Therapists for college students near University of Pittsburgh

I am pleased that you are here. I know it is not easy to take this first step, but I want you to know first and foremost, that I take great care and pride in creating a safe place for my clients to talk about their internal conflicts, interpersonal problems, traumas, and whatever is interfering with living a fuller, richer life. I bring to my clinical practice a great deal of skills coupled with passion to engage in a meaningful therapeutic relationship. I invite clients to increase their self-awareness while aspiring to high levels of wellness: biologically, psychologically, relationally, sexually and spiritually. I offer a safe space free of judgment, filled with compassion and kindness towards your own process. My theoretical orientation to counseling is rooted in humanistic theories with underlying existentialism and phenomenological philosophies. I firmly believe in the therapeutic alliance and its curative power, in addition to striving to look at all situations from a sex positive, non-shaming, and non-judgmental lens.

My practice is a soft place for high-achieving and creative women to finally let go of the 'shoulds.' Together, we create a gentle space to breathe, slow down, and untangle the things that are keeping you from feeling truly connected to yourself. We’ll do more than just recap your week. I blend talk therapy with Gestalt and expressive arts to help you bridge the gap between your thoughts and feelings. We might explore an emotion through imagery or notice how a memory feels in your body. It’s a creative, collaborative process to help you feel at home in your own skin. No art skills required. I value authenticity, warmth, and honest feedback. My clients often tell me they feel “more like themselves” after our work together. If that sounds like something you're looking for, I’d love to connect.

I am a licensed psychologist who works with young adults who are seeking help with emotional, social, and behavioral problems. Building a strong therapeutic relationship is essential to creating change. My goal is to create a safe, supportive environment to help you navigate the challenges you're facing. I use CBT and other evidence-based treatments, tailored to each individual, to help meet their needs and achieve their goals. I also conduct neuropsychological assessments for various concerns including ADHD, learning disabilities, memory problems etc. My background in school psychology has trained me to collaborate and consult with other professionals, including school counselors, teachers, doctors, and other specialists to work as a team to improve outcomes for my clients. I also have training in treating teens and college students with depression, anxiety, and self-harm. Beginning therapy can be an anxiety-inducing and scary process. My goal is to create a comfortable, safe, and supportive environment where we can work together to help you cope with whatever challenges and stressors you're facing. Please contact me by email or phone to see if we would be a good fit.

Hi, I’m Rich. I’m an experienced counselor who offers a grounded, experiential approach to therapy and coaching. My work is shaped by both clinical training and real-world learning; offering a perspective that integrates mindfulness based interventions, existential exploration, nature-based interventions, and embodied practices. I enjoy working with individuals transitioning to adulthood, students, and adults who are seeking an alternative to traditional talk therapy. My own path has been strongly influenced by my personal and professional time spent outdoors. In wilderness settings, I’ve seen firsthand how facing challenges, building trust, and stepping into the unknown can lead to meaningful transformation. These experiences inform how I support clients as they navigate life’s complexities, transitions, and obstacles. I believe strongly in the power of the here and now. Together, we’ll explore your thoughts, emotions, and experiences in a way that feels collaborative, present-centered, and supportive. Utilizing mindfulness based, behavioral, goal driven, and existential approaches, I aim to help you cultivate self-awareness, resilience, and a deeper sense of well-being. Seeking help is a courageous step, and I look forward to walking alongside you as you find your own path toward healing and growth.

Helping people feel more connected, alive and easeful in a difficult world is what excites me about the therapeutic process. While living with mental health challenges, it is difficult to know how to get unstuck or even to remember a time when things felt okay. I work collaboratively with clients to build on their strengths and identify goals that align with their values. We all develop strategies for survival that can be limiting over time. We can create more options that go beyond old strategies through practicing new ways of relating, recognizing nervous system patterns and strengthening the mind-body connection. Some of the approaches and techniques I use include parts work, attachment theory, mind-body therapy, guided visualization, somatic and movement based therapy. I am trauma focused and informed with an understanding of how systemic oppression contributes to illness, especially for those whose identities are devalued or erased.

