Hello and welcome! I'm happy that you are viewing my profile. It means that you recognize that no one should travel through life's challenges and difficulties alone. Therapy is a very positive step in working through issues and striving to become your best and happiest self. Human beings are seekers of connection and the relationship between the therapist and client can be a very powerful and healing one. I have been on both sides of this relationship and have seen the powerful changes in both my clients and myself. I consider it an honor and a privilege to have someone put their trust in me enough to be able to be their most vulnerable selves and share their innermost thoughts with me. This is something that takes time and I work hard to earn that trust. Let me tell you a little about my education and experience. I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with over 30 years of diverse experience in the field of social work. I received my BSW from VCU in 1993 and my MSW from VCU in 2014. I have worked in various roles throughout my career to include at-risk youth , Intellectual Disabilities, Serious Mental Illness, Intensive Community Treatment, Crisis services, Substance Use Disorders, and as a licensed therapist working with adults, couples, and older adults dealing with depression, anxiety, life transitions, grief, relationship challenges, and self-esteem issues.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
During our first session together we will make introductions, briefly review your intake paperwork and informed consent information, offer you the opportunity to discuss what has and has not worked for you in therapy in the past, and discuss what your goals are for therapy. This allows us to make sure we are on the same page and sets us up for success right from the beginning.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
My past clients have frequently stated that they felt I was warm, authentic, sincere, able to use humor as appropriate, and that I created a warm, trusting relationship and space for them to work on difficult and painful issues effecting their lives. I think my strengths as a therapist are being able to see the inherent good in all of my clients, allowing them the autonomy of personal choice, creating a safe space and a strong therapeutic alliance, and working from a person-centered, strengths based approach. I am flexible and have the ability to use a variety of interventions.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
I enjoy working with individuals who are motivated for change but may feel stuck and lack the tools to reach their goals. My main focus is working with adults experiencing depression, anxiety, and self-esteem challenges, but also enjoy working with individual adults experiencing a wide variety of concerns to include grief, trauma, and interpersonal difficulties. I enjoy helping clients understand the things holding them back (distorted thoughts, false beliefs, early experiences that shaped these beliefs and the impact on relationships) so that they can set clear goals and create the lives they desire.
About Susan Seip
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VirtualMy treatment methods
Person-centered (Rogerian)
I have utilized Person-centered modalities for many years and find it to be empowering for my clients. Person-centered therapy prioritizes our therapeutic relationship and allows for a safe and non-judgmental space for clients to express themselves openly and honestly while feeling valued and understood. By providing active listening, empathy, unconditional positive regard, complete authenticity, and trust that the client is the expert of their life, the client is able to be open and vulnerable in a safe and trusting space so that they can explore the issues troubling them, develop coping skills and solutions to these issues, and find healing. I am the facilitator and my goal is to help you realize your inherent capacity for self-awareness and personal growth.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I have used CBT for many years and have seen clients make lasting and impactful change. CBT is an evidenced based treatment that is structured and goal directed. CBT focuses on the relationship between our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Throughout our lives we have developed thought patterns based on our experiences. Many of those thought patterns are faulty and harmful to our self-esteem and our perceptions of others. Together we will work on learning to identify and challenge negative or distorted thought patterns so that you can replace them with healthier and more realistic ones.
Trauma Informed Care
I have utilized Trauma Informed Care throughout my entire career. As human beings we experience a multitude of events throughout our lives and many of us will have experienced traumatic events at some point along the way. In our work together I will prioritize creating a safe environment based on mutual trust for you to process your experiences. We will create a therapeutic relationship based on trust and respect that will allow you to feel understood, valued, and empowered in your life. The outcome is an understanding of how trauma impacts us, how our past reactions were protective in nature, and how to employ healthier ways of coping. You have the power to make sense of what has happened to you while taking back your power and creating a life that offers you peace and happiness.
Psychodynamic
I have utilized a psychodynamic approach in my work with clients for many years and find it helpful for understanding the link between our early childhood experiences and our reactions and choices in the hear and now. We all have unconscious beliefs about ourselves and others that formed during various times in our lives, some of those experiences happening at a time before we even have memory of. By exploring past experiences and the unconscious beliefs we have formed, these beliefs can be understood in the context of present life and our interpersonal relationships, allowing us to challenge the beliefs and the patterns that we have formed so that we can improve our relationship to ourselves and others.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Difficult or painful emotions are unpleasant and many of us actively try to suppress them by avoiding them. Or we place negative judgment on them and give them too much weight and control over our lives. ACT is a modality that I use in sessions to help my clients learn to be willing to experience difficult thoughts without fear of judgment, learn to observe these thoughts without being ruled by them, learn to be present in the here and now, determine what they value and what is important to them, and to set goals and take actions to pursue what they desire to achieve, which in turn can shift clients away from those negative feelings and towards feeling fulfilled, despite their difficulties.