Therapists for college students near Pittsburgh, PA

We are a small group therapy practice serving clients in person in Pittsburgh, PA and via telehealth throughout Pennsylvania. Our practice centers the needs and experiences of marginalized people and populations, especially those who are LGBTQIA+ people, neurodivergent, or practicing alternative relationship structures (e.g., ethical nonmonogamy). All of our clinicians have lived experience with at least one of these topics, and we are committed to inclusive, trauma-informed care. Check out our clinician bios on our website to see if we sound like a good fit for your needs, and feel free to contact us with questions!

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

My name is Allison Fox, I graduated from the counseling program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and I hold my BS in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to pursing my graduate degree, I worked as a case manager, giving me valuable experience working with marginalized communities, including individuals impacted by housing scarcity in urban areas. My work has taken me into hospitals, nonprofit organizations, and homes—meeting people where they are and honoring the complexity of their lives. I believe that healing happens in spaces where authenticity is met with safety and connection. My approach is collaborative, transparent, and deeply rooted in the lived realities of my clients. Using frameworks from parts work/Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), I aim to help clients move beyond labels into a deeper holistic understanding of the core behaviors and emotional attachments that shape their experiences. I am LGBTQIA and neurodiversity affirming, and committed to providing a therapeutic space that acknowledges the impacts of systemic oppression and trauma while fostering resilience, self-awareness, and growth. My work is informed by a belief in the power of relationships, the importance of self-compassion, and the possibility of change. Wherever you are in your journey, I look forward to working together in a way that feels meaningful, empowering, and true to you.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

Hey! My name is Ainsley, and I’m a trans, queer, neurodivergent, and physically disabled therapist. I love stories. Telling them, reading them, writing them, and most important in my career—listening to them. I believe there is unmistakable power in a person’s story that leads to greater connection, purpose, and understanding. Speaking from personal experience, our life stories change rapidly! Sometimes this is wonderfully exciting. But, it can be isolating to feel like your story has changed so quickly that you’re no longer its author. My passion as a therapist stems from wanting to help others reconnect with themselves, live authentically, and reclaim their narrative. Of course, authenticity is a two-way street, so I’ll be showing up fully as myself—with my multi-colored mullet, fidget toys, and whichever glasses frames match best with my outfit that day. (: I fully encourage you to show up in whatever way feels most comfortable to you, even if that changes on a weekly basis. I became a therapist because I enjoy working with people and helping to brainstorm solutions. I started my career as a teacher, and quickly found myself in the depths of AuDHD burnout. I knew I wanted to help people, and that I loved being a small part of someone’s journey to success. But, I felt that my creativity and identity as an advocate were stifled by the school system. As a therapist, the pieces of myself that others viewed as “too much” are now my strengths. In my internship experience, I received training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and trauma-informed approaches. While I may use DBT in practice to aid in emotional regulation, my integrative approach also draws from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and person-centered work. I have extensive experience working with children and teens, who are some of my favorite clients. I’ve been known to incorporate creativity and special interests whenever I can! Music, art, and video games are great tools to process emotions! While you can expect each session to start similarly—with a check-in that is not just the dreaded “How are you today?”—I look forward to collaborating with you to make our time together worthwhile and meaningful. We might be a good match if any of the following resonates with you: You’re exploring gender and/or sexuality and you want a therapist who shares queer and trans identities. You suspect you might be neurodivergent, and feel totally lost. Your previous therapists just haven’t “clicked” with you, or you haven’t felt affirmed. Traditional “talk therapy” doesn’t do it for you, or you’d like a more creative approach to sessions. You’re struggling with anxiety that leaves you emotionally and physically drained. You’ve been told you have “big emotions,” are “too sensitive,” or are “too much” for others. You want to build greater self-esteem or a better relationship with your mind and body. Life is tough, and opening up to a stranger by pursuing therapy is even tougher. I commend you for taking this step and would be honored to be a part of your next chapter. You’ve got this.

