Nicole Guessford, LCSW

Nicole Guessford is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 23 years of experience. She works with people facing stress, anxiety, depression, relationship concerns, parenting challenges, trauma, grief, and a range of life changes. She aims to treat everyone with respect, sensitivity, and compassion and tailors conversations and plans to each person’s needs.

She describes her style as structured and direct while keeping a holistic outlook. Sessions often include practical steps to try between meetings, so homework is a regular part of the process. Nicole emphasizes self-care and self-compassion as essential tools alongside therapy work.

In practice she blends several approaches to match the situation. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps people notice patterns of thinking and behavior. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) supports identifying values and taking steps toward them. Attachment-based ideas inform work on closeness and communication.

Nicole has helped people manage parenting stress, family conflict, intimate relationship issues, and recovery from trauma and abuse. She also supports concerns such as eating and sleeping problems, chronic illness impact, caregiver stress, anger, low self-esteem, and ADHD-related struggles.

She is licensed in Pennsylvania and Virginia and provides telehealth sessions only due to insurance rules. Sessions are offered weekly or bi-weekly by telehealth, and she works with clients using insurance. To begin, a person selects the continue button on this profile and completes a short matching questionnaire to schedule according to availability.

How therapeutic approaches shape online work

Nicole commonly uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people clarify what matters most to them and take small actions toward those values, which can reduce avoidance and increase meaningful activity. She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to identify unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns and replace them with more effective strategies. These approaches are practical and are often paired with homework to build skills between sessions.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will work with each person to decide which methods fit their goals, needs, and preferences. That discussion guides which techniques are used in sessions and what tasks might be suggested between meetings.

Nicole provides telehealth sessions only due to insurance requirements, and she offers weekly or bi-weekly scheduling. If you are considering online therapy, confirm the current session options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit appointments into busy schedules, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and remove travel time so therapy is more practical for everyday life.