Richard Zilka, LCSW

I am a Rabbi of a community in New York, and my work involves dealing with many issues of marital peace.Although I have a list of competent therapists I send to, I have yet to see anyone as accurate and effective as Richard Eli Zilka is. When I send a couple to him, I don’t know if he will be able to save their relationship, and I don’t know if they will come back hurt or down. But I DO know that his insights and conclusions are painfully accurate, beyond compare . And he has a unique gift in communicating his conclusions and the requirements he demands of his couples . So for me, I always know that I’m getting answers! And he manages to move people ! In my work, this is invaluable . I applaud him.

My boyfriend and I have been together for seven years. We knew we want to marry, but we each had our own fears.We had been to four different therapists, for several years combined. But we were not able to make any progress.My friend told me about Richard, saying that he would either be able to move us along quickly, or be completely honest about why he cannot help us. She said that nobody “wastes time“ with Richard, and that it would be worth the effort regardless.Well, he was exactly right.We are currently engaged to marry, with happiness and confidence.Richard is a warm, caring and talented therapist. He deserves all of the praise that I see others have already written in their reviews.

My husband received Richard’s number from a local clergy. We have been married for 16 years, and our communication together was almost nonexistent. We considered the worst!We went to Richard as a last resort, and he was able to give us help and hope very quickly. Truthfully the work with him was challenging and difficult, because he really pushes and demands focus.But after four months of seeing him, we are in a better place than we’ve ever been. The road is still long but we have direction and understanding now.We asked Richard to speak with several of our previous advisors, and he was meticulous on securing confidentiality waivers before speaking to anyone .We wish there were more quality therapists like Richard. The world needs it!!!

He spoke to outsider and misguided us!!

My wife and I are ‘informed consumers’ when it comes to mental health practitioners. We came to Richard after hearing special things about his work.We had eleven sessions with him. We both feel that Richard is truly rare in his wisdom and experience. He brings many disciplines and knowledge bases to his work with couples. And his experience allows him to work with great clarity and confidence .We couldn’t recommend him more.

Broke the code of ethics. Listened to parties not involved and had a conflict of interest. Do not reccomed!

Richard has been a true savior for our family. After five years of struggling and trying various therapists, we finally found an exceptional professional in Richard. He's not just a therapist; he's an angel who demands commitment and real effort. In just four sessions, Richard transformed our lives by eliminating divorce talk and helping us focus on individual issues. His approach brings unparalleled clarity and concentration. Unlike the typical 45-minute sessions, Richard dedicates a couple of hours to each session, ensuring a deep and meaningful impact. I highly recommend him if you're ready to put in the work and seek genuine, transformative support.

Richard is a great therapist, his line is always I'm here to build relationships, he listens to me and my spouse and makes sure that you don't leave the session feeling like a looser, Richard tackles everything in your life not just marriage issues, very caring and follows through and pushing with passion, he saved my marriage.

We were in a dire place before we met Richard. He helped bridge the gap in our relationship, worked with us through repair and taught us healthy relationship communication. Our relationship we have now is credited to our hard work together and his belief in us.

Richard is a phenomenal therapist who is definitely not for everyone. I'm sorry to see that a recent review was written by a client for whom Richard clearly was not the right fit.We saw Richard for a few months when our marriage was on the ropes. He did NOT push for divorce even though the marriage was already going that direction. What he DID do is be extremely blunt about what we needed to change if we DIDN'T want to end up divorced. This bluntness and tough love is why he's not for everyone. There were sessions that I came in fuming at him and we had to repair the therapeutic relationship. He's not a soft, mushy, sweet therapist but a very pragmatic one. He sees the emotions, the dynamics, the wounds, and he's a master at diagnosing the disconnection points and offering solutions to save the marriage. But again, he's very blunt about the need for husband and wife to grow up fast and take responsibility or else divorce is inevitable. This harshness stings, but it saved our marriage.

Richard is a highly skilled and dedicated marriage counselor.His goal was always to help us have a loving and rewarding marriage with effective communication. He's empathetic, while at the same time ensuring both partners stay cognizant of their truth and actual words and behavior.Both of us felt heard.He taught us how to convey our feelings to each other, sensitive to keeping anger and accusation out of the dialog.We are grateful to have had his guidance.

Me & my husband were looking for a therapist who would be able to really make a difference in our marriage, Richard was recommended to us by a few people we knew and we kept hearing great things about him and his work, we finally came to Richard when our hope was low and we’ve considered the worst, in just a few sessions he was able to do for us what other therapist weren't able to in months of sessions, Richard has a firm to the point approach just when and where it’s needed, he has given us many practical tools that have changed our marriage completely. I attribute all of it to him, he brought hope and life back into our marriage. He has also been very accommodating with timing of sessions on nights we were only able to come in at later hours and his therapy room/environment was very pleasant.

Richard has been nothing short of amazing in saving our marriage, he’s extremely wise and has a unique way of working with us as a couple, he manages to make us BOTH feel heard and understood (which I found hard to find in the first few couple therapists we’ve tried) he has given us countless tools which were all manageable to apply to our day to day life and has improved our relationship immensely. He’s firm and tough exactly when and where it’s needed, we both learned so much about each other through sessions with him, he truly helped us find our love and connection towards each other and didn’t let us give up on one another, I couldn’t recommend him enough!

Terribble. He’s pro divorce and part of the reason for my divorce. He heard one side and not the other. Do not go to him unless you want to get divorced. He told me I’m not marrige material and can never get married again and ha im in a happy marrige for the last 4 years. Do not reccomend him.

Richard has a phenomenal ability to reveal the root of the disconnect in a relationship. He has patience and care but at the same time is firm in holding each side to their responsibilities. As a clergy I’ve dealt with many therapists and would highly recommend him.