Rebecca S. de Vries, Ph.D.
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
National Certified Counselor (NCC)
Board Certified TeleMental Health Provider (BC-TMH)
National Certified Counselor (NCC)
Board Certified TeleMental Health Provider (BC-TMH)
ONLINE PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR ADULTS WHO KEEP FUNCTIONING
WHILE CARRYING MORE THAN OTHERS MAY SEE
You may be the person others rely on—the one who thinks things through, anticipates problems, follows through, and keeps going when circumstances are difficult.
From the outside, much of your life may still look intact. You may be working, managing responsibilities, caring for other people, making decisions, and doing what needs to be done. Internally, the effort required to maintain that stability may be considerably greater than anyone realizes.
You may spend a great deal of time thinking through situations, preparing for what might happen, questioning decisions, containing emotion, or trying to make sense of experiences that continue to affect you. You may understand much of this intellectually and still find yourself returning to the same patterns.
Continued functioning does not necessarily mean that you are doing well.
From the outside, much of your life may still look intact. You may be working, managing responsibilities, caring for other people, making decisions, and doing what needs to be done. Internally, the effort required to maintain that stability may be considerably greater than anyone realizes.
You may spend a great deal of time thinking through situations, preparing for what might happen, questioning decisions, containing emotion, or trying to make sense of experiences that continue to affect you. You may understand much of this intellectually and still find yourself returning to the same patterns.
Continued functioning does not necessarily mean that you are doing well.
When being capable makes distress harder to see
Competence can conceal strain.
If you are accustomed to being responsible, self-reliant, thoughtful, or dependable, asking for help may not come naturally. You may assume that because you are still functioning, you should be able to work through what is happening on your own.
Sometimes that works for a long time.
At other times, the strategies that have helped you remain steady begin to cost more. Overthinking becomes difficult to stop. Responsibilities feel heavier. Rest does not feel restorative. You may become more guarded, emotionally depleted, uncertain of yourself, or increasingly aware that continuing in the same way is no longer sustainable.
There does not have to be a visible crisis for your experience to warrant serious attention.
If you are accustomed to being responsible, self-reliant, thoughtful, or dependable, asking for help may not come naturally. You may assume that because you are still functioning, you should be able to work through what is happening on your own.
Sometimes that works for a long time.
At other times, the strategies that have helped you remain steady begin to cost more. Overthinking becomes difficult to stop. Responsibilities feel heavier. Rest does not feel restorative. You may become more guarded, emotionally depleted, uncertain of yourself, or increasingly aware that continuing in the same way is no longer sustainable.
There does not have to be a visible crisis for your experience to warrant serious attention.
Areas of clinical focus
My practice centers on three areas that frequently overlap.
Anxiety and OverthinkingYou may replay conversations, anticipate problems, question your decisions, prepare for possibilities that may never occur, or find it difficult to stop thinking once your mind has identified something important.
Thinking carefully may be one of your strengths. The difficulty comes when thinking no longer leads to resolution and instead becomes an ongoing effort to create certainty, prevent mistakes, remain prepared, or avoid consequences. Learn more about ANXIETY & OVERTHINKING. Mood Concerns and Emotional StrainYou may continue doing what is expected of you while feeling increasingly depleted, discouraged, irritable, disconnected, or unlike yourself.
For some people, emotional strain develops gradually. There may be no single event that explains it. Years of responsibility, difficult circumstances, losses, relationship pressures, repeated adaptation, or simply continuing to push through can accumulate. Learn more about MOOD CONCERNS & EMOTINAL STRAIN. Trauma and Trauma-Related StressExperiences that were overwhelming, threatening, destabilizing, or difficult to integrate may continue to influence how you respond to relationships, uncertainty, vulnerability, trust, or situations that resemble what happened before.
The effects of difficult experiences are not understood only by identifying the event. I also consider how you experienced it, what you had to do to manage it, what it came to mean, and how those responses may still be shaping your life. Learn more about TRAUMA & TRAUMA-RELATED STRESS. |
Explore Areas of Clinical Focus
You may already understand a great deal about yourself
Many people who come to my practice are thoughtful and psychologically minded.
