Orlando Children & Family Counseling | Lauren Tolley
Specialties
Lauren specializes in working with couples facing communication issues to help improve their relationships and their lives. Often couples find themselves longing for appreciation or to be heard. Lauren enjoys helping couples find their way back to each other.
She is also dedicated to working with children facing challenges of self-expression, who seek to be understood, or are going through a difficult time. She loves working with children and adolescents of all ages as they work to discover themselves and their place within the world and family. She has experience with play therapy and utilizes this approach often with children. This type of counseling allows play to be the way for children to express their feelings and work through problems in their own special way.
Lauren is not only a counselor, but a step mom; and has personal investment in the challenges faced by blended families. She experienced (and still experiences!) all of the hardships and emotions associated with mixing families together. She feels connected to other people who have gone through similar struggles. She enjoys helping parents and children figure how to navigate the changing image of “family” in our society today.
Therapeutic Approach
Lauren believes that every person is capable of change and a major goal of therapy is to become one’s own “choice maker”. Lauren’s goal is to help clients find their sense of worth, hope, acceptance of self, empowerment, and ability to be responsible and make choices. She focuses on client’s sense of uniqueness and using these strengths to improve self-acceptance and self-esteem. Lauren believes in the importance of understanding clients “inner dialogue” and perspective. Which often describes how clients they see themselves and their relationships. Lauren is a realistic, genuine person who believes the relationship between therapist and client is instrumental for success and there is always hope despite tribulations and bumps in the road. It is never too late to change or grow!
“If we can help clients cope well at the levels of their expectations, perceptions, feelings, and fulfilling their needs in the best way possible- if we can help them take all levels into consideration- then we help them make progress.” – Virginia Satir
Education
She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who is passionate about working with a variety of different people with various concerns. She attended Rollins College in Winter Park where she received both an athletic and academic scholarship to play softball. After receiving her Bachelors of Art in Psychology from Rollins in 2008, she decided to continue pursuing her passion for helping people. Lauren then went on to attend the University of Central Florida and earned her Masters of Art in Mental Health Counseling and a Certificate in Play Therapy in 2012, and fell in love with the profession of counseling.
Experience
After graduation, Lauren joined the Marriage and Family Research Institute at UCF and taught relationship education and enhancement classes to the community. These classes helped couples develop the skills needed to communicate with each other and grow as a couple. Very soon after, she joined the State of Florida working as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor. Here she counseled people with various disabilities who were seeking employment. She also has experience counseling elder adults and people in “caregiver roles, as she also works in clinical research for people with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and cognitive impairment.
A little more about Lauren
Lauren was born and raised in Orlando, where most of her family still resides. She is married and has an amazing step son. Lauren is an avid fitness enthusiast. She believes strongly in the importance of health through the connection of mind, body and spirit. Lauren also developed “The Everyday Couple,” a YouTube channel/social media blog with her husband. “The Everyday Couple” provides tips and techniques for couples dealing with communication issues and parenting concerns.
Certifications:
- Licensed Mental Health Counselor, LMHC
- Certificate in Play Therapy
- Certified Specialist in Psychometry, CSP
- PREP certified
