Grace Szeja, LCSW

Grace Szeja is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people facing stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, and life changes. She greets clients with a calm, down-to-earth approach and encourages honest conversation about what feels hard right now.

Grace uses straightforward tools from cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and client-centered work to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and try small, practical changes. She also brings expressive art activities into sessions when that fits a person's style. Sessions are conversational and goal-focused, with room for creative exercises when helpful.

Her background includes hospital-based clinical work and a prior career as a fine artist. That mix shaped how she helps people process grief, identity questions, family of origin issues, and the disappointment that can come when life doesn't match expectations. She often supports people exploring attachment wounds, abandonment, and emptiness.

Grace has practiced social work for 10 years and holds the Licensed Clinical Social Worker credential. She works with mood disorders including bipolar concerns, ADHD-related struggles, trauma and post-traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue. She is experienced with issues common to young adults and people navigating midlife transitions.

Outside of clinical work she gardens, runs long distances, and hikes. She uses she/her pronouns and offers sessions in English. Grace aims to help people set kinder rules for themselves, build coping skills, and move toward a life that feels more like their own.

How Grace blends therapy approaches online

Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on patterns in close relationships and helps people understand how early bonds shape current trust and connection. It can be useful for attachment issues, abandonment concerns, and family of origin wounds. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and offers practical strategies to change unhelpful thinking and build healthier habits; it often helps with anxiety, depression, and mood regulation. Client-Centered Therapy centers the person's own goals and experience, prioritizing empathy and acceptance so people can explore values, identity, and life purpose.

Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. Grace will collaborate with each client to choose methods that fit their goals, preferences, and the problems they want to solve. That might mean starting with CBT skill practice, then adding attachment-focused conversation or client-centered exploration as needed.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, which make scheduling more flexible. Video is useful for deeper conversation and visual exercises, phone can be easier when bandwidth is limited, chat or text is helpful for quick check-ins or ongoing support, and messaging can fit shorter breaks in a busy day. These options let people fit therapy into work, school, caregiving, or travel schedules while working with licensed professionals.