You may already recognize patterns in your relationships. You may know why you react strongly in certain situations. You may understand how earlier experiences influenced you. You may have read extensively, reflected carefully, or spent years trying to reason your way through what is happening.
Insight matters, but understanding something intellectually does not always change the way it is lived.
Therapy can make room to examine not only what you think about your experience, but how established patterns operate in your relationships, decisions, expectations, responsibilities, and sense of yourself.
You may already recognize patterns in your relationships. You may know why you react strongly in certain situations. You may understand how earlier experiences influenced you. You may have read extensively, reflected carefully, or spent years trying to reason your way through what is happening.
Insight matters, but understanding something intellectually does not always change the way it is lived.
Therapy can make room to examine not only what you think about your experience, but how established patterns operate in your relationships, decisions, expectations, responsibilities, and sense of yourself.
My approach to therapy
My clinical perspective is existential-phenomenological, interpretive, relational, meaning-focused, trauma-aware, culturally attentive, and individually paced.
I do not begin with the assumption that your difficulties can be understood apart from the life in which they developed.
We may examine what you are experiencing now alongside your history, relationships, responsibilities, values, expectations, choices, losses, conflicts, and the circumstances in which particular ways of responding became necessary or useful.
A pattern can make sense and still become costly.
Something that once helped you remain safe, competent, connected, prepared, or in control may no longer fit your present circumstances in the same way. Therapy provides a structured place to understand those patterns without reducing you to them.
The goal is not to produce a simpler explanation of your life. It is to understand your experience carefully enough that you have more room to consider how you want to respond to it.
I do not begin with the assumption that your difficulties can be understood apart from the life in which they developed.
We may examine what you are experiencing now alongside your history, relationships, responsibilities, values, expectations, choices, losses, conflicts, and the circumstances in which particular ways of responding became necessary or useful.
A pattern can make sense and still become costly.
Something that once helped you remain safe, competent, connected, prepared, or in control may no longer fit your present circumstances in the same way. Therapy provides a structured place to understand those patterns without reducing you to them.
The goal is not to produce a simpler explanation of your life. It is to understand your experience carefully enough that you have more room to consider how you want to respond to it.
Working directly with me
I work directly with each client in my independent solo practice. There is no intake department, rotating clinician, or separate clinical team between the initial conversation and ongoing therapy.
My background includes counseling, psychology, supervised clinical work, research, higher education, and telehealth-specific professional preparation. That background informs the way I listen, organize complex information, recognize patterns, and consider the broader context of a person’s experience.
My background includes counseling, psychology, supervised clinical work, research, higher education, and telehealth-specific professional preparation. That background informs the way I listen, organize complex information, recognize patterns, and consider the broader context of a person’s experience.
- Learn more ABOUT REBECCA.
- Learn more about PROVIDER CREDENTIALS & VERIFICATIONS.
Beginning the conversation
You do not need to have everything figured out before contacting me.
The first step is a brief initial phone conversation. We can discuss what is bringing you to therapy, what you are looking for, practical considerations, and whether my practice may be a good fit for your needs.
The initial conversation is not therapy and does not establish a treatment relationship or guarantee acceptance or availability.
Call or text me at (724) 816-7771, and we’ll discuss your therapy needs and whether we are a good fit.
The first step is a brief initial phone conversation. We can discuss what is bringing you to therapy, what you are looking for, practical considerations, and whether my practice may be a good fit for your needs.
The initial conversation is not therapy and does not establish a treatment relationship or guarantee acceptance or availability.
Call or text me at (724) 816-7771, and we’ll discuss your therapy needs and whether we are a good fit.
START THE CONVERSATION |
Rebecca S. de Vries, Ph.D., LLCEmail is not a HIPAA-compliant method of communication. Please do not send confidential or sensitive health information by email.
Navigation |
Individual online psychotherapy for adults (18+) who are physically located in Pennsylvania at the time of each appointment.
Practice VerificationProvider Credentials & Verification
Academic & Professional Background Practice Scope & Service Boundaries Policies & Legal |
Emergency Statement
This practice provides scheduled outpatient psychotherapy only and does not provide emergency or crisis services. If you are experiencing a mental health emergency or immediate safety concern, call or text 988, call 911, or go to the nearest emergency department.
© Rebecca S. de Vries, Ph.D., LLC. All rights reserved.