A warm, collaborative space to understand yourself more deeply, tend to your relationships, and move through life with greater awareness and purpose.
Get in touch
Do you value a strong connection with yourself, fulfilling relationships, and a life guided by intention and authenticity?
I'm Lauren Carpenter, a licensed independent clinical social worker based in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. I work with thoughtful, motivated adults who are curious about themselves and committed to living with greater awareness and purpose.
Whether you're navigating anxiety, a difficult transition, a relationship that feels stuck, or simply a sense that something in your life is asking for attention, therapy can be a place to slow down, get honest, and find your way forward. My hope is that you leave our work together feeling more connected to yourself and more at home in your life.
I earned my Master of Social Work from the Boston College School of Social Work and have been practicing for more than a decade.
Our relationship is at the heart of the work. I bring warmth, directness, and genuine curiosity, and I'll meet you where you are rather than where you think you should be. Together we'll pay attention not only to what's happening in your life, but to the patterns, stories, and protective parts of you that shaped how you got here.
My approach draws on attachment-based and relational therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), narrative and strength-based work, and cognitive behavioral tools when they're useful. In practice, that means less jargon and more real conversation.
Change happens in the context of a trusting relationship. We'll build that together, at your pace.
The ways you've learned to cope made sense once. We'll get curious about them rather than critical.
Understanding matters, and so does living differently. We'll keep one eye on what you want your life to look like.
My practice is LGBTQ+ affirming and welcoming of every identity, relationship structure, and family shape.
Worry that won't quiet down, overthinking, perfectionism, and the exhaustion of holding it all together.
Low energy, flatness, self-criticism, or a persistent sense of disconnection from the things that used to matter.
New roles, endings, divorce, career shifts, becoming a parent, or the quiet unease of a life that no longer fits.
Recurring conflict, difficulty with closeness or boundaries, and the family patterns that keep showing up.
Identity, motherhood, caregiving, ambition, and the particular pressures of being everything to everyone.
Loss, painful histories, and experiences that still live in the body — approached gently and at your pace.
I also work with self-esteem, parenting, and the ordinary but real challenge of wanting more meaning and intention in daily life.
Adults.
$200 per session. Private pay welcome.
In network with Blue Cross Blue Shield and Optum.
LICSW, Massachusetts license #121836. MSW, Boston College.
If you're not sure whether we're a good fit, or whether your insurance plan is covered, just ask — I'm happy to talk it through by email before we schedule anything.
If you would like to contact me about working together, please send me an email at the address below. I'll get back to you soon to say hello and answer any questions.