I work with students who struggle with managing their emotional, behavioral, and social needs. I know that therapy can be initially uncomfortable and/or anxiety provoking, yet I create a safe and supportive space for my patients. The therapeutic relationship is extremely important in my practice, as I believe that we need to work together in order to meet your goals and improve your overall quality of life. I will always bring honesty and compassion into our sessions. I utilize various approaches and interventions to target each individual's needs and to create the best treatment for you. I utilize techniques from CBT, ACT, and mindfulness practices. However, I tailor my practice and choose interventions that best suit your symptoms. I have extensive experience working with anxiety, relationship difficulties, and depression. I am offering and accepting referrals for ADHD neuropsychological testing as well. Feel free to reach out to me directly by phone or email to see if we would be a good fit. I offer in person and virtual sessions. My goal is to teach you skills and offer a different perspective to lead a fulfilling life. Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions; I look forward to working together!

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I enjoy working with people who are experiencing difficulty managing their emotions, and feel a loss of control or direction in their lives. If anger, depression, mood swings, anxiety, or past traumas are making life and your relationships with others problematic, I want to help! My approach to therapy is relaxed and down-to-earth. I will collaborate with you, in a respectful, nonjudgemental, and supportive manner. By increasing self-awareness, you will be better able to understand the barriers keeping you from happiness, and our work together will help you to develop your strengths, coping skills, and confidence.

I have been in private practice for the past approximately 30 years working primarily with adults/young adults. Although I have considerable experience with what may be described as more serious anxiety and depressive disorders, my practice more typically has consisted of individuals/couples/students interested in working on quality of life, relationship and general adjustment issues.

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At Strong Foundations, we understand that finding the right mental health provider can be a daunting task. Please see our website for a full list of services we offer and description of our counselors. As a practice, our highest priority is providing supportive, personalized, and effective care to every individual and family. We offer individual therapy, neuropsychological testing, family & marital therapy. We use evidence-based treatment methods, including CBT, DBT, ACT, Motivational Interviewing, and PCIT. Our therapists offer daytime, evening, and some weekend hours to accommodate busy schedules. Sessions can be scheduled in person or virtually. Please call (412) 368-2211 to schedule an appointment or contact us via email: support@sfpgh.com

Maybe chronic stress, anxiety, or trauma has your nervous system stuck on high alert, so that even when life is relatively stable, you don't actually feel that way. Maybe your past experiences show up now as hypervigilance, tension, irritability, insomnia, or shutting down. Maybe you're managing burnout, depression, relationship struggles, or patterns you just can't seem to shake. Maybe you're tired of merely surviving and ready to actually feel different. With a background in social justice, many of my clients are queer, activists, neurodivergent, and others for whom identity/politics/systemic context are part of their story. We start by helping your body feel safer through various approaches such as biofeedback, breathwork/meditation, or the Safe and Sound Protocol so your nervous system doesn’t have to work so hard. From there, we look deeper at the patterns, relationships, and stories that shaped how you move through the world. We explore what matters to you at your own pace. Our work together isn't about fixing what's "wrong" with you. It's about understanding what has happened to you, how you've adapted, and finding out what is possible when we have more awareness and more options. My approach is a deeply relational one. You're the expert on your own life and I'm here to serve as a supporter and collaborator in the process.

If life has been feeling stuck, confusing, or overwhelming, let’s slow things down together. I'm here to listen closely to your lived experience and the stories that have shaped it. My work is grounded in narrative therapy, which means we will pay attention to how problems have come to influence your life and how your preferred values and hopes might guide us forward. We'll stay close to what matters most to you, exploring what you want your life to stand for and supporting steps that move you closer to that direction, one conversation at a time. My approach is collaborative, with your voice guiding what feels most important. I ask questions that invite reflection and new possibilities, and I'm transparent about my thinking. If you want therapy that feels human, thoughtful, and respectful of your context, we may be a good fit. If you would like to see whether we fit, reach out through the contact options on this page. You can share a sentence or two about what you want help with, along with any scheduling needs. I'll respond with what I can offer and what next steps could look like.

