Lara Peter , MD, LCPC

Lara Peter is a Maryland-based therapist with an MD and a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor credential. She brings ten years of direct therapy experience and focuses on helping adults manage stress, anxiety, grief, eating concerns, self-esteem struggles, depression, addictions, relationship challenges, trauma, and related issues. Her manner is calm and straightforward, and she aims to make talking about hard things feel manageable.

Lara keeps sessions practical and paced to the client's comfort. She listens closely and reflects back what she hears to help people notice patterns and new options. She uses clear tools and gentle feedback so clients can try small changes between sessions.

Her background includes work in outpatient, in-home, residential, and university settings. That mix of settings shaped a flexible approach that adapts to different life circumstances. She also supports people dealing with caregiving stress, body image concerns, fertility-related worries, ADHD, attachment and abandonment issues, and hoarding if these relate to an individual's goals.

Therapy with Lara often draws on client-centered methods and solution-focused strategies alongside cognitive behavioral techniques and motivational interviewing. Those methods help people set concrete goals, notice unhelpful thoughts, and build practical habits for coping and change.

Lara emphasizes collaboration. She partners with each person to set realistic steps toward their goals, adjusting methods to fit what works for them. The focus is on small, achievable shifts that add up to real relief over time.

How therapeutic approaches translate to online care

Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes listening and responding to what the client brings. In practice this means the therapist reflects what is shared and follows the client's pace to build trust and clarity. This approach helps when someone wants to be heard and to make decisions from their own values.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It uses simple exercises to identify unhelpful thinking patterns and to try new behaviors that reduce anxiety, improve mood, or change eating and sleeping habits. CBT is useful for concrete problems like worry, low mood, and coping skills.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with the client about their goals, try methods that fit, and adjust as needed. That collaborative process makes it easier to know whether an approach like client-centered listening or CBT exercises is the best fit.

Online formats - video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text messaging - offer practical flexibility. Video sessions are close to an in-person conversation and allow visual cues. Phone sessions can be a good choice when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text are helpful for brief check-ins, between-session coaching, or when a shorter, more frequent contact is useful. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, caregiving, or travel.