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Lauren Morales

Lauren Morales

(she/her)

LCSW
7 years of experience
Warm
Authentic
Solution oriented
Virtual

I am a licensed clinical social worker in both CA and NC with several years of experience in the medical and mental health space. I have lived experience with disability, I am a cancer survivor, and I am an active duty military spouse! I help clients learn to move through challenging life events while building the tools to create resilience, change, and connection. I believe in each person's innate ability to move towards wellness and I am deeply passionate about helping clients recognize and build their internal resources. As a social worker, I recognize the systems in my clients' lives that impact their health including the socio-political landscape at large. I am a believer that therapy should be most importantly a safe place for my clients and will work with you on making sure our rapport and sense of trust is as the forefront of our work together. I value the realness of showing up as myself in session and hope that you will do the same! When I am not wearing my therapist hat you can find me in the kitchen, cuddling with my two dogs, or trying out a new adventure with my family.

What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?

Our first session together will be much more structured than later sessions. I will be focusing on completing a comprehensive assessment about your current needs and your history. I will also be asking you about your goals for therapy and what has motivated you to seek help now. We will spend some time getting to know each other and I will make space for you to ask any questions that may be on the forefront of your mind to make sure that we are an ideal fit for ongoing therapy together.

Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.

I believe in the power of therapeutic relationship to create real change in a client's life. The best way I know how to do this, is not only informed by clinical practice, but by being myself first and foremost. My authenticity is my strength, I will never pretend to know something I do not know and will acknowledge when I need to seek out more information for you. In this spirit, I will also always ask for and welcome your feedback throughout our work together to make sure we are tailoring your therapy to your needs.

About Lauren Morales

Identifies as

Specializes in

Serves ages

Licensed in

Accepts

Appointments

Free consults, virtual

My treatment methods

Acceptance and commitment (ACT)

I use ACT in session to helps clients navigate how their behaviors, beliefs, and connection with their body is impacting their overall mental health. This type of treatment I've found to very successful for folks with chronic pain, disability, anxiety, and trauma.

Dialectical Behavior (DBT)

I incorporate DBT to assist clients learn tools they can use in and out of session to navigate feeling emotionally overwhelmed, communication strategies, management of relationship distress, and decrease patterns of avoidance/fear.

Prolonged Exposure Therapy

I utilize prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy, or EMDR to help clients process difficult traumatic experiences. These can range from sexual trauma, childhood trauma, domestic violence, medical trauma, emotional neglect, and CPTSD.

Somatic

I use this type of treatment to help clients learn about wisdom of their bodies. Many of my clients struggle with upsetting physical reactions to triggers, feel disconnected from their bodies, and may even struggle with an overall feeling of not being safe. Somatic therapy is a wonderful tool to tune into the way your body is constantly moving you towards health, grow, and healing.

Humanistic

Humanistic theory and therapy informs how I approach therapy, think of it more as a style than a true type of talk therapy. I approach all my clients with a deep sense of curiosity, empathy, and gratitude for their willingness to be vulnerable with me! I will reinforce the things you already do well, make sure you feel empowered through out our work together, and deeply believe in your ability to make change in your life even in the most difficult of circumstances. I am also a classically trained social worker, which means that I am aware of the systems in your life that also are directly impacting your health. This could be the medical system, the area in which you life, the politics of the area you live, or even down to your family dynamics. I combine both a humanistic and systems view in how I approach treatment to ensure I am targeting the areas that will make the most impactful change in your life.