About Lacey
Lacey Gaters greets people with a calm, straightforward style. She focuses on listening first and then helping clients set clear, achievable goals. She does not push an agenda and aims to give clients tools they can use outside sessions.
Her approach draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, client-centered work, mindfulness, solution-focused strategies, and trauma-focused care. She uses these methods to challenge unhelpful thinking, build coping skills, and create practical steps toward change.
How Lacey works
Sessions are tailored to each person's needs rather than following a fixed formula. Lacey holds an MD and is a Licensed Certified Social Worker-Clinical, LCSW-C, in Maryland. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in psychology at James Madison University and a Master of Social Work at the University of Maryland.
She brings 11 years of experience across hospitals and outpatient clinics. People come to her for issues such as stress, anxiety, depression, parenting challenges, trauma and abuse, addictions, grief, anger, low self-esteem, compassion fatigue, and ADHD.
She also focuses on adoption and foster care, autism and Asperger syndrome, caregiver stress, communication problems, DMDD, mood disorders, multicultural concerns, post-traumatic stress, self-harm, and young adult issues. Lacey offers sessions that fit different lifestyles, and she’s comfortable working with parents and young adults who need concrete strategies and steady support.
She invites prospective clients to describe what they are facing so she can tailor the work to those goals.
Lacey lists 5 ways of working on the entry:
What Lacey works with
The areas below are the ones Lacey selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Family problems
- Grief
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Registers | MD, LCSW-C |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 11 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Maryland |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How her approaches translate to online care
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening closely and following the client's lead. It helps people feel heard and decide what matters most to work on. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) targets thought patterns and behaviors with practical exercises and homework to reduce anxiety, depression, and stress. Trauma-Focused Therapy looks at the effects of traumatic events and uses careful, paced steps to reduce distress and build coping skills.Picking the right approach is a shared process. The therapist will start by asking about goals, history, and what has or has not worked before. From there she will recommend methods and adjust them as needed so the work matches a client's needs and comfort level.
Online sessions make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life. Video calls let people work face to face when that helps. Phone sessions can be a good option when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging support short check-ins, quick skill coaching, and ongoing contact between longer sessions. These options provide flexibility and multiple ways to practice the techniques learned in therapy.
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Common questions
What kinds of problems does she help with?
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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