Often rebooked
New to Grow
I’m Helen Bass, LCSW. I work with women who look like they’re holding it together—capable, responsible, steady—while internally feeling braced, anxious, or quietly exhausted. Our work is relational, trauma-informed, and practical. We pay attention to what repeats under stress: over-responsibility, people-pleasing, shutdown, perfectionism, and the “always on” baseline. Together, we build the kind of safety that lets you tell the truth without punishment—and develop boundaries, regulation, and steadier self-trust that holds up in real life. Many of my clients want faith integrated with care and honesty. If that’s you, we can hold your spiritual values without using spirituality to bypass grief, anger, limits, or relational repair. I also work with women who have ADHD, autistic traits, or both (AuDHD)—especially those diagnosed later in life or who learned to mask. We focus on nervous-system support, executive functioning, reducing shame around limits, and building sustainable routines that fit your actual brain and life. If you’re looking for therapy that is quiet, direct, and deeply human, I’d be honored to explore whether we’re a fit.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
The first session is a place to slow things down. We’ll start by getting oriented—what brought you here, what feels hardest right now, and what you’re hoping might be different. There’s no requirement to tell your whole story or have the “right” words. We’ll move at a pace that feels manageable. I’ll ask some gentle questions to understand your history, current stressors, and how your nervous system tends to respond under pressure. We may also notice what’s happening in your body in real time—tension, shutdown, urgency—so we’re not just talking about patterns, but beginning to work with them. You don’t need to perform, impress, or be “good” at therapy. If something feels confusing, emotional, or hard to name, that’s okay. We can take it piece by piece. By the end of the session, my goal is for you to leave with: A clearer sense of what’s happening beneath the surface An initial sense of whether this feels like a safe, workable fit One or two grounding points to support you between sessions If faith is important to you, we can talk about how you’d like that integrated. If you have ADHD or autistic traits, we’ll also consider how your brain and nervous system work best so therapy supports—not overwhelms—you. This first meeting is about beginning a relationship, not fixing everything at once.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
I offer a calm, grounded, and relational approach to therapy that helps high-functioning clients feel safe enough to slow down, tell the truth, and change without being pushed. My work is especially supportive for people who are competent, responsible, and outwardly “fine,” yet internally anxious, tense, or exhausted. I’m attentive to pacing, language, and the nervous system, and I don’t rush clients past what their system isn’t ready for. Rather than pathologizing strength, faith, intelligence, or responsibility, I help clients understand how these became survival strategies—and how to relate to them with more flexibility and choice. Clients often describe feeling understood without being analyzed, supported without being directed, and gradually more able to rest, set boundaries, and stay present in their relationships and lives.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
I’m best positioned to work with people who are highly capable, thoughtful, and responsible—and who are tired of holding everything together on the inside. Many of my ideal clients are women who appear calm or successful externally but live with chronic stress, anxiety, overthinking, or a sense of being “on” all the time. They often care deeply about their relationships, faith, or values, yet struggle with people-pleasing, over-responsibility, difficulty resting, or feeling safe receiving support. My clients are usually not looking for quick fixes or surface-level coping skills; they want to understand what’s happening beneath their patterns and build steadier capacity, clearer boundaries, and more honest connection in their lives.
Culturally Sensitive Therapy
My specialization in culturally sensitive therapy is driven by a deep commitment to acknowledging and integrating the diverse backgrounds, values, and experiences of each individual into the therapeutic process. I recognize that culture profoundly shapes mental health, coping mechanisms, and treatment expectations. By adopting a culturally sensitive approach, I ensure that therapy is not only respectful and affirming of a client's identity—including race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation—but also maximally effective. My goal is to move beyond a one-size-fits-all model, co-creating a healing space where clients feel truly seen, understood, and validated in the context of their unique cultural framework.
Attachment-based
Attachment-Based Treatment (ABT) serves as a cornerstone of my therapeutic practice, providing a robust framework for understanding and addressing deep-seated emotional and relational patterns. By focusing on the client's internal working models—the unconscious blueprints of relationships formed in early life—ABT helps to illuminate how past attachment experiences influence present-day relational distress and emotional regulation.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
IFS (Internal Family Systems) is integrated into my practice to gently guide clients toward recognizing and understanding their psyche as comprised of various "parts"—each with positive intent. This model allows clients to differentiate from extreme or burdened parts, accessing the core Self, which is inherently compassionate, calm, and clear. By operating from the Self, clients can heal wounded parts (Exiles) and harmonize protective parts (Managers and Firefighters). The primary therapeutic goal is to foster internal cohesion, self-leadership, and self-compassion, transforming internal conflict into collaboration. Ultimately, IFS empowers clients to establish a secure, compassionate relationship with their whole internal system, leading to sustainable emotional regulation and authentic self-expression in the world.
Psychodynamic
In my sessions, psychodynamic therapy looks like slowing down enough to understand why certain patterns keep showing up—not just how to “manage” them. We pay attention to the themes underneath your current stress: the inner critic, perfectionism, people-pleasing, overthinking, feeling “too much” or “not enough,” and the ways you’ve learned to stay safe in relationships. Together we explore where those patterns were formed, what they’ve protected you from, and how they’re affecting your choices now. The goal isn’t to blame the past—it’s to give you clarity and freedom in the present. You can also expect me to gently notice what happens in the room between us—how you share, what feels hard to say, when you brace for judgment, or when you feel relief. Those moments often mirror real-life relationships, and working with them in therapy helps you build self-trust, healthier boundaries, and more honest communication outside of session. This is deep work, done at your pace—no quick fixes, just steady, meaningful change.
Christian Counseling
My approach to Christian Counseling is not about offering rigid rules or easy answers; it is about creating a sacred space where your faith and your humanity can finally breathe together. For many, especially those navigating first-generation cultural pressures or the exhaustion of "church hurt," faith has often become entangled with high-stakes expectations and performance. My own faith is the ground I stand on—it is the source of my belief in your inherent, God-given dignity—but I lead with a wide, compassionate lens that honors the complexity of your journey. I view our work as an integration of psychological insight and spiritual depth. We won't ignore the parts of your story that feel "messy" or the questions that feel "un-Christian." Instead, we look at the architecture of your beliefs to distinguish between the life-giving heart of your faith and the systemic or cultural burdens that have weighed you down. Whether you are deconstructing old narratives, untangling your identity from narcissistic religious systems, or simply trying to find a version of faith that feels like home, my goal is to help you move toward a relationship with God that celebrates your true, creative, and neurodivergent self—one where you are no longer performing for grace, but living from it.