LCSW, 30 years of experience
Imagine living a life where anxiety no longer takes the lead—where you feel steady, grounded, and able to navigate even the hardest emotions with confidence. Whether you're facing recent upheaval or carrying the weight of long-standing struggles, together we’ll discover tools that support your journey toward healing and clarity. I'm Suzanne, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Pennsylvania with 30 years of experience in mental health. I specialize in guiding individuals through trauma, grief, anxiety, and chronic stress. My approach is rooted in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and I'm certified in EMDR and Cognitive Processing Therapy for treating trauma. I bring my experience in hospice and medical settings to offer compassionate, tailored strategies for anxiety, depression, stress management, life changes, grief, and trauma. I have a special interest in health anxiety, caregiver burnout, and traumatic grief. My goal is to collaboratively navigate these challenges with you, using a variety of trauma-informed, somatic, and holistic approaches.
In your first session we'll explore what you hope to gain in therapy. I'll ask questions to better understand your needs and strengths and explain my treatment approaches. You'll be able to ask questions to help you understand what to expect in follow up sessions. We'll map initial treatment goals and I'll make recommendations on ways we can begin moving toward what matters most to you. I will work with you to provide practical strategies and skills from day one so you can leave the session with a sense of moving forward. Our initial conversations will be focused on gaining an understanding of what's happened to bring you to this point in your life, but it won't be necessary for you to share deeply about hurts and trauma until you feel safe and ready.
I use skills tailored to your individual needs that are practical for your real-life situations. I use metaphors, stories, and psychoeducation to bring a genuine approach with relatable situations into our work. I love teaching clients how our brains and nervous system function to help them begin to understand and manage experiences such as anxiety, panic, trauma or grief more effectively. I have a passion for working with helping professionals- healthcare workers, educators, caregivers and therapists- taking the time to meet their own needs.
My background in hospice and medical settings has shaped the compassionate, personalized care I offer. I support clients navigating anxiety, depression, life transitions, grief, and trauma—with a special focus on health anxiety, caregiver burnout, and traumatic loss. Together, we'll explore trauma-informed, somatic, and holistic approaches that support your healing.
I work from a model called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which helps you build practical tools to manage stress, anxiety, and life’s ups and downs. Through mindfulness and emotional regulation techniques, we’ll explore what truly matters to you—so you can move with purpose toward the life you want, even when things feel hard.
I am EMDR certified to help people process past trauma, panic, or distressing memories so they no longer feel overwhelming. EMDR works by helping your brain reprocess difficult experiences, so they feel like part of the past instead of something you're still stuck in. Before starting reprocessing, we build a strong foundation—helping you understand your nervous system, strengthen coping tools, and feel ready to move forward. My goal is to make the healing process feel safe, clear, and effective.
I have experience in supporting individuals through the challenges of loss and bereavement. Much of my experience comes from prior work as a hospice social worker. I am familiar with the unique nature of each person's grief and tailor my approach to each person's specific needs while assisting in navigating the challenges of life while overwhelmed in realities of death. When grief is particularly challenging, I am able to utilize my experience in working with trauma and PTSD to address the complexities of traumatic bereavement.
I am trained in CBT-I and use this method to address sleep issues which may be related to additional challenges people are struggling with such as anxiety, depression, grief and trauma. CBT-I starts with education on sleep, identifying common areas that impact restful sleep and teaching clients practical strategies to promote health sleep cycles.
I also integrate Internal Family Systems (IFS) into our work, which means we’ll explore the inner world of your “parts”—the different views or feelings that show up in your day-to-day experiences. By understanding how early relationships shape these internal patterns, you’ll gain insight into why you respond the way you do, and learn to meet yourself with more clarity and compassion.