Hi there, I'm Laurie! Do you wish providers would look at you through a whole person lens instead of discussing health and mental health separately? Do you want a provider for your child who is playful and skilled at engaging children? Are you an adult who likes a more personal, connected approach to therapy? Do you have a teen who has had difficulty connecting to other providers? Well look no further! I enjoy using storytelling, videos, and conversation to help clients of all ages improve self-esteem, self-worth and gain a better understanding of sense of self. A licensed clinical social worker and board-certified supervisor with over 25 years of experience working with children, teens, and adults, I spent much of that time working for the world-renowned Kennedy Krieger Institute, a Johns Hopkins affiliate, where I was also in leadership. I have post-graduate certificates in Treating Children & Adolescents, Leadership, Fitness Nutrition, and Integrative Medicine for Mental Health providers. More personally, I love hiking, watching Marvel movies, lifting weights, and crowd surfing at concerts. I believe we should never stop playing like children!
I prefer our first session to be fairly conversational, so I ask clients to fill out all intake questions prior to the session. I enjoy spending time building rapport and trust, without having to ask quite so many questions:)
My biggest strength is my ability to see my clients' strengths and help them expand upon them in meaningful ways. I am friendly, energetic, and love meeting new people. Making clients feel comfortable and accepted in sessions is very important to me. If it's your first time or your child/teen's first time in therapy, it's also important to me that it be a positive experience, and I work hard to ensure this!
I have experience working with almost all ages and diagnoses, although most recently many of my clients tend to be anxious, self-critical, and fairly "perfectionistic." I see you! That said, I enjoy treating a variety of diagnoses, and really just hope to have engaged, fairly talkative, goal-oriented clients. It's okay if you aren't quite sure what you want or how to get there! I can definitely help with that. Because I am only seeing clients via telehealth, and my afternoon/evening slots fill up fairly quickly, please check with me prior to scheduling a new intake if you need a later appointment. I am also licensed in Maryland and Colorado, in the off chance someone needs to be seen in one or both states, like college students! **Please note: if your child is younger than 10, I generally recommend in-person therapy and most likely will refer your child to someone else. I am unfortunately only available virtually, and have found it hard to serve younger children effectively this way.
Integrate mindfulness, somatic, holistic and other approaches to facilitate the mind-body connection
Numerous training over the years in attachment-based interventions (Circle of Security; Fussy Baby)
Connecting thoughts to feelings to behavior and understanding what motivates clients based on values, earlier life experiences, and habits
I use ERP as appropriate to overcome fears, phobias, and other anxiety-based issues
A "bottom up" approach to identifying and working with how stress, trauma, anxiety, etc show up in our bodies to improve self-regulation, stress management, and decrease physical manifestations of stress/trauma/anxiety, etc.