Lacey Gaters

Lacey Gaters greets people with warmth and a straightforward approach. She describes starting therapy as an act of courage and focuses on what a person wants to change. Lacey listens first, then works with each person to set clear, realistic goals. She emphasizes respect, active listening, and a nonjudgmental stance in sessions.

Her practice leans on Client-Centered Therapy, where the client's experience guides the work. She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and test new ways of thinking that lead to different actions. Mindfulness and solution-focused techniques appear when practical to build coping skills and short-term progress.

Lacey holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from James Madison University. She is a Licensed Certified Social Worker-Clinical in Maryland and brings 11 years of experience across hospitals and outpatient clinics.

She has supported people facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, parenting challenges, addiction concerns, grief, anger, low self-esteem, and compassion fatigue. Additional focus areas include adoption and foster care, autism and Asperger syndrome, caregiver stress, communication problems, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, and self-harm concerns.

Lacey tailors sessions to what each person needs instead of following a single format. She invites honesty about current struggles so the pair can set practical steps forward. If someone is nervous about starting, she frames therapy as a collaborative process to build confidence and useful tools.

How her approaches translate to online therapy