Lauren J. Brunner, LCSW

Meet Your Therapist: Lauren J. Brunner, LCSW Do you long for balance amid this chaotic world? Do you struggle in managing your relationships, work, and emotional and/or physical health? My approach cultivates empowerment through compassionate support. I begin by learning about you and your worldview. I believe that you are the expert of your life and that within you, resides the inherent capacity to find your way through the most difficult of circumstances. It is my perspective that we often just need a bit of assistance in cultivating that path. My role as a therapist is to help facilitate the growth and change process by developing a relationship in the context of a nurturing and supportive environment. Education: I received my Bachelor of Science from the Pennsylvania State University in 2010 where I focused my studies on human development across the lifespan. My master’s degree in clinical social work was obtained from The Ohio State University in 2012 where I graduated with high honors. With more than 15 years of extensive career experience as a psychotherapist and in the field of behavioral health, I have come to one solid conclusion: The path toward healing is not so much about becoming anything. Often, it is about unbecoming everything that isn’t you, so that you can be who you were truly meant to be in the first place. My Greatest Strengths: We simply cannot escape the circumstances and conditions that are part of the human condition. In fact, most of us have already tried — through gambling and technology, through food or the restriction of food, through drugs and alcohol, through sex and codependency, through work and shopping, through obsession; and the futile attempts to control our experiences and feelings — and we come to therapy because it didn’t work. My approach is integrated, and I work with clients on a variety of issues. I have received specialized and niche training in EMDR, DBT, and the Unified Protocol (UP) for transdiagnostic disorders. I believe in a holistic path to wellness that incorporates a variety of techniques (mindfulness, EMDR, CBT, EFT tapping, breath work) to help you heal. Substance Use Disorders: I find this integrative approach translates well when working with those who have a history of substance abuse but feel their Recovery needs a specialized approach. While I can find great value in 12-step facilitation, I believe the Recovery community is woefully in need of trauma providers who are skilled in integrating alternative recovery models within a trauma-informed perspective. Here, I incorporate the underpinnings of secular Buddhism to reinforce models of care that are based on the development of insight, mindful awareness, deep compassion, and radical acceptance as this is the work of emotional sobriety. Weight loss and Lifestyle Transformation: In a similar fashion, goals for lifestyle transformation respond favorably to this approach. The advent and widespread use of semaglutide injections have offered the general population new avenues for dramatic weight loss. Yet, we know such transformation must include more than the achievement of a number on the scale, or inches on the waistline. If that were true, wouldn’t we all “just do it”? The information on nutrition, exercise, and overall wellness is widely available, and in America diet culture runs strong. It is my belief that it is the things we tell ourselves—about ourselves—that has stood in the way of our self-revolution. As such, the process of evoking and sustaining such dramatic transformation, demands that we that embrace a newfound life potential, and develop an entirely new way of being in the world. Final Thoughts: In our self-discovery comes the task of learning who we are, and who we want to be. And with that comes the need to acknowledge who we have been, and how we got that way. It would be my honor to walk that journey beside you.