Iris Vargas-Pagan
Pronouns: she/her
Reaching out for therapy can feel like a big step, especially if you're the person everyone else relies on, or you're used to handling everything on your own, and handling it well.
Many of the women I work with are capable, thoughtful, and successful. From the outside, they have it together. Inside, they feel anxious, overextended, or unsure how everyone else's needs ended up first.
If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Therapy is a place where you don't have to have all the answers.
Approach
My work is psychodynamic and relational. My style is collaborative, conversational, and down to earth. I want therapy to feel like a real conversation where you can be yourself.
I'll support you, and I'll also challenge you when it helps you move toward the life you want. Together we'll look at the patterns that keep showing up, especially in relationships and self-esteem, and how earlier experiences shaped them. The aim is change that lasts, not just symptom management.
About me
I didn't plan to become a therapist. I became a social worker because I wanted to work with high school students. During my clinical internship I discovered psychotherapy and knew I'd found my life's work. Nearly 20 years later, I still love what I do, and I take it very seriously when someone trusts me with their story.
I grew up between Puerto Rico and New York. Spanish is my first language, and I provide therapy in both Spanish and English. Moving between two cultures, languages, and sets of expectations shapes how I listen.
Areas of focus
I work with adults, particularly women, including many high-achieving professionals who spend more time caring for others than for themselves. In fact, therapy is often the first space people make that is just for taking care of themselves.
Anxiety and chronic stress
Dating and relationship concerns
Life transitions
Cultural identity and bicultural experience
Ready to get started with Iris?
Education & Credentials
Bilingual-Spanish Licensed Clinical Social Worker (NY license #R078808, NJ license #44SC06045400, CT license #13289)
Master of Social Work, Fordham University
Bachelor of Social Work, Long Island University
Postgraduate psychoanalytic training through the National Institute for the Psychotherapies (NIP)
Advanced Level II Certification, Telebehavioral Health Institute
Advanced Level III Fertility Support Certification, American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM)
Member, ASRM Mental Health Professional Group
ADHD-Certified Clinical Services Provider
Clinical Operations Supervisor, The Keely Group
