Healther LaFontaine, CSWA  She/Her

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Heather’s approach to therapy is trauma-informed, person-centered, and strengths-based focusing on insight into how trauma affects the body and brain.  Her goal is to help her clients examine distressing feelings and experiences in a way that helps them establish more functional thought patterns that restore a sense of self-efficacy and self-compassion.

 

In Heather’s view few people can go through life without encountering some kind of trauma.  Life crises are seismic events with ramifications that can reverberate throughout a lifetime.  Left unaddressed or untreated, trauma can undermine relationships and cause turbulence in one’s personal and professional relationships. 

 

According to Heather we each have the ability to change and grow enabling us to recover from setbacks and to be resilient through adversity.  We can bend without breaking.  Confronting traumatic events and trying to make sense of them can lead to powerful shifts in thinking.  Rather than struggling through challenging circumstances, post-traumatic growth represents the capacity to reflect and truly heal.

 

Heather has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with minors in Philosophy and Religious Studies as well as a Masters of Social Work (MSW) degree.  She specializes in working with adults experiencing different levels and phases of trauma ranging from domestic violence and sexual assault or sex trafficking to childhood neglect and various forms of developmental abuse.  She employs a variety of trauma-informed therapeutic approaches in her work with trauma, anxiety, and depression including Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR) Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Internal Family Systems (Parts Therapy), Somatic Experiencing, and Attachment-based Therapy.