Joan Holmes , LPC

Joan Holmes is a Licensed Professional Counselor with 25 years of clinical experience. She works with adults facing stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and parenting challenges, and she has a sustained focus on women’s issues within those areas. Joan practices in New Jersey and conducts sessions in English.

Joan earned a Master’s Degree in Applied Clinical and Counseling Psychology from William Paterson University after completing a Bachelor of Science in Community Health Science, cum laude. Over two decades she has worked in nonprofit social service settings and spent time providing in-home support to family members. That work included helping people build support systems and repair strained relationships.

She has experience supporting people affected by trauma, abuse, chronic illness, and caregiver strain. Joan has also worked with people on the autism spectrum, teens in group home settings, and adults coping with serious depression and suicidal behavior. Her practice addresses a wide range of concerns from abandonment and attachment issues to communication problems and life transitions.

Joan uses a primarily client-centered stance, listening carefully and adapting to each person's needs. She blends approaches such as cognitive behavioral techniques, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, attachment-informed work, and skills from dialectical behavior therapy as appropriate. The goal is practical change through clearer thinking, stronger relationships, and better coping skills.

People who choose Joan can expect a respectful, patient, and nonjudgmental environment. She focuses on building rapport so clients feel comfortable talking about painful topics and finding steps forward. To begin, prospective clients follow the site’s intake process to match and schedule sessions.

Therapeutic approaches that translate to online care

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice painful thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, and then commit to actions that match their values. It can be useful for anxiety, depression, and life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and practicing different ways of thinking and behaving to reduce symptoms such as worry and low mood. It works well for anxiety, depression, and stress-related problems.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work. Joan will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their goals, needs, and preferences. That might mean trying CBT exercises one week and using ACT or attachment-informed reflections the next, adapting as progress and goals evolve.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when visual cues matter. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in fits a work break. Live chat and text-based messaging make it simpler to fit therapy into a busy day or to get ongoing support between sessions. These formats help people keep continuity of care and access therapeutic work from different locations without needing to travel.