karen put the whole thing into perspective and transformed us into a unified team. — Debra, Philanthropist
Karen’s approach is new and effective. Extraodinarily compassionate, she recognizes that our professional and personal lives are not separate, and that our success depends on great performances. — Dan, VP, Information Technology, International Bank
The work that I have done with Karen has enabled me to actively grow, build, create and have a life that I love living. — Zoie, Video Editor / Musician
I think my work with Karen has helped expand my notion of what’s possible to create with patients. — Nancy, Clinical Social Worker
Karen’s coaching helped me become more empathetic and actually change my way of managing. Now I see myself more as a coach to the people I supervise. — Gerrie, IT Implementation Project Manager, Hospital
Karen helped me to see the bigger picture of my job setting, to be more confident about offering what I have to give clients and colleagues, and be more effective at building trusted business relationships. — Charles, Director, Financial Services Firm
I came to Karen seeking help with growing in areas that as a gay man, I am underdeveloped: relationships with a significant other, abandonment, and anger. I’ve realized that many of my old ideas and life patterns don’t have to be set in stone. I have started to separate myself from some of my unhealthy patterns and relationships. I feel more independent and have more clarity about my patterns and what I want. — Rodney, Actor, Arts Educator
I started working with Karen because I wanted help with career moves and on-the-job interpersonal skills. Her insights are very clear and she has a way of getting through to what is really going on. She helped me to see how my attitudes and means of communication were holding me back. I am now better at listening and relating to what is going on, in and out of work. — Bonnie, Development Director
I learned to appreciate that I was not ‘invisible’ and that my actions had real impact on others. I gained more awareness of and sensitivity to others. — Nina, Psychiatrist
I have gained more insight, particularly in group therapy, on how to navigate difficult conversations, particularly those that are emotional for me, such as connectedness, vulnerability and intimacy. — Alicia, Pastor
I more actively live my life. — Ken, Environmental Health Consultant
I am dealing with the recent knowledge of my husband’s bisexuality, and what that means to our marriage. With Karen and my group, I am creating a caring and attentive environment, where I can open up and discover what is really at hand to work through. I am developing a self-confidence I haven’t had in a long time. — Lisa, Interior Designer/Project Manager
Karen helps us understand who we are in the world. From this more grounded, realistic understanding of how the world sees me, I can create my life. — Sheryl, Group Insurance Specialist
Group therapy at The Possibility Practice taught me how to maneuver in the world and be more functional with my distrust for white men. — Dana, Personal Trainer
It works! — Margaret, Second Career Green MBA Student
Karen is brilliant and kind, but relentless. Her candid direction and feedback to the coaching group push us to see and face areas in our performance that need further development. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the table. She has good insight into the issues of racism, homophobia and sexism, and how it plays out, in us, and in the workplace. — Janyce, Pastor, Director of Non-Profit
I got help in group therapy, through very supportive discussion and deep insight into my behavior and emotions. It enabled me to change the routine of my emotional state. — Judy, Photographer
Karen is affirming of people’s power, a strong proponent of being giving and working hard, and very loving. She is willing to go through very intense emotions, psychopathology, insanity, demons, loss and humiliation together with power, growth, development, joy, acceptance and love. — Mary, Artist
Group provides a forum and community through which I’ve begun to feel accountable for my actions and behavior. Seeing people at different stages of growth helps me to deconstruct the myth that I can be a perfect person. — s.o., Senior Research Assistant, HIV/STD Intervention Study
I realized (and am continuing to realize) unrealistic expectations I had of myself that have kept me from accepting reality, and even my own humanity, as it is. I have found and am finding comfort and security in my vulnerability and also recognizing that it's natural to be hurt or scared or sad sometimes, and becoming okay with that. — Anne, Film Industry
Working in group I found there are people interested in being loving and decent that are not fueled by fear and guilt and God. I didn’t know that I could find such an ethic in this world. — Kimberly, Copywriter
The coaching was invaluable. I had not been effectively able to talk about myself before. I have developed a better understanding of how to tap into my interests and to express myself. — David, Chemist
Karen delivers big, perspective-shifting bits of philosophy that blow my mind. — Jens, Audio Equipment Designer
I am in a new relationship and working hard to communicate in ways I haven't before. I find my connections with other family and friends are also different than they were before therapy with Karen. — Adam, College Professor
Couples therapy has strengthened my relationship. We are more intimate, respectful and giving to each other. — Johanna, Freelance Writer