Hi! I’m Camryn, a dedicated clinical mental health counselor with a passion for holistic, trauma-informed care. I aim to create a safe, supportive space for the “misfits”—individuals who are often labeled “too sensitive,” experience intense emotions, or struggle with a sense of belonging. I enjoy working with individuals on issues including self-esteem, stress management, life transitions, grief, identity exploration, emerging adulthood, and complex trauma. I also enjoy working with artists and athletes. As a certified yoga instructor, I prioritize the mind-body connection and respect the body’s intuitive wisdom. My colleagues often describe me as exceptionally warm and welcoming. I am currently accepting new clients and am humbled and honored to walk beside you in your journey to healing

We are a liberation-focused therapy and consulting practice offering affirming care, regardless of your identity, we’re here to offer our support and ALL are welcome. Our practice emphasizes affirming care for queer, neurodivergent, and marginalized communities because these groups often struggle to find safe providers. At the same time, therapy is for anyone seeking personal growth and support. You don’t have to hold a marginalized identity to benefit from what we offer – we’re here for the full range of human experience. We believe that healing is inseparable from justice. We offer therapy from a perspective that acknowledges systems of power and oppression. We exist to affirm and support the marginalized identities that are most impacted by systemic injustice and harm. We also recognize our shortcomings and lack of power. We can’t change systemic injustice, but we are dedicated to ongoing education and training that equips us to do our very best at offering support for marginalized groups.

You deserve a space where you are free from empty promises of "healing" or this week’s new buzzwords. Naturally, I like to keep things simple up front. My work with folks typically focuses on some combination of High Intelligence/Giftedness, Autism/ADHD, and OCD. Often, these are paired with Depression, Anxiety, and/or trauma. I also tend to work with those who identify as LGBTQIA+. I find that a crucial part of working with the folks I do is being able to “just get” a lot of the shame, struggle, and frustration they carry, which I feel I can do quite well both intuitively/personally and professionally. In specific terms, I integrate existential philosophies, Lacanian theory, and schema therapy perspectives in my practice. I think it's important to acknowledge our more conscious thinking alongside the behind-the-scenes parts of our brain that often do a lot of heavy lifting. Sometimes, though, the best we can do is focus on the here-and-now through processing or learning coping strategies, which is okay! A central part of my work is autonomy and empowerment. People should be able to set the goals that make sense for themselves. This world places plenty of expectations on others, but fortunately, this is not a space that reinforces this. No expectations are made for session, just a space tailor-made for you. I’m now pursuing a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision. In my future, I hope to be able to further improve the lives of the folks I see both with clinical practice and with research. In my free time, I can often be found playing the guitar I built, playing the piano, or clicking away on a mouse and keyboard to the tune of various video games. That is, when I don’t have my eyes glued to a good research article or new book.

As our name reflects, our counseling services focus on relationships because, after all, we all occupy at least one of these relationship roles: spouse, parent, sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, child, friend, co-worker, employer, and employee. Whether the problem is a recent or impending personal loss; conflicted, confusing, or distant relationships; trauma or abuse; struggles at work or home; or bouts with depression or anxiety, we are here to help.

