Tracy Kessler , LISW, MD, LCSW-C

Tracy Kessler is a licensed social worker with 23 years of experience who helps people facing stress, anxiety, trauma, and parenting challenges. She works with individuals struggling with mood disorders, ADHD, grief, body image, and relationship or family problems. Tracy is based in Maryland and offers care in English.

Tracy uses a strengths-based outlook to help people build on what already works in their lives. She emphasizes authenticity, humility, and compassion in sessions. Her practice draws on transformation education, which focuses on intentional personal change alongside practical coping skills.

Much of Tracy's work has been school-based: she spent 18 years providing mental health services to children and adolescents in public schools. That background informs her approach to child trauma, PTSD, and attention concerns. She also has experience with survivors of domestic violence, eating disorders, and people managing chronic illness or disability.

In sessions she is described as approachable and present, and she blends practical strategies with emotional support. Tracy incorporates client-centered techniques and cognitive-behavioral methods to address unhelpful thinking and build new behaviors. Mindfulness and trauma-focused ideas are woven in when they fit the person's goals.

Outside of practice she is a mother and enjoys outdoor activity and time with her sons and dog. She brings energy, encouragement, and a focus on honest, hard work to the therapeutic relationship.

Therapeutic approaches and online care

Tracy often uses client-centered therapy to put the person's goals first and build a working alliance that guides future work. This approach helps when someone needs a supportive space to sort priorities and feel heard. She also draws on cognitive behavioral therapy, which focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and practicing new behaviors to reduce anxiety, depression, and impulse problems.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Tracy collaborates with each person to decide which methods fit their situation, goals, and comfort level. She adapts strategies over time and checks in regularly to make sure the plan is useful and realistic.

Online therapy offers flexibility for people juggling school, work, parenting, or health concerns. Video calls let the therapist and client meet face to face, phone sessions work when bandwidth is limited, live chat can be used for shorter check-ins, and text messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to fit sessions into busy lives and to continue care across locations.