Michael A. Scarpa, LMFT, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over 14 years of experience in private practice and has served as Director of Long Island Anxiety Care since 2018. In this leadership role, he oversees clinical services while maintaining an active caseload, with a primary focus on the assessment and treatment of anxiety and anxiety-related  disorders. His clinical work is grounded in evidence-based practice and informed by extensive experience across hospital, community, forensic, and private practice settings.

Mr. Scarpa received formal training in divorce mediation through the Center for Mediation and Training in Manhattan, New York. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psycho-Biology from SUNY Binghamton and a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Hofstra University. Early in his career, he trained at Hofstra University’s Community Health Clinic and Nassau University Medical Center’s Adult Psychiatric Unit, where he provided individual and group therapy to adults presenting with a wide range of psychiatric and relational concerns. During this time, he facilitated Divorce Support, Parenting Skills, and Family Issues groups and developed a Relationship Skill Building Group aimed at improving communication and emotional regulation.

Mr. Scarpa has also worked within the criminal court system as part of Queens County’s Alternatives to Street Crime Program. In this capacity, he provided therapeutic intervention for at-risk adolescents and first-time offenders, focusing on communication skills, anger management, impulse control, and social development. This experience further strengthened his ability to work with high-stress environments, complex family systems, and individuals experiencing significant emotional and behavioral dysregulation.

Currently, Mr. Scarpa specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He utilizes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
(CBT) to help clients identify and modify maladaptive thought patterns, reduce avoidance and compulsive behaviors, and develop effective coping strategies. His approach emphasizes education, skill-building, and collaborative goal-setting, enabling clients to better understand their symptoms and achieve sustainable change.

In addition to individual work, Mr. Scarpa works extensively with couples addressing anxiety-related relationship distress, communication difficulties, and patterns of conflict that interfere with emotional connection. He integrates CBT with systemic family therapy models, including Solution-Focused and Structural Family Therapy, to support healthier communication, emotional attunement, and relational stability.

Mr. Scarpa’s treatment philosophy is structured, goal-oriented, and  collaborative. He places strong emphasis on educating and empowering
clients with practical tools and insight so they can apply therapeutic
strategies independently, fostering long-term symptom management, improved relationships, and increased resilience. By taking such a goal-oriented, problem focused approach and through use of Cognitive Behavioral therapy, clients are taught how to view problems differently and address them in productive ways so that by the time therapy is done they can become “their own therapist.”