About Me

Dr. Cecily Portillo is a licensed psychologist offering compassionate, evidence-based care to children, adolescents, and adults in New York, Connecticut, and Florida (via telehealth). She works with individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, and challenges with emotion regulation. Her treatment approach is flexible and personalized, drawing from evidence-based modalities including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Prolonged Exposure (PE).

Dr. Portillo is a DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™ with a specialization in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)—a gold-standard treatment for individuals struggling with intense emotions, suicidal thoughts, self-injury, and other high-risk behaviors. She offers adherent DBT and will begin providing comprehensive DBT in private practice starting March 2025.

Previously, Dr. Portillo served as an Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). There, she led a team of clinicians delivering DBT and ensured fidelity to DBT principles to maintain the highest standard of care. Her time at CUIMC reflects a strong foundation in academic medicine and team-based clinical leadership.

Dr. Portillo is also committed to equity and inclusion in the field of psychology. She serves as a mentor for Hofstra University’s Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology Equity, Social Justice, and Inclusion Initiative (ESJI) and volunteers on the DBT-LBC Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Dr. Portillo received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Hofstra University and completed her post-doctoral fellowship at The Center for Cognitive and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (CCDBT), where she provided individual CBT and DBT and co-led DBT skills groups for adolescents and adults. Her pre-doctoral internship was completed at Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC) where she worked with adolescents and adults with severe mental illness and complex trauma in inpatient and outpatient.

She has also trained at : Sagamore Children's Psychiatric Center, Hofstra University's Dialectical Behavior Therapy Clinic and Northwell Health's Behavioral Health College Partnership program (BHCP).

Training Experience

Workshops & Certifications

DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Foundational Training. Behavioral Tech Training - Adam Payne, Ph.D. & Katie Dixon-Gordon, Ph.D.

Intensive Training in the Dialectical Behavior Therapy Prolonged Exposure Protocol for PTSD (DBT-PE) - Melanie Harned, Ph.D., ABPP & Annie McCall, LMHC