Lauren Messina, LPC, LPAT, ATR-BC
I’m Lauren (she/her), a creative, anti-oppressive, compassionate art therapist and licensed professional counselor in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I provide online art and trauma therapy with adults who want to connect their healing journey to breaking cycles of oppression. I help motivated adults explore their identities and life experiences to find individual and collective growth. At Work In Progress Therapy and Wellness, relationship and creativity will be the foundation for our work together.
You’re stuck in your own growth and unlike what white supremacy, capitalism, and generational trauma tell us, you don’t need to do it alone. You struggle with your self-worth, overriding your needs, and avoiding your feelings. Rage. Sadness. Fear. Confusion. Grief. What the fuck do you do with these? Through working together using creativity, curiosity, and connection, you’ll better understand who you are, why, and who you want to be. You’ll understand how white supremacy and oppressive systems affect your relationships, identity, and mood. You’ll make intentional changes that bring more joy, ease, and meaning for yourself, your loved ones, and the collective.
I’m a white, cisgender, straight, able-bodied woman who is an artist, mom, wife, therapist, and friend who values family both birth and chosen, laughing, nature, play, and creativity. Art therapy is at the heart of how I approach healing. Shawna Murray Browne’s Liberation-Focused Healing Framework has become the foundation that I was missing from my earlier education. I incorporate values and interventions from trauma informed, emotion focused, feminist, process-oriented, and social justice frameworks. I’m committed to unlearning anti-Blackness and de-centering whiteness to live an anti-oppressive life for collective liberation. This shows up in how I provide therapy to how I’m raising my two young white children. I’m forever learning. I’m a work in progress.
For the past ten years in Philadelphia, I’ve helped adults understand their mental health diagnoses through the lens of the complex traumas they’ve experienced. Working with me means looking at symptoms with a new perspective that allows for a holistic, compassionate understanding of who you are as a whole person. This will lead to meaningful shifts in your self-esteem, identity, and in your relationships. Contact me today for a free 15-minute call by completing the consultation form on my website.
http://www.workinprogresstherapyndwellness.com/contact
Together we’ll dismantle oppression internally and externally so you live a more authentic, joyful life.