At Foundations, we combine evidence-based treatments with our therapists’ lived experiences to help you feel truly seen, understood, and supported.
Maybe you’ve tried therapy before and left feeling unheard or dismissed. Or maybe this is your very first step into therapy, and you’re nervous about what to expect. Our therapists are warm and compassionate, ready to guide you through the process every step of the way.
Start building the foundation for the change you’re looking for: reach out to us with questions or book a free consultation today.
Meet the Team
Rachel Schimmel, LCSW
I believe therapy works best when you feel truly seen, understood, and supported. Many of my clients are the people others rely on: thoughtful, motivated, and caring individuals who often feel anxious, overwhelmed, stuck in perfectionism, or disconnected from their own needs.
With over 15 years of experience, I specialize in supporting adults through anxiety, relationships, infertility, pregnancy, postpartum adjustment, parenthood, and major life transitions. My style is warm, collaborative, and authentic. I show up as a real person in the therapy room — with curiosity, compassion, and humor — because therapy should feel like a conversation, not a clinical checklist.
Outside the therapy room, I’m a mom, dog lover, and believer that laughter can be therapeutic too. You can usually find me spending time with my daughter, walking my dog, getting lost in a good book, starting a creative project, or searching for the perfect cup of coffee.
If you’re used to taking care of everyone else, therapy can be the place where you finally have space for yourself. I’d be honored to support you in building a life that feels more balanced, connected, and authentically yours.
Founder and Therapist
Astra Titus, LMSW
As a bi-racial woman and mother with 25 years of therapeutic, legal, and advocacy experience, Astra firmly believes all healing begins with belonging.
As humans, we need a sense of belonging as much as air or water – we simply cannot survive without it. When we feel disconnected from ourselves, our partners/families, or others, we can feel lost - untethered.
Astra’s passion is helping people to reconnect to themselves, their partners/families, and others. Her deep expertise in cultural and trauma-informed care, inter and intrapersonal healing, and family systems and dynamics informs her work with everyone; individuals, partners/families, and groups.
Her unconditional curiosity and acceptance foster an immediate sense of belonging with her clients - ultimately allowing them to find their own. For anyone seeking acceptance, belonging, and connection with themselves and/or others, Astra is eager to join you in your journey.
Astra and her husband, Lee, have two amazing boys – Jose, and Hank. They live on Seneca Lake in upstate New York.
Katherine Cresci, LMSW
Katie specializes in supporting young adults and adults navigating anxiety, depression, career challenges, parenting concerns, and life transitions. Warm, welcoming, and interactive, her therapeutic style is tailored to your unique needs using evidence-based practices like Person-Centered Therapy, Narrative Therapy, CBT, and Motivational Interviewing.
With over eight years of clinical experience, Katie has provided care across diverse settings, including private practices, managed care organizations, and non-profit agencies.
She views therapy as a partnership, firmly believing that you are the expert in your own life. Rather than providing answers, Katie helps you uncover them, trusting that you already possess the inner wisdom and strength needed to create lasting change.
Rachel Hood, LMSW
Rachel Hood, LMSW, works with people who have been impacted by institutional harm, including foster care, adoption, the troubled teen industry, mental health and medical systems, incarceration, and harmful therapy experiences.Her work is grounded in the belief that the wisdom for healing already exists within you. Through a trauma-informed, relational, and anti-oppressive approach, Rachel focuses on helping clients reconnect with their own voice, choice, and sense of self.
Rachel believes that healing also happens in relationship. Therapy offers a space where all parts of a person are welcome, including the parts that have been hidden, silenced, or shaped by survival. Through the experience of being fully seen and accepted, clients can begin to trust themselves more deeply and discover that difficult emotions can be experienced without losing connection to themselves or others. Rachel invites you to bring into the light that which you never thought you could or would.
Rachel received her Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan and practices in New York.
Sydney Maciol, MSW
As Sydney enters the final stretch of the Clinical MSW program at Utica University, she brings a strong foundation of experience working with children and families across a variety of settings. Throughout her professional journey, she has developed a well-rounded perspective through roles in foster care, social services, substance abuse treatment, the education system, and childcare. These diverse experiences have strengthened her ability to understand the unique challenges that individuals and families face, as well as the systemic factors that impact their well-being.
Her career has been guided by a deep passion for helping others and a commitment to fostering meaningful, lasting change. She approaches her work with empathy, patience, and curiosity, aiming to create a safe and supportive environment for growth. She takes pride in offering clients her full presence and a compassionate, nonjudgmental listening ear. Her goal is to empower clients to identify their strengths, build resilience, and move toward their personal goals with greater confidence and self-awareness.