About Penelope
Penelope Surber is a Florida-licensed mental health counselor with eight years of hands-on experience helping adults recover from trauma and handle ongoing stress. She brings practical, down-to-earth care to people dealing with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and addiction. Penelope focuses on making therapy straightforward and respectful so clients can feel heard and understood.
Her background includes years at a recovery center where she worked closely with adults facing a wide range of concerns.
How Penelope works
That work involved supporting people through trauma and abuse, codependency, attachment and abandonment issues, and the fallout from divorce or separation. She also has experience with caregiver stress, first responder strain, and coping after natural or human-caused disaster. Penelope uses several approaches to match what each person needs.
She leans on client-centered methods to build trust, cognitive behavioral strategies to change unhelpful thinking, and dialectical skills to manage strong emotions. She also draws on emotionally-focused and Jungian ideas when they fit the situation. Sessions aim to be interactive and practical.
Conversations are tailored to the client’s immediate concerns and life context. Penelope avoids stigmatizing labels and treats each person with empathy and respect. Her style suits people who want warm, direct support and tools they can use between sessions.
She helps people tackle problems such as stress, addiction, trauma, and relationship-related struggles while working toward clearer goals and steadier coping.
Penelope lists 11 ways of working on the entry:
What Penelope works with
The areas below are the ones Penelope selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Attachment issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LMHC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 8 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Florida |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How therapeutic approaches translate to online work
Client-centered therapy puts the person’s experience at the center of sessions and emphasizes listening and empathy; online this looks like steady, supportive conversation that helps people feel understood and make choices that fit their lives. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors; in remote sessions clients and the therapist use practical exercises, worksheets, and homework to build new skills between meetings. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal skills; delivered online, DBT often includes short skills coaching, practice of grounding techniques, and clear step-by-step tools for managing intense feelings.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Penelope will listen to your goals and needs, explain available methods, and collaborate on a plan that fits your situation and preferences. That collaborative process helps ensure the chosen approach feels useful and realistic for everyday life.
Online therapy offers flexibility in how sessions happen. Video calls let you see facial cues and use visual aids, phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited, live chat is useful for quick check-ins, and text-based messaging supports brief updates or ongoing skill practice. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule and to use different formats as needs change.
Start online instead of waiting
Our partner service asks a few questions about what you are looking for and matches you with a therapist for sessions from home.
Book with PenelopeWe will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.
Common questions
What kinds of problems does Penelope help with?
How would you describe her therapy style?
What is her professional background?
What credentials and location are listed?
Which languages and international options are offered?
What session formats are available?
How does payment and cost work?
What are the first steps to begin therapy?
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.
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you. Entries are not assessed or endorsed by this directory.
Other entries for stress, anxiety
Supportive LCSW helping people build strength and clarity
Practical, trauma-aware therapy for everyday life
Practical, relational therapy for life transitions