Becoming a therapist and social worker has always felt like my 'ikigai'. My own lived experiences have shaped and inspired me to create a beacon of healing for others. I know firsthand the power of being held in affirming, compassionate support—an experience that profoundly changed the trajectory of my life. Now, I continue to carry this forward in my work. As a therapist, I see it as a privilege to witness growth across the spectrum of the journey. I view pain and suffering as doorways to new experiences, discoveries, and overall ways of living- and I feel honored to be by my client's side on this journey. As I walk alongside my clients, I continue to learn, not only about them, but through them. I truly enjoy working with different people across the human experience, but I especially feel that I can build deep rapport with those with whom I share some lived experience. We could be a good fit if any of these hit home for you: You feel like you are crumbling under the weight of chronic pain and/or illness(es). Searching for help but only getting perpetually dismissed by the systems that were designed to 'help'. You feel that these systems and living in an ableist society further poke at these painful wounds. I understand the ins and outs of this and the emotional toll that living with such illnesses and engaging with these systems brings on—you are safe to be heard here. You are a highly sensitive or empathic human trying to navigate these difficult times. You want to process past trauma—at your own pace. You were/are the scapegoat or black sheep of your familial system. You grew up in a dysfunctional family system. You want to step into, process, or explore your sexual and/or gender identity. In therapy with me, you can expect me to show up authentically to create a space where—hopefully—you feel that you can do the same. I understand and honor that we are human first, and this may look different on any given day. I am here to listen to understand the various aspects of your story and how you got to where you are today. Overall, therapy with me is holistic, compassionate, and grounded in human connection. I do not expect you to conform or leave any part of yourself at the door—I truly believe that if I am not seeing you holistically, that I am not seeing YOU. Shoes off? Need to keep your hands busy? Need to sit on the floor for a bit? No problem-—this is a space to bring (or find) your whole self. I honor my lived experiences in this profession as they have taught me so much beyond my professional and educational training. As a queer person living with invisible chronic/disabling illnesses who grew up in a (very) rural town on the border of Mexico in Texas, I know what it is like to have to hide parts of yourself to survive. I also know the toll that takes. Additionally, I am a trauma survivor, and while my story may not mirror yours, I see it as a source of fuel to my curiosity and the depth of my empathy. Outside of work, I recharge by surrounding myself with good company—human or creature. You might find me curled up with a cat while getting lost in media, making art, or wandering through the forest being consumed by moss and water sounds. I also love board games, fantasy, and may or may not imagine myself as a fairy sometimes—off on a quest to slay a dragon— cue being overstimulated at the grocery store. Through it all, I remain my awkward, empathic, and goofy self.

Are you going through times of high emotions and stress? Let me help. You deserve an experienced and competent professional that works with you to explore your situation with respect and compassion. Together, we will get to the heart of the problem and find fresh ways of managing your situation. I collaborate with you to help move you toward healthy change. I have a flexible approach that takes the best parts of different treatments and uses them in a way that fits your needs. I especially love helping individuals with social issues, such as anxiety and relationship issues.

Feeling sad, anxious, worried, more than just a couple of weeks? Experiencing racing thoughts, low energy, lack of enjoyment in life? Caught up in troubled relationships or wondering "what is the point of it all?" If you are feeling discouraged, irritable, overwhelmed, or need the opportunity to sort things out, therapeutic counseling may help. Nurture yourself by investing dedicated time to discover who you are, and how you want to be in the world. Come find space to safely confide your troubles. Identify beliefs and assumptions important to you and what needs are being served (or not). Find a clearer focus. Foster healthy self-care, so you get on with the business of living with purpose, with passion--even joy. Reconnect you to you! Together, we commit to nurturing your personal growth and self-understanding through the therapeutic process. We focus on creating a safe, grounded environment for you to experience your authentic self, thoughts, feelings. We seek to identify and expand your support network and concentrate on practicing healthy self-care and kindness.

I practice psychodynamic psychotherapy with older adolescents, young adults and adults. Psychodynamic psychotherapy fosters self-understanding and facilitates meaningfulness, satisfaction and efficacy in relationships and work. Psychodynamic psychotherapy can help you: experience greater enjoyment in your life; deepen your understanding of yourself and others; improve your mood; manage stress and reduce anxiety; gain insight into, and change, self-defeating patterns of thinking and behaving; learn new problem-solving skills; become more productive at work or school. My office location: 401 Shady Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206.

