Offices in: doylestown, pa & King of prussia
Lia Pretecrum, B.A., Graduate Counseling Intern, Certified Life Coach
Lia works with children and adolescents who are dealing with anxiety, depression, disordered eating, and ADHD. She understands that adolescence is a time marked by unique struggles, including academic pressures, evolving social dynamics, identity exploration, and emotional development. Her approach is deeply rooted in the principles of trauma-informed, integrative care.
Lia believes in a collaborative partnership with her clients, adapting her approach to meet their specific developmental stage, interests, and challenges. No two journeys are alike, and Lia ensures that each young individual's unique path to healing is respected and supported. She is committed to fostering a safe, non-judgmental environment where her clients can freely express themselves, explore their emotions, and embark on a journey towards a brighter and more resilient future.
Lia is currently working on her Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis on trauma and child and adolescent therapy. She also provides Therapeutic Coaching to clients within our practice.
Luke McGowan, Graduate Student, Certified Life Coach
Luke is a Graduate Student of Social Work at Temple University.and a Certified Adolescent Mental Health Coach . Luke works with adolescents, college students and young adults. He works with with adolescents with ADHD, Gaming Addiction, Teens dealing with their parent's Divorce, Anger Management Issues, Family Conflict, Depression, Anxiety, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder.
With young adults Luke's particular area of interest is "Failure to Launch" . Luke works with young adults who are experiencing difficulty moving forward in their lives in various ways: the inability for finish college, the inability to motivate themselves to find a job or stay in a job, or young adults who are using pot/marijuana to deal with the difficulties of life.
Luke has a unique way of helping these kids begin to capture their true identity. Together they explore where they are in their lives, where they want to go whether it is in their academics, careers, with self care or in relationships, and what is holding them back from being all that they can be. With tremendous patience and respect for the client and where they are at this very moment, Luke begins to help his clients tell their story and put the pieces of the puzzle together.
For Lukes clients parents, he often refers them to a Parent Support Therapist as while their child is doing the hard work of therapy they may be frustrated and need guidance on how to support their child and how to take care of themselves in the process.
Luke's approach is personal and relaxed, he has a way of helping kids feel comfortable opening up to him.
Erika Strasburg, B.A., Certified Adolescent Mental Health Coach, Certified DBT Skills Coach, Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach
Erika works with teens/adolescents who are struggling with ADHD, Anxiety, Self Esteem Issues, Body Dysmophia or Disordered Eating. Erika has a way of making teens feel right at home in her shame-free therapy room, so they can open up and share what they are truly feeling. She has a youthful energy, allowing teens to connect with her quickly. Erika works with her clients using DBT skills, CBT skills, and mindfulness. She honors each of her client's individual processes and circumstances, and believes small steps can lead to big changes.
Erika helps her clients improve their relationship to food, movement, stress, sleep, social media, and social circles. All of these areas greatly impact mental health, especially for teenagers. By establishing a safe and supportive space, Erika helps her clients develop a deeper understanding of the habits and choices that will improve their energy, balance and quality of life. She guides her clients to find their own empowered voice, and to feel calm and strong in mind and body.
Erika has worked for one of the top college prepatory programs in the country, helping her teen clients navigate the stressful process of getting into college. She works with teens (and adults) in show business, who have absorbed the unrealistic expectations of the entertainment industry. She helps these clients discover that their value is in who they are, not what they do.
Her teen clients would describe her as relatable, encouraging, compassionate, and safe. And their parents credit her for having a life changing impact on their children, as they navigate the difficulties of being a modern day teenager.
Samantha Sargent, Certified Adolscent Mental Health Coach
Samantha works with adolescents who are struggling with their dating relationships. Her clients meet with a therapist weekly and Sam meets with them outside of the therapy session when they have a need to talk with a coach for extra support. These kids are going through the tumultuous teenage ups and downs of dating in today's world of technology with Snapchat, Instagram, and cyberbullying.
Often her clients find it difficult to hold on to their sense of self while dating someone. All of their value goes into the other person as they were not on steady ground when they began dating. When their partner begins acting differently than the person they once knew by not being faithful or treating them unkindly, this can trigger many feelings and strong reactions. Some of her clients turn the anger in on themselves, question their own worth, and begin thinking it was because of the way they looked....if only they were thinner, prettier, or taller. All of these defenses are a way not to feel the real pain of the loss.
