Heather Lockey , LCSW

Heather Lockey is a licensed clinical social worker in North Carolina with eight years of experience. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, grief, addiction, and family-related struggles. Heather supports clients who are navigating relationship concerns, parenting pressures, sleeping problems, anger, and life transitions. She also works with people in the LGBTQA+ community and with attention-deficit concerns. Heather centers sessions on the client's strengths and story. She uses familiar, practical methods like cognitive behavioral ideas, acceptance-focused strategies, dialectical behavior tools, and client-centered listening. Sessions are straightforward - clients talk about what matters most and build small, doable steps toward relief. Her background includes work with trauma and abuse, family of origin issues, and caregiver stress. Heather has experience addressing abandonment, adoption and foster care issues, blended family challenges, and communication problems. She also supports people facing substance use and co-occurring concerns. In sessions Heather helps people set clear goals and practice skills between meetings. She uses mindfulness techniques for stress and DBT skills for emotion regulation when those fit. Motivational approaches are used to support change around habits like substance use or sleep routines. Heather aims to make the counseling process collaborative and practical. She encourages clients to try small changes, notice results, and adjust plans as needed. The emphasis is on useful tools and steady progress rather than quick fixes.

Therapeutic approaches and what to expect online

Heather draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in online sessions. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, and it supports living by personal values. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking and practicing different actions to change mood and behavior. Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Heather will talk with each client about goals, preferences, and what feels most useful. She collaborates to choose methods and adjusts techniques based on what makes progress toward those goals. Online therapy is offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make care more flexible. Video lets people use face-to-face interaction for in-depth work, while phone sessions can be a good option when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text messaging are useful for brief check-ins, skill practice, and ongoing support between sessions. These options help fit sessions into busy schedules and different life situations.