Hi, I’m Sabrina, and I am a queer, neurodivergent woman doing her best to balance working full time, engaging with my amazing partners, spending time with friends and comrades, and trying to makes this hellscape we call our country a little bit more bearable. I’m also a person-centered therapist. Who I Help I love working with folks surrounding LGBTQIA+ related concerns, gender identity, trauma & PTSD, neurodiversity, and relationship concerns especially folks in non- traditional relationships. I also work with those struggling with anxiety, depression, family conflict and dysfunction, codependency, intimacy concerns, parenting, ADHD, body image, and understanding emotions both ours and other people’s. While most of this profile is geared towards adults, I do also work with kids. I use a lot of play in sessions to help kids process what is going on in their world, but I also find a lot of my young clients are able and willing to sit and just talk for a while. Relationship Counseling I believe that one of the things that makes us human is the need to have relationships with other people. When I was in graduate school, I was always the odd woman out because I refused to call what I wanted to do “couples counseling” for two key reasons: 1) As someone who is happily polyamorous, I am well aware that not all romantic attachments involve exactly two people. 2) Romantic relationships are not the only types of relationships that matter. Ruptures in your relationship with your parents, your best friend, or a colleague can be extremely painful, and sometimes talking to a third party can help that relationship be repaired. For relationship counseling, I typically draw upon Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). This modality explores the ways that all parties form attachments, and how they feel secure (or insecure) in them. It helps us dissect the current pattern (which Sue Johnson, creator of EFT, calls “the tango”), and then together, we develop new steps for the next time a disagreement occurs. Disagreeing with each other is a normal, healthy thing for people to do; therapy can help us learn how to disagree without feeling threatened. I am a big believer that there are many, many ways to have a healthy relationship and that folks are capable of making their own choices about what works for them. I will honor your relationship whether you’re monogamous, ethically nonmonogamous, polyamarous, kinky, vanilla, or exploring different styles to figure out what works best for you. Trauma Trauma rewires our brains. It can change us into people we no longer recognize. Healing, however, will also rewire us. What doesn’t kill us makes us hypervigilant and untrusting —it’s the healing that makes us stronger. While my specific approach for supporting you will be based on what you need, I generally start by exploring with you what gives you a sense of safety and ways we can return to that sense of safety when things get stressful. We will explore your past at your pace. It will be uncomfortable at times, but I will be with you every step of the way. It is also important to me to do our best to make sure our sessions end on a note that feels most comfortable for you. (Before I became a therapist myself, I had a therapist who consistently ended sessions while I was highly agitated and stressed—even after I pointed out this was happening and asked her to stop. I vowed to never do that to someone else.) Gender Identity Gender is complicated, and societal expectations are a big part of why that is. Regardless of whether or not the doctor guessed your gender correctly when you entered the world, exploring the ways in which you express your gender is often an ongoing, and sometimes complex, process. I use inclusive Feminist Therapy along with my Person-Centered Approach when talking about gender. I have supported people both in my personal and professional lives, as they’ve navigated their own relationship with their gender. While I feel that I have explored my own relationship to gender more than the average cis person, I do want to acknowledge that I do not have direct lived experience with being trans. What Can You Expect in the Room with Me? While I do still read academic articles and books, I am far more likely in session to reference a meme or Tik-Tok I just saw that feels relevant to the situation being discussed. I draw upon multiple modalities, depending on the concern we are working through and what you believe may work best for you. Person-centered Therapy however is my primary lens and it will show up even when I’m pulling from EFT techniques, Feminist Therapy, and solution-focused. Person-centered therapy is all about congruence, which means accepting ourselves fully and being our authentic selves. The process of becoming congruent is similar to forming a deep bond with someone else: your best friend has flaws, sure, but you don’t try to change them because you love them how they are. Becoming congruent is very similar to falling in love with yourself, and it is one of my favorite things to watch other people do. I have been “on the other side of the couch” a few times, and I have had amazing, horrible, and mediocre experiences as a client. In fact, I became a therapist in part because I’d had a bad experience and recognized an enormous need for more relationship counselors who understand polyamory. Even better would have been a relationship counselor who was actively practicing ENM. Cue the realization that I could be that someone, add a very supportive wife who was willing to take on student loans, and here we are. Favorite Therapist Quote “When I look at a sunset as I did the other evening, I don’t find myself saying, ‘Soften the orange a little on the right hand corner, and put a bit more purple along the base, and use a little more pink in the cloud color.’ I don’t do that. I don’t try to control a sunset. I watch it with awe as it unfolds.” —Carl Rogers, A Way of Being