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Pronouns: She/Her/Hers Training and professional background: I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Art History from Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana, graduating in May of 2014. In the Fall of 2012, I received training as a victims’ advocate and crisis line operator at the Family Justice Center in South Bend. For the rest of my time as an undergraduate, I continued volunteering for the FJC, focusing on taking crisis calls, yet unaware of the skills I was building in attending to each caller’s concerns. I utilized my training again during grad school to volunteer for Crisis Text Line, where I honed my skills in crisis management and planning. In December of 2018, I graduated with my Master of Science in Education from Duquesne University, specializing in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Duquesne’s program is CACREP accredited and meets all standards and requirements as an institution for counselor education. I received my license November of 2023. Theoretical orientation and approach to counseling: My clinical approach is rooted in two orientations: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Narrative Therapy. I also draw heavily from the Humanistic-Existentialist perspectives of Psychology and philosophy in helping my clients better understand their feelings, goals, and experiences. My clinical practice embodies the spirit of meeting clients where they are. I enter each session with one objective: a readiness to talk and warmly receive. Client rights and responsibilities: As my client, I encourage you to ask questions and raise concerns about anything, especially my credentials and qualifications, the progress of our work together and its cost, my therapeutic approach, or anything else that concerns you. I take my role seriously as a helper and strongly believe that healthy relationships, especially therapeutic, require communication, consistency, and warmth. Therapeutically, we might be a good fit if: -- You are ready to make new moves in your life and relationships – So many of us know what must be done to address problematic behavior or to build better habits. What might be lacking is an awareness of the theory or tools to support those efforts. I am equipped to teach you how to individualize widely known coping skills, if you are ready to prioritize your mental health treatment. -- You are a creative person – The scaffolding or foundation you need to accomplish your long-term goals comes from your ability to generate creative solutions—no matter the medium! Your unique skills and worldviews can enrich to the work we do in the room. This takes the form of interesting, billowing conversation, not traditional art therapy. -- You are looking for a space to feel seen and heard – I take great pride in my ability to attend to the emotional needs of my clients. A dedicated space where the floor cedes to you, a conversation that is focused with warm curiosity on you, that is quickly becoming a rarity in our social interactions. While attentiveness is one of my biggest strengths to offer, I find being a witness to my clients’ concerns and vulnerabilities the greatest honor and reward in this field; we are the most human in these moments. It sets the stage for therapeutic collaboration and honors our innate drive to identify and hold our emotions without urgency or shame.

I specialize in helping individuals manage anxiety, stress, and the unique challenges of life transitions. I offer a supportive nonjudgemental space where you can work through situations such as relational difficulties, internal battles of self esteem or difficulties with facing life head on. My goal is to help you thrive personally inside and within the world you are able to create.

Barbara is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) who received her Master's Degree from Slippery Rock University in Psychology. She has over 25 years of experience in providing mental health counseling to adults, couples and families. Barbara provides individual, family and couples counseling that specializes in mental health counseling. Areas of focus include: anxiety, depression, life transition issues, conflict resolution, stress management, loss & bereavement issues, self-esteem issues, emotional regulation issues, and communication issues. Her counseling approach is eclectic in nature and adjusted to meet the existing needs of the client in relationship to their own individual developmental needs. Barbara utilizes treatment modalities such as: Cognitive Therapy, Existential Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Solution Focused Therapy, Reality Therapy and Developmental Psychology. In addition, Barbara is also a certified addiction and co-occurring disorders therapist.

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At some point along the journey, our stories demand to be told. Whether through painful emotional and physical symptoms, relationship struggles, or other interruptive experiences, our lives catch up to us. They ask for our attention. Therapy is a place where, together, we can pay closer attention to your story and the person you are becoming. We are all always in process. I believe that we can experience true healing in a human encounter, and I strive to deeply listen to my clients, bringing curiosity and attention to the parts of you that may have gone unnoticed. Approach to Therapy My counseling approach is rooted in relational psychodynamic therapy, which focuses on patterns and themes from early childhood and how they show up in your life today. This approach also emphasizes the relationship between the therapist and client as a vehicle for healing and change. It’s important to find someone you feel comfortable with, and it may take you some time to discern the right fit. I respect the vulnerability and bravery required to step into this work, and aim to meet you with humility, curiosity, and a responsible awareness of my own intersecting identities. Each person brings unique concerns and needs, and I am committed to ongoing research and training to provide the best care I can. I draw from a variety of approaches, including attachment-based therapy, family systems work, liberation psychology, Internal Family Systems (informed, not certified), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Narrative-Focused Trauma Therapy. Background: I have worked with at-risk youth, college students, and folks from all walks of life in outpatient and community mental health settings. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Music and Theater, and a Master’s in Counseling Psychology with a Concentration in Trauma and Abuse from the Seattle School (2023). Outside of therapy, I enjoy lots of things, including yoga, performing arts, poetry, and being outside!

We are located a few blocks off campus and seek to provide prompt, professional psychotherapy for anxiety, depression, ADHD, and personal adjustment issues for students. Our counselors are psychologists and social workers with experience and compassion. We accept most major insurance providers.