About Heather
Heather Friend is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people dealing with stress, anxiety, grief, trauma, and relationship or intimacy concerns. She also supports clients facing parenting challenges, addiction, mood disorders like depression and bipolar, ADHD, and career or self-esteem struggles. Heather aims to build a calm, accepting space where people feel heard and respected.
Her style is warm and practical. Sessions are collaborative and paced to fit each person.
Background and approach
She focuses on uncovering strengths and creating small, doable steps toward feeling more grounded and capable in daily life. Heather uses techniques from several evidence-based approaches to meet real-life needs. She blends acceptance and commitment ideas with cognitive tools to change unhelpful thinking.
Attachment-focused work helps when relationship pain and early loss show up in current life. Therapy with her often involves learning simple skills for emotional regulation and clearer communication. People might practice new ways to notice difficult thoughts, try a different response, or set boundaries that feel safer.
Heather also offers coaching-style support for practical problems and transitions. She provides sessions by video, phone, live chat, or text messaging to offer flexibility. Heather has eight years of clinical experience and holds a license in Colorado as LCSW, with CSW as an additional credential.
She works in English and accepts international clients.
Therapeutic approaches and online work
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice thoughts and feelings without being ruled by them, then commit to actions that match their values. It is useful for anxiety, low mood, and life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thought and behavior patterns to reduce distress and improve daily functioning. It is often applied for anxiety, depression, and sleep or eating concerns.Finding the best approach is part of the work. Heather will talk with each person about goals and preferences, then try methods together to see what helps most. This collaborative process means approaches can be blended and adjusted over time to fit real needs and changing goals.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video works well for face-to-face conversation and interactive skill practice. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text are useful for brief check-ins, homework support, and ongoing coaching between sessions. These options make it simpler to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or travel schedules.
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