Lauren Rigney Counseling & Coaching

Couples therapy and marriage counseling are for romantic and non-romantic partners who find that they are in a negative pattern they cannot change. Counseling gives you a safe space to explore difficult and complex topics within your relationship.

Couples counseling can be helpful to establish a new way of communicating that includes talking and listening empathically. It can help you identify and attend to your partner’s needs. It can increase and restore intimacy. You can work to make your relationship a safe, loving, and enjoyable place.

Couples seek counseling for a number for reasons: constant fighting, lack of enjoyment with your partner, feelings of anger or jealousy, parenting problems, lack of intimacy, extended family conflicts, infidelity, and differences in lifestyle. Ignoring these problems will intensify them and cause more distance in your relationship.

Couples therapy is open to LGBTQ couples, straight couples, and polyamorous relationships. Couples counseling is useful to non-romantic parties as well – business partners, dance partners, writing partners, anyone in a close relationship that could use some help.

Distance counseling uses technology to assist in the therapeutic process. These technologies include telephone sessions, email, real time chat, and video chat. This form of counseling helps increase access to therapy for people who otherwise may not be able to engage in the process. Distance counseling can be used in combination with face-to-face sessions or as the sole method of counseling.

I prefer to see clients in my office if possible, but distance counseling can be helpful for clients who travel frequently, have irregular schedules, are home-bound, or have disabilities.

Distance counseling can be effective with a wide variety of clients and client concerns. Online counseling can be done securely, confidentially, and effectively. As a Distance Certified Counselor, I have received specific training in the use of technology to deliver counseling services. I take measures to ensure that our communications are as safe as possible. Prior to beginning distance counseling, we will review benefits and limitations of technology assisted counseling, confidentiality, and emergency procedures.

Distance counseling is not appropriate for every client. If your circumstances do not allow you to participate in traditional face-to-face, office-based counseling or if you would like to learn if distance counseling may be helpful to you, please contact me.

I am an Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS) through the Center for Credentialing & Education. I provide individual and small group supervision to limited permit and fully licensed clinicians. I have completed a training course on clinical supervision from The University of North Carolina Greensboro and continue to gain continuing education on the topic. I have experience supervising graduate students, limited permit MHC, LMHC, LMSW, and LCSW. Throughout my career I have participated in peer supervision with other licensed colleagues, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and psychiatrists.

Uniquely, I am a Distance Certified Counselor, which gives me specialized training in proper ethics and technologies for distance supervision and counseling. I am happy to engage in one-on-one supervision over approved distance modalities.

Life coaching focuses on whatever aspects of your personal life and career are keeping you from performing at your best. The goal is to make meaningful changes to help you reach your optimal performance.

Together we will look at those aspects of your life to understand the issues and how they are affecting you. We'll then prioritize and set goals; create a plan on how to reach them; and decide how to recognize your success along the way.

Life coaching clients commonly achieve:
- Improved personal organization
- Better time-management skills
- More stable personal finances
- Better communication in personal relationships
- Successful career changes and transitions
- Reduced stress
- Overall improvements to health and wellbeing

Life coaching is more than simply making changes. It is also a way to learn about yourself and those around you. Coaching will help you navigate your world with more ease and less stress. You will find a new rhythm for living your best life.

Benefits to working with a licensed counselor as your coach:
As a LMHC, I have advanced training in understanding how and why people think and act the way they do. I can efficiently identify issues standing in the way of achieving your goals. I also have the skills to address these in an effective manner. I will teach you to understand yourself and those around you.

Differences between coaching and counseling:
Coaching and counseling both aim to help people, but they do have differences. Coaching focuses on specific goals for current problems. My role as your coach is to hold you accountable, motivate you, and introduce structure and skills into your life. Coaching addresses a wide range of issues that can hold you back from your top performance. Counseling has less pressure to achieve time-specific goals and allows for a journey into your life - past, present, and future. My role as a counselor is to reflect and guide you in self-discovery. Counseling addresses deeper emotional issues, links them to current thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and allows for healing through exploration.