About Laura
Laura Pengelly is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who offers straightforward, practical help for common life challenges. She speaks plainly and focuses on what feels most pressing, whether that means easing anxiety, managing mood changes, or improving communication at home.
Background and approach
She brings 22 years of clinical experience and a focus on relationships, family dynamics, and trauma. Sessions are conversational and interactive.
She helps people look at how they see a problem and find small, workable steps forward. Laura uses approaches that include cognitive behavioral techniques and trauma-focused methods to address symptoms like depression, bipolar mood fluctuations, and anxiety.
She also draws on narrative and solution-focused work to help people clarify values, repair connection, and move toward goals. These methods are adapted to the person in front of her rather than applied the same way to everyone.
Work in therapy can include unpacking family of origin patterns, improving communication, managing grief, or handling parenting and fatherhood concerns. She also supports people dealing with attachment issues, autism and Asperger-related challenges, and disruptive mood concerns that affect daily life.
Sessions can be done through video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different schedules. Laura works from Pennsylvania and conducts sessions in English.
To begin, a short questionnaire and scheduling step connects clients to a session rhythm that fits their life.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Laura often uses cognitive behavioral methods to help people notice and change unhelpful thoughts and habits; this approach is practical for anxiety, depression, and managing mood swings. Narrative therapy is another tool she draws on to help people rethink the stories they tell about themselves and their relationships, which can help with identity and family of origin issues.Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with the client about goals, preferences, and how they respond to different techniques, then adapt sessions accordingly. Together they decide whether to focus on short-term problem solving or deeper trauma work based on the client's needs.
Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy fit into busy schedules. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when connection matters, phone sessions can be a good option when bandwidth or camera use is limited, and chat or messaging supports brief check-ins or ongoing reflection between meetings. These options help people access consistent care from Pennsylvania without traveling to an office.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Mood disorders
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Stress, Anxiety
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 22 years
- Licensed
- Pennsylvania
- Languages
- English