Heather Lopez, LCSW

Heather Lopez is a licensed clinical social worker with 11 years of experience. She practices in New York and supports people facing stress, anxiety, depression, relationship strain, and eating concerns. Heather focuses on helping people understand what drives their feelings and behaviors so they can make manageable changes.

She uses practical methods drawn from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Sessions often involve identifying unhelpful thoughts, learning coping skills, and trying small behavior changes between meetings. Heather balances encouraging change with acceptance, helping people move at a pace that feels doable.

Her approach is straightforward and compassionate. She listens without judgment and helps people break big problems into smaller steps. Conversations often include skill-building for managing panic, mood shifts, and intense emotions.

Heather also addresses family-related stress, communication problems, caregiver strain, and issues connected to aging or veteran and armed forces experiences. She pays attention to how guilt, shame, or isolation affect daily life and decision making.

Therapy with Heather typically focuses on clear goals. Practical tools and experiments are used to test what works in real life. Prospective clients are encouraged to consider their needs and preferences when deciding whether this style fits them.

How CBT and DBT inform online work with a therapist

CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions. It uses simple exercises to notice unhelpful thinking and try new, more helpful responses for anxiety, low mood, and panic.

DBT, or Dialectical Behavior Therapy, emphasizes skills for managing strong emotions and improving day-to-day coping. It teaches techniques for distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and clearer communication in heated moments.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Heather will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their goals and lifestyle. That decision is revisited often so the plan changes if something isn’t useful.

Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into busy lives by reducing travel and allowing appointments to match daily schedules. If you need alternatives like shorter check-ins or sessions that don’t require video, confirm the specific formats available before booking. Ask about session length and timing when you schedule so sessions fit into work, caregiving, or other routines.