Dori Gatter, PsyD, LPCDr. Dori Gatter, PsyD, LPC
Business Relationship Expert & Founders Coaching Specialist

We all face personal and relationship challenges, which can cause us to build up defenses and avoid the steps we need to take to begin the healing process. Whether you are looking for personal growth or a way to heal your emotional wounds, the right therapist can help you identify, explore and understand your struggles on a deeper level. I see counseling as an opportunity for you to recognize and address the emotional, physical and spiritual roots behind the challenges you are facing.

In my practice and life, I believe in and live a holistic approach to healing. I have personally experienced the benefits of therapy that addresses mind, body and spirit in my own relationships and personal life. I recognize and work on the causes behind my struggles and issues, developing solutions, understanding and healing the causes of my uncertainties and pain rather than focusing on obstacles. As a therapist, I’ve also witnessed the profound impact a holistic approach can have on individuals, for couples and within family systems as a whole. My aim is to help you see that there is nothing wrong with you; you makes sense given where you come from and the experiences you have had in your life. Your situation and the challenges you face can be understood and healed.

In our sessions, we will use a variety of approaches to understand and treat the root causes, not just the symptoms, of your issues. We can address why you may feel mentally, emotionally, physically, energetically or spiritually out of alignment. Physical symptoms, such as illness and pain, are often emotionally based, and while a singular approach may treat symptoms, the root cause continues to fester. A combination of therapy techniques designed to address you as a whole person allows you to understand your situation in an emotional, physical and spiritual context. I believe that this deeper exploration and understanding allows for meaningful and sustainable healing and growth.

I enjoy working with individuals and couples, and I find working with couples to be a passion of mine. For more than 20 years, I’ve been helping individuals and couples get to the core of their issues, improve communication, increase levels of connection and develop more depth and passion in their relationships. I firmly believe that we subconsciously choose partners who trigger and challenge us in profound ways in order to heal old wounds. Through exploring old wounds and how deep-seated emotions play out in romantic relationships, you’re better able to understand yourself and your partner as you enhance intimacy, get to the heart of the conflicts and find new paths toward healing and harmony.

We all face challenges in our relationships and personal lives, which is why it is important to take time for self care and things you are passionate about. I became a therapist because I like helping people, whether it is through my work with clients, other therapists or in running training programs at the Hartford Family Institute.

The right therapist and an approach that addresses your total self – emotional, spiritual and physical – can help you experience a fulfilling relationship with yourself and others and enjoy a more satisfying life. If you are ready to begin your journey toward growth or healing, I invite you to call (860) 258 – 4113 to discuss how I can help.

    Dr. Dori Gatter earned her Psy.D. from The Graduate Theological Foundation. She earned her M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Antioch University in New Hampshire and her BA in Psychology from Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a graduate of the Hartford Family Institute’s Body-Centered Gestalt Professional Training Program. She has additional training in Imago Relationship Therapy and has co-authored two books, including a children’s book that teaches children how to relate to their emotions. Dori runs workshops and speaks about transformation and relationships. She has been interviewed on NBC Channel 30 News.

    What People Are Saying

    Dori worked with me and my business partner of 31 years to help us sort out dissolving the business, who was also a friend of 39 years. My partner wanted to leave the business, and we were fighting about how to split, while still maintaining our friendship. By the time we met with Dori, we were on the verge of hiring attorneys to negotiate terms, our business was in danger of self-destructing because morale was so low, and our friendship was in jeopardy. After two months of working with Dori, we didn’t need to go through litigation, and saved ourselves about $50,000. Dori helped us work out a way to break up the business partnership that worked for everyone. Morale increased, sales went back up and our friendship was in great shape! Incredibly, Dori helped save us $300,000 in sales and attorney’s fees and saved a 39-year friendship.

    Dr. David Hovey, PsyD, Greater Hartford Counseling Center

    I had one major block for, well, most of my adult life. Dori helped me explore and address it. She identified and explained it to me in a way no one else ever has. The simple exercise she guided me through helped me finally overcome something that literally has consumed my thoughts and actions in negative ways for as long as I can remember. Now my business and life have taken off in new, exciting ways I couldn’t have imagined. She knows her stuff, and she knows how to apply it to the real-world situations that hold business executives like me back.”

    Bob Graham CEO, Serious Soft Skills LLC Baltimore, MD

    Dr. Dori Gatter is wonderful! She helped me and my cofounder figure out the vast majority of root issues we’ve had. We started out in a rough patch, and now we have a functional relationship again. She has been the catalyst for generating not just a lot of financial value to us, but also personal and emotional value. I would strongly recommend her to any cofounders or couples that need to understand each other more.

    J. Chang, Co-Founder

    Dr. Dori is a seasoned pro. I got the sense she has seen it all. Through our work together I learned there’s a big difference between a coach or therapist who has been working with people for 20+ years and someone new to the practice. When we reached out to her, we were at a critical point of conflict with our founding team. We needed someone who could drop in quickly, read our situation correctly and provide tools we could put into effect immediately. I was impressed with how effective Dori’s coaching was, given the short amount of time she had with us. I Highly recommend her!

    JP, Co-Founder

    We started working with Dr. Dori Gatter because of the stress of our dual roles as co-founder and as couple. Although it has certain benefits to start a company with your partner, the distinct challenges are going beyond normal co-founder issues. Being a couple and starting your own company means that you spend almost 24h together and that you never really leave work. The major problem with this, we, as a couple faced is that we stopped spending personal time together and just worked. Also, the stress increased as we entered into the next phase of our startup. As a result, our relationship deteriorated and we were not ideal co-founders and business partners any longer. We were on the brink of ending the private relationship and continue just as co-founders and not sure how that would have worked out for the life of the company. This was when we started to work with Dori. We both enjoy working with her because of her talent to bring our unique personalities and work-related roles together without any of us having “to give in”. My co-founder and are very different types of people and deal with stress in opposite and sometimes opposing ways. With Dori’s help, we learned to understand each other but more importantly we learned to understand ourselves. Dori taught us how to listen to our needs and how to express them. Based on really effective exercises Dori gave us, communication at work and at home vastly improved. The stress from running a startup is still present but we can deal with this much better now and as a team. What I value the most in the work with Dori is that she is able to relate to me on an emotional level, the way I understand best, and immediately switch to the more intellectual way to address my partner, which works for him best. She then creates a common language for the two of us where we can talk, listen and be understood. I am sure that without working with Dori our relationship and our business wouldn’t exist in this way.

    Barbara M., Co-Founder