hey! how's it going? My name is Maggie Conrad and I am a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with a passion for supporting, educating, and embarking on the journey of life, growth, grief, and hope with the clients I serve. I have been working directly with clients for 10 years and practicing as a master's level social worker for 8 years. With me, your weirdness is welcome.
Typically, my first session is done as an information gathering process with a lot of conversation if you feel comfortable, so I can have an understanding of who you are, where you've been, and what you're looking for. This will take the entire first session because I like to spend a lot of time talking, learning, listening, and engaging with future clients so we both can feel like we know a little bit about each other at the end of the first session. after the first session, we should have decided if we are a good fit for each other and if so, agreed upon atleast one goal for treatment.
Through my years of working with people, I have learned that individuals know themselves best and it's my job to listen to this expertise, so we can work together and help you believe that in yourself. As for my strengths, my essential tools for change have become, authenticity and genuine connection, as well as a continuous desire to keep learning new things, problem solving, and skill building.
I work with all people and ages in a family system to support the identification and process of the collective goals of the system.
I use an eclectic blend of trauma informed methods such as TFCBT, Attachment Based, Play Therapy, Polyvagal Theory, and other somatic techniques to support a clients trauma healing journey.
Therapy needs to be specific to each persons individual needs, and based on the treatment goals and clients needs I will use various techniques such as individual skills, interpersonal relational skills, systemic, family therapy, solution focused/skill building, trauma/attachment focused processing, play therapy, expressive and movement based processing, somatic and mindfulness based methods.
Most of my clients will find me integrating a mind-body approach to whatever their treatment goals may be. When we become stressed, anxious, depressed, or experience trauma we become disconnected from our mind body connection, leaving us out of whack. Some people with neurodivergence naturally struggle with this connection too. I believe most of our healing can be done through an understanding of the body, the nervous system and how it impacts our mind, feelings, and actions. It's telling us a story and asking to be heard. through knowledge, feeling, and practice of this connection I believe clients have better long-term outcomes through release of stored energy, traumas, tensions, and feeling empowered to use these skills for self-regulation in the future.