Grace Szeja, LCSW

Grace Szeja, LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker), brings 10 years of clinical experience supporting people across the lifespan. She draws on a background in hospital-based practice working with clients ages 5 to 90 and pairs that clinical foundation with a longtime interest in the fine arts. She previously worked as a comic illustrator and fine artist, and she integrates creative, expressive modalities alongside evidence-based techniques to meet each person where they are. She uses she/her pronouns and welcomes contact from people who identify with the LGBT community and from younger generations such as iGen and Gen Z.

Grace centers compassion, respect, and collaboration in her work. Her areas of focus include stress, anxiety, depression, relationship and family concerns, trauma and abuse, grief, parenting and career issues, ADHD and bipolar disorder, and compassion fatigue. She also offers support for abandonment and attachment issues, feelings of emptiness, family of origin concerns, guilt and shame, life purpose and midlife transitions, and common challenges faced by young adults.

Therapeutically she practices from a client-centered stance and uses techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy, often incorporating expressive art activities such as zendoodle, journaling, sand tray work, drawing, painting, and clay. Her goal is to help people develop new thought patterns, build healthy coping skills, reframe limiting beliefs, and recognize internal and external resources for growth. Outside of her clinical work she enjoys gardening, distance running, and hiking, and she shares her home with three cats and two rabbits; others would describe her as kind, gentle, and a meme expert.