About

DR. LAUREN LEONE, ATR-BC, LMHC

Dr. Lauren Leone, counselor and art therapist, sits at a table and is looking at the camera smiling, as she embroiders

Hi, I’m Lauren.

I’m an artist, therapist, educator, and organizer.

I’m a licensed mental health counselor, a board-certified, registered art therapist, and an EMDR-trained clinician. In addition to providing individual therapy, I also volunteer with Cambridge HEART, a community-based public safety program, and facilitate community art therapy projects rooted in abolition and social justice.

In your therapy, we might work through talking, using somatic (body-based) approaches (like mindfulness or breathing exercises), using EMDR therapy, and/or bringing art making into our work—and we’ll work to find the right balance of these options for you. My approach to therapy is trauma-sensitive, culturally responsive, identity affirming and rooted in social-justice. Together, we’ll focus on your strengths, seek to understand the personal, cultural, and institutional factors that impact your lived experience, and balance the importance of individual and community connection in your life.

I believe that cultural humility and accountability are essential to my work as a therapist and I’m committed to abolition, anti-racism, disability justice, fat activism, and allyship to the LGBTQIA+ community. I seek to affirm all facets of your identity and to create a space where you don’t feel like you need to justify elements of yourself and your experiences.

I know that having a compassionate and affirming guide can be essential to creating the change and connection we want in our lives. Whether I’m working one-on-one in individual therapy, facilitating community art therapy, or providing a lecture or workshop, I strive to provide a collaborative and justice-oriented space for healing, growth, and transformation to occur.

Outside of providing individual therapy and engaging in community organizing work, you can find me making art. I work in fiber arts, drawing, and mixed media, and recently I’ve started to sew my own clothes. I also love to spend time watching reality tv while I embroider and reading while cuddling with my dog Ripley, a rescue pit mix who is really into napping.

Education, Credentials, & Certifications

15 years professional experience as a counselor and art therapist

EDUCATION:

  • Doctorate of Art Therapy, Mount Mary University

  • Master of Arts, Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a Specialization in Art Therapy, Lesley University

  • Bachelor of Arts, Tufts University

  • Bachelor of Fine Arts, School of the Museum of Fine Arts

CREDENTIALS:

  • Licensed Mental Health Counselor, MA #7553

  • Registered, Board-Certified Art Therapist, #11-008

CERTIFICATIONS/TRAININGS:

  • EMDR Basic Training, EMDR Institute

  • Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate, The Embody Lab

My values

01

Connection

Humans are social creatures; we learn about ourselves and each other by being in relationship. Community is essential to our wellbeing, and I strive to support people in finding affirming community connections that celebrate their lived experience and identities. I also foster connection to self and others through the use of creativity.

02

Creativity

Creativity supports healing and transformation, on personal and collective levels. Creative engagement is a generative process that allows us to envision, hold complexity, and even take deliberate action. We’re all inherently creative and engaging our creativity provides us with new ways of being and knowing ourselves and our world.

03

Liberation

Individual and collective struggles can only be fully addressed and transformed when we understand how our experiences are impacted by economic, political, cultural, and historical conditions. I work continually to unlearn harmful beliefs and practices within myself, and to contribute both to the fight against structural inequity within the mental health system and the abolition of all carceral systems.

WORK WITH ME

Individual Therapy

I provide online psychotherapy, EMDR, and art therapy for adults in Massachusetts managing anxiety, depression, chronic stress, perfectionism, and a range of life transitions.

Lectures & Workshops

I give lectures and workshops on art and well-being, art therapy, craft, and activism in a variety of settings, from museums to nonprofit organizations, community centers to academic conferences.

Community Art Therapy

I support communities in using art to identify their needs and strengths, build relationships and power, and address the issues that impact them in a collective way.