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

We all crave connection, yet navigating the complexities of relationships, especially the one with ourselves, can feel overwhelming. At our practice, we believe that a strong sense of self is the foundation for healthy, fulfilling connections with others. We understand that seeking counseling can feel daunting. We'll listen actively and without judgment, fostering a space where you feel comfortable expressing your vulnerabilities and exploring your deepest thoughts. We believe in the power of self-discovery and its transformative effect on all aspects of your life. Let's embark on this journey together. We create a safe, supportive space where you can explore the inner landscape of your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. We'll work collaboratively to: Enhance self-awareness: We'll guide you in understanding your unique values, needs, and patterns. This self-knowledge empowers you to make choices aligned with your authentic self. Throughout our journey together, you'll gain the tools and resources to manage difficult emotions, cultivate healthier communication patterns, and ultimately, build stronger, more fulfilling relationships – starting with the most important one: the relationship with yourself.

We are a liberation-focused therapy and consulting practice offering affirming care, regardless of your identity, we’re here to offer our support and ALL are welcome. Our practice emphasizes affirming care for queer, neurodivergent, and marginalized communities because these groups often struggle to find safe providers. At the same time, therapy is for anyone seeking personal growth and support. You don’t have to hold a marginalized identity to benefit from what we offer – we’re here for the full range of human experience. We believe that healing is inseparable from justice. We offer therapy from a perspective that acknowledges systems of power and oppression. We exist to affirm and support the marginalized identities that are most impacted by systemic injustice and harm. We also recognize our shortcomings and lack of power. We can’t change systemic injustice, but we are dedicated to ongoing education and training that equips us to do our very best at offering support for marginalized groups.

I have experience working with emerging adults (18-21 years old), providing individual counseling surrounding life transitions and identity development. I earned my bachelor’s degree at University of North Carolina- Asheville in 2010. Before moving to Pittsburgh, I worked in a whole person centered recovery program helping people with substance use and mental health challenges. I draw from therapeutic frameworks such as existential-humanistic, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Emotionally Focused Therapy. At the core, my therapeutic perspective is curiosity and compassion. It is my role to understand and honor your complexities and contradictions, instead of neutralizing them. I want to work with adult individuals and couples who are interested in their past, present, and future selves. I will bring a non-judgmental, person-centered approach that prioritizes your needs and wants in every session. I believe healing and growth doesn’t happen in a bubble, but in the moments of connection where you can be both genuine and vulnerable. My purpose as a therapist is to create a safe space for you to cultivate authenticity, explore those vulnerabilities, and move towards your goals. My practice is strongly informed by the urgency and reality of our current times. Mental health is not just an individual issue, but intertwined with our systemic and community environments. I will seek to understand your unique lived experiences, especially if those experiences include marginalization and oppression. I hope to help you navigate these real overwhelming struggles and find paths towards resistance, empowerment, and joy.

Our Medication Management Services integrate seamlessly with therapy to support your full healing journey. Whether you’re exploring medication for the first time or continuing ongoing treatment, our goal is to help you feel grounded, supported, and empowered every step of the way.

College can be a simultaneously exhilarating, yet terrifying time in life, identity, relationships, future and more. I'm here to help you sort through it all. Let's work together to help you create and enact your best life: whatever that means and looks like to you! As your therapist, my goal is to create a comfortable space to help you work towards your goals. I offer online video therapy through a secure app that you can use from anywhere. Reach out for a free consultation call or video demo!