Lauren is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate in the state of North Carolina. She earned her Master’s Degree in Education from Western Carolina University where she was also licensed as a k-12 Professional School Counselor. During her graduate education, she focused her studies on working with children/adolescents and addressing systemic social inequities.

Lauren has spent 3 years practicing in public education with individuals ages 3-18. When working with younger populations, she partners with families to develop structure and shared skill sets that foster consistency and emotional safety within the home. She believes in following the child through play and enjoys teaching developmentally appropriate skills for self-regulation. With older children and young adults, Lauren loves to explore concepts of identity, sexuality, self-image, and self-efficacy. She is skilled in working with clients experiencing anxiety, depression, family conflict, ADHD, grief, trauma, and major life transitions/planning.

She draws techniques from Child-Centered Play Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, Relational-Cultural Theory, Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and Narrative Therapy. She empowers all of her clients to re-author their stories from a strength-based perspective and believes that healing occurs through meaningful connections with others.

When she’s not seeing clients and spending time with her family, Lauren can be found practicing her Spanish, tending to her houseplants, Cross-training, making quilts, and learning to play the piano.