About Heather
Heather Friend is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, grief, relationship struggles, or life transitions. She uses a calm, accepting manner to help people build confidence and clearer thinking. Heather works with adults on issues such as depression, bipolar disorder, parenting strain, addiction concerns, ADHD, and intimacy-related worries.
She offers both brief support and longer-term work depending on what the person needs. Heather keeps sessions collaborative and paced to each person’s comfort.
Background and approach
She listens first, then blends talking and body-focused work to help people notice how stress shows up in their bodies. The approach is practical and down-to-earth, aimed at small steps toward feeling steadier day to day. Her methods include somatic work, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, attachment-focused approaches, client-centered care, and cognitive behavioral techniques.
Those tools are used to help with emotional regulation, shifting unhelpful thoughts, and strengthening relationships with self and others. Heather adapts techniques to each person’s goals and situation. Heather has eight years of clinical experience and holds the Licensed Clinical Social Worker credential and the Clinical Social Worker designation, listed as IL LCSW 149026353 and CO LCSW CSW.09927984.
She practices from Colorado and offers sessions in English, including with people outside the United States. Sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging. Heather includes messaging between sessions for extra support and schedules appointments at times that fit busy lives.
Somatic and evidence-based approaches in online care
Somatic work helps people notice how stress and emotion show up in the body. It uses gentle attention to breath, posture, and movement to reduce physical tension and promote calm. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on clarifying values and taking small committed steps, which can help with anxiety, depression, and life transitions. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at patterns in close relationships and helps people build more supported, trusting connections.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Heather will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their needs, goals, and comfort level. She adjusts pacing and techniques so the plan fits the client rather than forcing a single model.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face connection when that helps. Phone sessions work well for people on the go. Live chat and text-based messaging give shorter, timely check-ins between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy lives while keeping the focus on steady progress.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hearing impaired
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Traumatic brain injury
- Trichotillomania
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Visually impaired
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Jungian Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Experience
- 8 years
- Licensed
- Colorado, Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana
- Languages
- English