Laura Scales , LMFT

Laura Scales brings a thoughtful, experience-driven approach to helping individuals, couples, and families find greater balance and connection. She followed a nontraditional path into therapy, drawing on prior careers that emphasized care and teaching - from working as a home health aide with people who had chronic illness and severe disabilities, to instructing rock climbing, ice climbing, sea kayaking, and swimming, to creating activities that enhanced life for residents of a senior living community. Those roles informed her understanding of how unexpected life events can derail plans and how change, while painful, can also be transformative.

Her time as a high altitude mountaineer, including summiting Mt. Aconcagua at 22,837 feet, reinforced a practice of presence and perspective that she carries into clinical work. In graduate school at Argosy University in Denver she completed a masters program in Marriage and Family Therapy and a practicum at West Springs Psychiatric Hospital. She then worked in a community mental health outpatient clinic serving as an intake, individual, and group therapist, gaining experience across ages and presenting concerns.

Now in private practice as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), she uses evidence-based methods such as Internal Family Systems, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, solution-focused work, and strength-based practices to address depression, anxiety, relationship and family challenges, anger, trauma, and related concerns. Her style centers on empowering clients as experts on their own lives and offering a nonjudgmental space to explore problems, clarify goals, and build more satisfying relationships and sense of self.

When not practicing therapy she seeks renewal in the natural world and in activities that reflect a lifelong love of outdoor pursuits.

Evidence-Based Approaches and Online Therapy

Laura Scales integrates Internal Family Systems, cognitive behavioral therapy, and dialectical behavior therapy into online work to address a range of concerns. Internal Family Systems focuses on identifying and relating to different parts of the self to reduce internal conflict and increase self-leadership - it can be helpful for people processing trauma, grief, or complex emotional patterns. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps clients examine and shift unhelpful thoughts and behaviors through practical strategies and is often used for anxiety, depression, and stress. Dialectical behavior therapy offers skills for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness, which can support those managing intense emotions or relationship challenges.

Finding the right therapeutic approach is a collaborative process. Laura Scales works with clients to identify goals, preferences, and what feels most effective for their situation, adapting methods so they fit each person, couple, or family.

Online therapy with a licensed professional offers flexibility and access that fit busy lives. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation from home, phone sessions provide a straightforward audio option, and live chat or text-based messaging support shorter check-ins or ongoing communication between scheduled sessions. These options make it easier to maintain continuity of care while balancing work, family, and other commitments.