Kristine Danback
Kristine Danback is a clinical psychologist, divorce mediator, expert witness, and entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience helping individuals and families heal from trauma, navigate divorce, and rebuild their lives. She is the founder and CEO of Random Thoughts Psychological Therapy PC, a New York-based practice specializing in narcissistic abuse recovery, betrayal trauma, attachment wounds, adolescent issues, and custody-related concerns. Known for her direct style, clinical depth, and use of humor to reduce shame, Kristine focuses on helping clients make lasting character changes rather than simply managing symptoms.
Kristine’s work is grounded in a psychoanalytic approach that emphasizes making the unconscious conscious. She works extensively with survivors of interpersonal trauma, including narcissistic abuse, coercive control, betrayal, and painful relationship dynamics. In addition to providing long-term psychotherapy, she leads group programs such as her Restore program, where clients work to reorient themselves after trauma and redesign their lives with intention and clarity. Kristine also serves as an expert witness and parenting coordinator in custody disputes, helping courts better understand the impact of personality disorders, trauma, and unhealthy family systems on children and families.
Kristine earned a master’s degree in developmental psychology from Columbia University and later completed advanced training in clinical psychology, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, child and family treatment, divorce mediation, and collaborative divorce. She has taught at both Central Connecticut State University and Western Connecticut State University, where she shared her expertise with students entering the field of psychology. Kristine is also affiliated with organizations such as the American Psychological Association and the Derner Institute. A single mother of three sons, she continues to grow her practice while mentoring clinicians and advocating for trauma-informed care in both therapy and the family court system.
• Mediation Certification
• Working With Trauma Through the Body: Using Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
• Columbia University- M.A.
• Pace University- B.A.
• The Derner Institute- Ph.D.
• Quinnipiac - Yale Center for Dispute Resolution
• American Psychological Association
• Postdoctorate Society for the Derner Institute
• White Institute
• One Mom's Battle
What do you attribute your success to?
What comes to mind, top of mind, is I'm not afraid to be invested in my patients. I think my professional achievement is being able to be professional, yet caring, invested in the patients and clients that I work with. And I think that's hard, because you have to be very boundaried, right? I'm very authentic. I have polished, rough edges - I'm from Jersey, don't tell anybody. And I think that's an achievement. My patients feel it. That's probably why they're with me for so many years. I'm invested in them, in their growth, their mental health. That sounds pop psychology, I hate that, but it's really hard because this investment is something I try to teach my staff to do, and they're very fearful because they don't want to get too married to the person and get too involved, because that affects their personal life. But I think being able to maintain that professional boundary while still genuinely caring and being invested - that's what makes the difference.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve ever received came from mentors like Dr. Bob Mendelson and Dr. Andrew Eig, who taught me that meaningful change comes from going deeper than surface-level symptoms and helping people understand the unconscious patterns driving their lives.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be in therapy. Be in psychoanalytic therapy. Clean out your own closet before you start doing this work with others. It gets dark, and you need to be able to handle it, and I think the way you handle it is to be in ongoing psychotherapy yourself, not just cleaning out your closet in the beginning of your career, but ongoing, so you have a place to really process. This profession requires more than technical knowledge - it requires self-awareness and emotional endurance.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges in my field is the rise of surface-level pop psychology, which can oversimplify complex emotional issues and overlook the need for deeper, long-term therapeutic work. At the same time, telehealth and online communities have created powerful opportunities to reach and support more women recovering from narcissistic abuse, betrayal, and other damaging interpersonal relationships.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I have a lot of integrity, my integrity coming from being a believer, from my spirituality. I don't push that on people, so I'm always apprehensive to mention it, but I think that's foundational for me. I also value utilizing my clinical depth and being very direct with my patients - I don't sugarcoat things, I tell them the truth. And I'm a builder. I feel like a personal value I have is to build things, and it's not just running and building my practice, but building a team, building a program, building a community of what I call my gypsy poppy warriors who have been in battle, in divorce family court. It's about building a community so women can rely on one another. I also value being able to receive validation from other professional women who are successful. I come from a family where if you were successful, it was belittled, and I'm ready to present myself to other women who are amazing, kick-ass women. I'm still working through my own progress to accept validation. I'll never forget I was in a group supervision with other fancy-pants clinical psychologists, and one of the women gave a case presentation that was just amazing. I told her how fantastic her work was, and you could see her face on the screen where she was taken aback that I praised her. I think there's a lot of women out there who deserve to get the kudos from other women. I give kudos, but I don't receive it well, so I'm trying to work on that part of me.