About Lara
Lara Joynes-Whidden is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Florida. She uses a collaborative approach that centers the person's goals and choices. Lara focuses on practical steps to help people manage mood, stress, relationships, and addictive behaviors.
She draws on client-centered work to build a trusting space where people set the pace. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is used to identify unhelpful thinking and shift behaviors that get in the way of daily life.
Background and approach
Motivational Interviewing helps people find their own reasons to change when habits and addiction feel stuck. In both outpatient and inpatient settings, Lara has supported people with depression, bipolar concerns, anxiety, and substance use issues. She also helps people navigating family problems, workplace stress, and life transitions like career changes or parenting strain.
ADHD is one of the areas she notes as a focus when organizing supports and strategies. Sessions aim to be straightforward and goal-focused. Lara often combines short-term tools with deeper conversations about patterns that repeat over time.
She encourages small, achievable steps so progress feels manageable. Her background includes employee assistance work, where she assisted people with job-related difficulties and work-life balance. With three years of clinical experience, she brings a practical lens to therapy while working alongside each person to reach clearer, more workable routines.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on the person in front of the therapist. It creates a respectful space where goals and decisions come from the client, which helps with motivation and relationship issues. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at thoughts and behaviors that keep problems going and teaches practical skills to change them, useful for anxiety, depression, ADHD-related routines, and sleep problems. Motivational Interviewing is a short, focused way to explore readiness for change and strengthen a person’s own reasons to make different choices, often used in substance use and habit change work.Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. The therapist will talk with the client about goals, try methods that fit those goals, and adjust as progress unfolds. This is a collaborative process where feedback shapes what comes next.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people maintain visual connection for deeper discussions. Phone can be simpler when bandwidth is limited or a quick check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging work well for brief check-ins, written reflections, or when someone prefers typing over speaking. These options make scheduling more flexible and help therapy fit into work, caregiving, or school routines.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Addictions
- Family conflicts
- Anger management
Also listed
- ADHD
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family problems
- HIV / AIDS
- Intellectual disability
- LGBT
- Money and financial issues
- Parenting issues
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sleeping disorders
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 3 years
- Licensed
- Florida
- Languages
- English
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