Karen Lakritz, LCSW

Karen Lakritz is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 30 years of experience as a psychotherapist. She has helped people manage depression, anxiety, grief, and substance use that can come from loneliness. Karen also has experience supporting people living with severe bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Karen describes her style as warm and supportive. She brings respect, sensitivity, and compassion to sessions while also holding clients accountable for the work. Her background includes long experience navigating health and housing systems in both Florida and Canada, which can help people dealing with system-level stress or relocation questions. In sessions she uses a mix of practical methods drawn from cognitive behavioral work, acceptance and commitment ideas, client-centered techniques, and elements of dialectical behavior approaches. Conversations focus on clear steps, coping tools, and the client's own goals. She pays particular attention to needs of non-neurotypical people, noting her own experience with a mild stutter and some dyslexia. Karen works with a broad range of life issues, including relationship concerns, parenting strain, career stress, trauma, sleep and eating difficulties, addiction-related problems, and compassion fatigue. She also addresses attachment and abandonment themes and longer-term conditions tied to chronic illness or aging. She asks for active commitment from people who want change and partners with them to build workable plans. To begin, prospective clients complete a short matching questionnaire and then schedule sessions based on the therapist's availability.

How therapeutic approaches guide online work

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then choose actions that match their values. It is often used for anxiety, depression, and life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking and testing new behaviors to reduce distress and improve daily functioning. It is commonly used for mood, sleep, and anxiety problems. Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist and client review needs, goals, and preferences and then try methods that feel like a good fit. This is a collaborative process and adjustments are made as goals change. The biography does not list specific online session formats, so confirm current options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when a full session isn’t needed. It can also let people meet with a licensed professional across state or national lines when that is permitted. The focus remains on practical coping skills, improving relationships, and steady progress toward agreed goals.