Lauren Messina
LPC, LPAT, ATR-BC
she/her
Work In Progress Therapy and Wellness LLC
Accepting new clients
Contact provider
Licensed states
New JerseyPennsylvania
At a glance
Services Provided
Individual Therapy
Ages Served
Adults (18+)
Older Adults (65+)
Young Adults (18-25)
Older Adults (65+)
Young Adults (18-25)
Languages Spoken
English
About this provider
Clients I Work With
I specialize in art and trauma therapy with adults who want to connect their healing journey to breaking cycles of oppression. I help motivated adults who are struggling with their self-worth, have pattern of overriding their own needs and avoid feeling their feelings all while trying to break generational cycles. You want to make intentional changes that bring more joy, ease, and meaning but don't know where to start. Maybe you've learned to disconnect from your feelings and disregard your own needs filling everyone's cup but your own. Let's integrate your healing journey with anti-oppressive practices. Whether you're seeking support for depression, anxiety, grief, traumas, or just the everyday overwhelm of life, there's a vital role in connecting how oppressive systems impact you as an individual and as a part of the collective. Unlearning allows for healing, connection, & re-imaging.
Approach
My approach is anti-oppressive, trauma informed, and emotion-focused. Art therapy is at the heart of how I approach healing. Shawna Murray Browne’s Liberation-Focused Healing Framework has become the foundation that I was missing from my earlier education. I'm guided by trauma informed, social justice, feminist, psychodynamic, art therapy, & liberation-focused approaches. I'll hold space for you to be with your feelings & understand the root of your struggles. You're not gonna take ownership of a racist, ableist, harmful system as part of your identity. You'll get support in reconnecting with your true self. We'll use creativity, curiosity, & connection to weave together your story, heal from trauma, & break cycles of oppression. I offer individual virtual therapy for folks in PA and NJ.
Beliefs & Lived Experience
I’ve been in the caregiver or parentified role from what feels like day one. My feelings were overwhelming for others. I made myself smaller to not take up space because I prioritized everyone’s needs at the expense of my own. Experiences like these teach us to disconnect from our feelings, devalue ourselves, and leave us without energy and motivation to heal and fight for change. I, unknowingly, was participating in upholding oppressive systems by disconnecting from my own humanity. This is by design. Through my healing process, I became aware of how my feelings and behaviors connect to white supremacy culture and all the ‘isms’. These were not just my “individual” mental health struggles, even though it felt like that. I needed to integrate my anti-racism work with my own personal growth, which previously were two parallel paths that never crossed.
More About My Practice
I value the identities that are in the room (or computer screen). I’m aware of and acknowledge the many ways I am privileged by the identities I hold. I’m a white, cis, straight, able-bodied woman in a heterosexual, monogamous marriage living on unceded, stolen Lenni-Lenape territory. I’m also an Art Therapist, Licensed Professional Counselor, artist, mom of two, wife, granddaughter, and friend who values family both birth and chosen, laughing, nature, play, and creativity.
We’ll meet weekly or biweekly for 50 minutes virtually. This will be your space. Your space to be. To feel. To experiment. To be seen. To process. To grow. Just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean we can’t find joy in the process. Art therapy allows you to connect with your innate creativity and use art practices to explore, express, and transform what feels overwhelming and overpowering.
Specialties & approaches
Specialties
AnxietyBipolar DisorderBurnoutDepressionGriefPsychosisRelationship IssuesSelf EsteemSexual AbuseSuicidal IdeationTrauma & PTSDWomen’s Mental Health
Therapy approaches
Art TherapyAttachment-BasedCompassion Focused TherapyExpressive Arts TherapyFeminist TherapyPsychodynamic TherapyRelational Therapy
Specialized Experience
LGBTQ+ AffirmingNeurodiversity-affirmingRace & cultural identity
Fees & insurance
Session Fees
$75
$175