Karen’s approach to executive coaching combines short-term tactical help with day-to-day management issues and a long-term strategic approach to career success. I have come to realize not only the depth and breadth of my needs, but just as importantly, the scope of my capacity to succeed. — Brett, Partner, Financial Services Firm
Not to be dramatic, but this work has changed my life. I am getting clearer about what I want and stronger in working to achieve it. Karen has helped me to translate the ‘big issues’ into real actions in everyday life. — Cassie, International Relations
My work with Karen continues to open doors of communication and relationship-building that had been shut for a variety of unintentional reasons. — Jim, International Banking
Therapy at The Possibility Practice was a new beginning, a light and a strong force to wake up to what is really going on with me. It gave me an honest look inside myself with a therapist that I can trust and connect with. She calls me out on my BS, which is not always easy for people to do. — Stacey, Marketing Consultant
Working in couples therapy with Karen challenged my preconceived ideas about what relationships are supposed to be. I stopped comparing us to other couples and began creating the relationship we wanted to have. It brought us so close that we decided to have a baby together. — Cindy, Marriage and Family Therapist
I came to supervision to learn about doing and thinking about therapy. Karen helped me a lot – by modeling rigor and seriousness, conceptually and in activity. Her strong advocacy for 'going into the cave', pursuing what seem like the emotionally charged subjects, increased my skill as a therapist (and person) a lot. — Chris, Psychotherapist
Working with Karen is not all about work – it is about people and community. — Carmen, College Administrator
Since The Possibility Practice, I've become a better person. I'm learning to be less judgmental of myself and of others. I'm talking to people more, which naturally leads to finding similarities. — Rebecca, Designer, Wife, Mother
I stopped trying to be a perfect parent in reaction to how I was raised and became a great single mom to my kids. — Rebekah, Writer and Environmental Non-profit Director
Group provides a forum and community through which I’ve begun to feel accountable for my actions and behavior. Seeing people at different stages of growth helps me to deconstruct the myth that I can be a perfect person. — s.o., Senior Research Assistant, HIV/STD Intervention Study
Group is, therapeutically, the single most helpful thing I've ever done. In a safe environment I've been able to pry myself loose of my closely guarded, preconceived notions. It has allowed me to see myself more clearly by allowing other people to teach me how my actions affect them. — Chris, Holistic Health Care Provider
Karen and my group have shown me that things I dismissed as not possible in my life are within reach, and that sitting with my feelings will help me be guided by them. This has allowed me to go about my life in a more fulfilled way. — Simon, Public Policy Consultant
Once you become a developer, you never have to stop! What a gift. — Rebekah, Writer and Environmental Non-profit Director
I have learned to be more present in the moment, accept and take life as it comes and not to worry too much. I am more curious about what every situation can teach me. — Mirja Economist
Karen is a virtuoso therapist, a passionate humanist/artist/philosopher who creates her brand of therapy as a collaborative effort. — Mary, Database Designer
When I first came to Karen, I was treading water, and my arms were getting tired. I’m swimming now, in useful directions. Working with Karen and my group changed my life, exponentially, for the better. — Dan, PhD Candidate, Creative Writing
I got help. I have not drunk in over 15 months. My life started to change after I began to open up. I had never done that before. — Kate, Actor
In a short period of time, Karen helped me appreciate the benefits of being a better listener, which allows me to 'stay in the moment' with others. This has helped me to feel and be closer to people in all of my relationships. — Keith, Non-profit Director
Karen is very intelligent and articulate. She is unlike any therapist I have ever worked with. I have probably been to 5 different therapists in the last twenty-five years. Karen uses a great combination of compassion and tough love in her practice which has enabled me to feel a greater sense of empowerment. — Betsy, Newspaper Production Assistant
Karen is a keen observer of human nature with an ability to empathize without being pulled into others' subjectivity. She excels in giving you suggestions useful to deal with immediate, here-and-now issues, all the while making you aware of the underlying cause that needs to be addressed for a fundamental resolution and growth. — Erika, Attorney
I tended to be either too lenient, or too harsh with my staff. Karen and the coaching group helped me to discover that I look to help, or save my employees, rather than help them to develop the tools they need to be successful in and outside of their job with me. I am now a better manager - I am helping my staff and my agency to grow. — Jerome, Executive Director, Drop-in Center
The benefits of having Karen as a supervisor translated to other areas of my life – I grew personally and professionally. Karen taught me to trust myself but also to challenge myself by trusting and challenging me. — Beth, Employee Assistance Clinician
Karen is empathic, curious, serious, playful, grounded, open, constructively suspicious, loving, straightforward, and powerfully giving. — Sarah, Clinical Psychologist