Because the loss is played out in the halls of their high school in front of peers those vulnerable feelings are difficult to feel. At times they retaliate online with posts to get back at the person they were dating. All of these actions often lead to public shame and embarrassment. They will do anything to hold onto the relationship, even at the expense of their mental health.
Sam is available to listen, reflect back, and validate the pain of the loss. And to be fully present for the intense raw feelings of a breakup, that in this day and age, is often played out all over social media and in harsh and unkind ways. The lack of discretion and privacy of some in this technology-driven generation creates other issues with the ups and downs of dating, that their parents did not have to deal with at their age. This lack of understanding on the parent's part often leads to frustration and the "just get over it" attitude which only pushes the child away and takes them feel more alone in the world. When a child feels profoundly alone after a loss other issues may present.
Sam can be very helpful to parents as well to help them understand how to meet their child exactly where they are, and not try to hurry the process. Sam emphasizes that the adolescent needs to feel supported and not alone at these troubling times as that aloneness leads to other issues.
Laura Trachtenberg, M.S., Graduate Student, CBT&DBT Certified, Certified Life Coach, Intern
Laura is in a Masters Program for Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She also holds a Master of Science in Integrative Biology with a focus on immunology, pan, and epistemology. Her scientific research and education along with her education of psychology equips her to deal with an understanding of the science and research of illness and the emotional issues that may accompany a client's illness or that of a family member.
Laura is also CBT Certified (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and DBT Certified (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy). She utilizes both CBT/DBT for work with clients with medical illness and the caregivers or those close to family members who have medical illness and the the various mental health issues that come from being sick such as anxiety, depression, grief/loss, hopelessness and adjustment disorders.
Laura works with individuals whose mental health has been affected by medical illness, whether they are experiencing illness themselves or helping a family member with an illness. Laura clients or their family members suffer with illnesses such as with medical illness ALS, MS, auto-immune disorder, long covid issues, or cancer.
Laura works with the depression that can appear after a heart surgery, or the frustration of dealing with a chronic illness such as lymes disease, fibromyalgia, or lupus. She also works with those given a cancer diagnosis to manage the anxiety that comes along with the uncertainty of waiting for tests results and outcomes.
Laura works with the grief and loss that can come with losing capacity to do the things in daily life one was able to do before the medical diagnosis. Laura helps clients through the stages of grief and to come to a place of acceptance to create a new life based on their present abilities.
Laura also works with family members, siblings and parents of clients with medical illnesses who aren't quite sure how to help their family member with the mental health symptoms that may come along with the illness.
Laura is available for individual coaching or family coaching to help her clients express the feelings that are happening inside of them in light of a recent diagnosis or a long term illness that has to be managed.
Reilly Brady, B.S., Graduate Student Intern, Certified Life Coach
Reilly is in her graduate studies in Art Therapy at Drexel University and works with adolescents and children using art and creativity to help them express their feelings. Reilly is engaging and personable and has a way with kids where she helps them open up and share what's going on for them in their lives with school, family, social, and internally.
Reilly works with kids who are anxious, having self esteem issues, body dysmorphia and those who just don't feel like they are fitting in socially. She also helps kids who are having a. lot of conflict at home with parents or siblings.
For adolescents and children who have a hard time opening up in therapy and feel anxious about coming to therapy and not filling the hour with things to say, Art Therapy helps them relax and draw and create so the focus is not on talking. Very quickly they can begin expressing themselves as they are comfortable doing both things at once.
Samantha Joseph, B.A., Graduate Counseling Intern, Certified Life Coach
Samantha is an Intern from Chestnut Hill College where she is Graduate Student in Counseling Psychology. Sam 's work is with children and adolescents who are dealing with anxiety, depression, disordered eating, and ADHD. Sam has a passion for working with children/teens and understanding where they are in the process of development, and explores their social interactions, their relationshi with academics, their lifestyle as far as nutrition, sleep and exercise, their sibling relationships and their relationship with their parents.
When working with children under 14 years old Sam also meets with the parents alone and does family therapy with the child and parents as well. Sam's ability to study the patterns in families, with well meaning parents who would do anything for their child. As parents we are often anxious when our child does not appear happy or experience joy. We want to fix that and often the ways we go about that are not helpful for the child or the parents relationshi with their child.