About Susan
Susan Trefts offers calm, steady support for people struggling with stress, anxiety, trauma, grief, and low self-esteem. She aims to create a clear, practical space where clients can talk through what feels overwhelming and build everyday coping skills. Susan believes each person knows their life best and brings strengths to therapy.
She listens closely and helps people draw on those strengths to face hard moments. The work is practical and focused on what matters most to the client.
How Susan works
Her approach blends client-centered therapy with techniques from dialectical behavior therapy. That means sessions often center on understanding what the client needs while teaching concrete skills for managing intense feelings and improving communication. With 21 years of professional experience, Susan has worked in clinical settings across Oregon and Washington.
Her background has given her a wide view of common struggles like grief, compassion fatigue, and lingering effects of trauma. She often helps people explore body image, forgiveness, guilt and shame, and life purpose. Sessions aim to increase self-love and confidence while addressing post-traumatic stress and women’s issues when they are part of a person’s story.
Susan uses straightforward language and a steady style. She supports clients through short-term goals and longer, deeper work depending on what the person wants to focus on.
Susan lists 2 ways of working on the entry:
What Susan works with
The areas below are the ones Susan selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
Training and background
| Registers | LCSW, LICSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 21 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Oregon |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How Susan’s approaches work online
Susan uses client-centered therapy to focus on each person’s priorities. That approach means the therapist listens closely, follows the client’s lead, and helps them name what matters most. It is useful when someone needs a steady, validating space to sort through feelings and make choices.She also draws on dialectical behavior therapy or DBT, which teaches clear skills for handling intense emotions, improving distress tolerance, and communicating more effectively. DBT skills can help with anxiety, trauma reactions, and compassion fatigue by offering concrete tools to use between sessions.
Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Susan will work with the client to decide which methods fit their goals, needs, and preferences. That conversation may shift over time as progress is made and new challenges come up.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls let people meet face to face when it matters, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, and chat or text sessions support quick check-ins or ongoing skill practice. These options make therapy more flexible and help fit sessions into busy lives.
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Common questions
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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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