Teletherapy Practice
About Me
Hello!
Thank you for visiting my site to learn about my online therapy practice. My name is Heidi Forget and I live in Groveland, MA with my husband. We have an 18 yr old son and a 22 yr old daughter.
I believe that we are all capable of creating healthy change in our lives no matter what age we are. I also believe that healing in therapy can only take place when we feel safe enough to be vulnerable, brave enough to present our true selves, and open enough to begin to share our stories even, and especially, when they are painful. It is my intention to provide a therapeutic relationship that is reparative by challenging old ways of thinking and being.
I view my role as a therapist as one who is to assist you in identifying barriers to change and healing. I view shame as one of the foremost barriers to this process. As a result, one of my primary goals as your therapist is to provide a non-judgmental, trustworthy, and supportive environment where you can expend vital energy in the process of healing and growing, instead of spending that energy protecting yourself from the type of disapproval or condemnation you may have come to expect from the world around you.
It is an honor and a privilege to be allowed into another's deepest pain in order to experience healing. I do not take lightly the trust it requires to choose to present your true self to another in order to seek help. To me, this process is sacred.
Education/Licensing:
Westmont College, Santa Barbara CA, BA in Sociology
Salem State College, Salem MA, MSW, LICSW
Specialty:
18-26 year olds
Years of Experience:
I have worked in the field of mental health as a counselor for over 24 years, spending 8+ years at an outpatient clinic treating individuals and families ages 4-75. The last 15+ years I have worked in a college counseling center working with 18-26 year olds and supervising interns completing their graduate-level clinical internships. My teletherapy private practice is part-time as I am still full-time as a Therapist and Associate Dean of Clinical Education at the college.
As a clinical social worker who has spent the majority of her career working with emerging adults it is my natural approach to assess, treat and view the work with my clients through a strengths-based, developmental approach.
About My Practice
Currently my clinical practice is 100% virtual, and only with individuals residing in the state of Massachusetts. Unfortunately, each state has different licensing requirements even when utilizing teletherapy. There are a few states that do not require a clinician to be licensed in the state where the client resides in order to conduct teletherapy, but the majority do not allow this.
Since my practice is entirely telehealth, there are limitations to the types of treatment modalities I can offer, and the presenting problems that can be addressed.
Presenting issues that are appropriate for tele-health include the treatment of:
Anxiety
Social Anxiety
Depression
OCD
Grief & Loss
Trauma/PTSD
Adjustment & Life Transitions
Relational Issues
Stress Mangement
Sleep Issues
Presenting issues that are not appropriate for tele-health include the treatment of high-risk and chronic psychiatric illnesses that require vital in-person assessment and monitoring such as:
Eating Disorders
Acute or Chronic Psychiatric Illnesses
Suicidality
Self-Harm
Therapeutic Approach:
After 24 years in the field, I view myself as a general practitioner and do not adhere exclusively to any one therapeutic model or orientation. It is my experience that each person is complex, multi-layered and ever-changing. Consequently, clients often benefit from a multi-faceted approach that reflects the needs they are looking to address. One's very own life experience (positive and negative), personality, preferences, cultural and ethnic background, and spiritual beliefs (to name only a few) all influence how one responds to different therapeutic approaches, how comfortable they feel with them, and what seems to be most helpful at the time they come for therapy. Ultimately, I believe that to join someone in their own process of healing and growth requires flexibility, creativity, and humor.
Treatments Approaches I Use:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Dialectical Behavioral (DBT) skills
Insight-Oriented (Psychodynamic/Client-Centered)
Interpersonal
Mindfulness Practices
Relaxation and Stress Reduction
Psychoeducation
Developmental Therapeutic Perspective
Supportive Coaching
"In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth? I have gradually come to one negative conclusion about the good life. It seems to me that the good life is not any fixed state. It is not, in my estimation, a state of virtue, or contentment, or nirvana, or happiness. It is not a condition in which the individual is adjusted or fulfilled or actualized... The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination." —From On Becoming a Person
Carl Rogers
