I’m Lauren, founder of
Every Body Therapy
I hold a Master of Social Work from Columbia University and completed post-graduate training in substance use and chemical dependency through Yale School of Medicine. I trained in EMDR under Dr. William Zangwill and am currently studying with Dr. Janina Fisher as I work toward advanced certification in CPTSD. I am also training in Cognitive Processing Therapy with Dr. Kate Chard, co-founder of the modality, and am working toward CST certification. Additionally, I am in the process of becoming certified in Prolonged Exposure Therapy through University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.
I began my career in the FDNY’s Counseling Services Unit, where I supported men in changing patterns of anger, aggression, and unhelpful coping to the daily trauma that came along with their profession. That work gave me a deep understanding of the cyclical nature of trauma and the ways pain, shame, and survival strategies can become enacted in relationships.
From there, I expanded my work across private practice settings that deepened and broadened my clinical foundation. In one setting, I worked within a holistic, LGBTQ+ affirming, kink-affirming, and sex-positive framework, which sharpened my understanding of systemic trauma, identity, marginalization, and the ways culture and power shape mental health. In another, I worked intensively with mood and anxiety disorders, including depression, panic, OCD, suicidality, and acute emotional distress. I later joined a practice centered entirely on eating disorders, body image, and body liberation, where my work became deeply informed by Health at Every Size, anti-fat bias, and weight stigma.
These experiences shaped the foundation of Every Body Therapy. I built this practice to reflect the full range of what I had come to value as a clinician: depth, nuance, relational honesty, and care that does not separate emotional suffering from identity, trauma, or the systems people live within.
My work is now largely trauma-specialized, while also drawing from my extensive experience with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, identity-related stress, and relationship struggles. My therapeutic style is engaged and direct. I do not take a detached or passive stance. I work actively with clients to name patterns clearly, challenge what is no longer serving them, and create meaningful, effective change. Clients often come to me when they want a therapist who will be honest, highly perceptive, incisive, relationally present, and challenging in our work.
I also offer clinically informed workshops, training, and consultation for organizations, therapy practices, and teams around burnout, communication, role clarity, leadership, group dynamics, and the psychology of managing people.
I don’t believe people are “broken”.
I believe our symptoms, defenses, shame, and relationship patterns usually make deep sense in context. In therapy, I help you understand what your pain has been trying to protect, while creating enough safety, honesty, and connection for something new to become possible.
People often feel safe with me quickly, not because I am passive or endlessly affirming, but because I am attuned, grounded, and skilled at recognizing what is happening beneath the surface. I know how to be direct without shaming, honest without being harsh, and relational without losing depth. My work is about helping people tell the truth, understand their patterns, and make real change.
My practice is grounded in trauma therapy and informed by extensive work with disordered eating and body image concerns, ADHD and autistic adults, religious trauma, illness and disability, anger and aggression, LGBTQ+ clients, perfectionism, high-achievement pressure, and major life transitions. In practice, that often means working with people who have become very skilled at surviving by overfunctioning, shapeshifting, numbing out, shutting down, or turning against themselves. I listen closely, track patterns carefully, and help people feel supported in ways that do not quietly reinforce the very dynamics keeping them stuck.
For many people, one of the most healing parts of therapy is not just the insight itself, but the relationship. It is the experience of feeling safe enough to speak openly, honest enough to name what is not working, and trusting that hard things can be worked through rather than avoided. I believe in being real, repairing when rupture happens, and building the kind of trust that makes honest challenge possible. If we work together, you can expect to feel both deeply cared for and clearly called in when needed.
I draw from EMDR, IFS, EFT, Gestalt therapy, DBT, and ACT, but I do not work in a rigid or one-size-fits-all way. My approach is relational, trauma-informed, socially conscious, and rooted in Health at Every Size. I want you to feel fully seen, respected, and met as a whole person, not reduced to a diagnosis or pushed toward someone else’s idea of healing.
My style and approach:
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