Lauren Maxwell, LPC, NCC

Hi there! I’m Lauren. :)

Philosophy

The focus of my work first and foremost is to provide a welcoming, warm, and safe space for us to build a trusting and meaningful connection. This connection is sacred to me and is what allows you to experience transformation in therapy. We will take great care in building this relationship over time in a way that feels comfortable to you. I believe that fundamentally, at our core, we are all born connected to each other and the world in which we live but that over time, we lose this sense of connectedness with each other and with ourselves — sometimes to the point of forgetting who we really are. Through our work together, you will remember what that sense of connectedness feels like.

I am committed to providing high-quality therapy grounded in evidence-based techniques. Many of my clients have found that other traditional forms of therapy have not worked for them or that many of their symptoms, unhelpful behaviors, or innermost painful feelings remained after treatment. My treatment approach is grounded in psychodynamic theory, and incorporates Internal Family Systems (IFS), Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), and Gestalt techniques to help address and resolve the root cause of your symptoms.

My approach is sensitive, compassionate, active, and engaging and above all, authentic and real. We will work together to identify how your symptoms developed and learn ways to resolve them using the mind and body. We will identify blind spots and find ways to break free from old, habitual ways of being that prevent you from living the life you want to be living.

Through our work together, you will learn how to tap into your inner internal healing capabilities and strengths and to love and accept yourself fully. You will feel both supported and challenged to grow, gaining new insights and experiencing relief with each session. My goal is to help you find meaningful ways to resolve your symptoms and improve the quality of your life and relationships and in order to bring you lasting joy, peace, and meaning.

Additional Certifications

• Certified clinical trauma professional (level 2)

Specialty Areas

Couples therapy, premarital counseling, & relationship concerns

I work with couples who struggle to feel seen or understood by their partners and to be vulnerable with one another. Many of the couples I work with struggle to engage in effective communication and to navigate conflict, as well as to establish healthy and effective boundaries.

I help couples learn effective strategies to communicate effectively and to get their needs met in a way that feels safe, productive, and comfortable for both partners, reestablishing peace, harmony, and togetherness. The couples I work with find themselves leaving couples therapy with an increased sense of fulfillment, both individually and together, as one unit.

I also work with couples navigating differences such as religion, culture, and race to help them find ways to make their differences compliment each other and celebrate what makes each partner unique.

Additionally, I work with individuals to explore concerns in their relationships including decreasing unhealthy behaviors, improving communication, establishing healthy boundaries, and ways to remain connected to yourself within a relationship.

Challenging Relationship Dynamics

I work with individuals to help them navigate challenging relationship dynamics, including familial relationships, friendships, and coworker relationships and learn effective ways to communicate, resolve conflict, and set healthy boundaries.

anxiety & depression

I work with individuals who struggle to shake anxiety and depression, helping them to identify and understand why and how their symptoms developed and learning productive ways to overcome and manage their symptoms in order to improve their everyday functioning and live more meaningful, empowered, and carefree lives.

Self-love

Many of the clients I work with experience feelings of inadequacy, as if nothing they ever do is good enough, and struggle to live a life in alignment with self-love. Understanding how and why these feelings developed and learning to let them go is necessary in order to develop self-love. I work with individuals to help them release low self-worth and cultivate thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are in alignment with self-love. 

Attachment trauma

I work with individuals struggling to regulate attachment trauma in their relationships or attachment styles such as anxious, avoidant, or disorganized. As someone who had to work hard to heal her own attachment trauma, I am here to help you learn effective, safe ways to heal, flourish in your relationships, and escape sabotaging relational patterns.

Childhood Trauma

I work with individuals to heal from emotional wounds that occurred in childhood that continue to impact them as adults today. These unhealed wounds often show up in our relationships and through our internal dialogue or through old, unhelpful, exhausting behaviors. Healing childhood trauma can lead to a profound amount of healing and significant improvement in the quality of relationships.

Grief

I work with individuals who are grieving, whether they are grieving the loss of a person, relationship, job, or home. Grief comes in all shapes and sizes and having grieved a considerable amount of loss in my own life, I am here to be on this journey with you and help you find peace and comfort along the way. Grief can be one of life’s most painful experiences and feeling less alone on your journey can make it feel more tolerable.

Additional Areas of Expertise

Adjusting to Life Transitions
Anxiety
Attention Problems
Depression
Discovering Your Identity
Emotion Identification, Regulation, and Awareness
Existential Depression
Finding Meaning and Purpose
Finding Passion and Creativity Again
Grief and Loss
Healthy Boundary Setting
Identity
Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP)
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Life Transitions
Low Self-Esteem, Low Self-Worth
Meditation, Mindfulness, and Fortifying the Mind-Body-Spirit Connection
Mid-Life Crisis
Spiritual/Awakening Issues
Perfectionism
Personal Growth
Psychodynamic Therapy
Relationship and Communication Difficulties
Self-Criticism
Self-Sabotage
Social Anxiety
Struggling to Launch
Unresolved Emotional Trauma
Quarter-Life Crisis
Young Adults

Professional Associations and Memberships

• American Counseling Association (ACA)

• International Experiential Dynamic Therapy Association

• Virginia Counselors Association (VCA)

more ABOUT ME

Hobbies + What I do for fun!

In my free time, I love to write and play music, dance, spend time with animals and outdoors, read, watch documentaries, and travel. I am also a second degree reiki practitioner, incorporating energy work, meditation, and mind-body practices into my daily life as part of my spiritual practice. 

Why I became a therapist

I became a therapist due to a deep, inner calling to serve others. Learning that most people feel “less than” has motivated me to help each individual see and honor their worth and what makes their existence a gift to humanity, and I believe the key to changing the world is by each one of us changing ourselves for the better. Going through my own journey of healing and transformation and seeing firsthand that profound personal change is possible further motivated me to help others do the same.

What inspires me about the work I do with patients

My clients inspire me by taking risks to be vulnerable, raw, and face scary and painful emotions. They inspire me by having the courage to admit to their struggles and make attempts to better themselves. Their courage and willingness inspires me daily to be vulnerable and authentic with myself and others, to commit to loving myself, to step outside of my comfort zone, and to face my own hard times and emotions when life throws them my way.

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