Robert Lawrence

I was born in Brooklyn and spent much of my childhood and adolescence around independent boarding school communities and predominantly white institutions. Those experiences helped shape my understanding of what it can be like to navigate spaces where your identity, culture, or lived experience may not always be reflected around you.

I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with more than a decade of experience in behavioral health across inpatient, emergency, and outpatient settings. I earned my Master of Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh after studying Psychology and Sociology at Duquesne University, and my professional experience also includes clinical supervision and supporting the development of other mental health professionals.

I work with adults and young adults navigating anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, life transitions, relationships, family concerns, identity, and self-esteem. I have a particular interest in working with Black and African American adults while welcoming clients from a wide range of backgrounds and lived experiences.

My approach is collaborative, direct, and individualized. I draw from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), person-centered, strengths-based, and other evidence-informed approaches based on your needs, experiences, and goals.

I’m interested not only in what you’re experiencing, but also in the context surrounding it. Relationships, family, culture, identity, expectations, work, community, and the environments you’ve navigated can all shape how you understand yourself and respond to what’s happening in your life.

Together, we may explore patterns in your thoughts, emotions, relationships, and behaviors while identifying what feels helpful, what may no longer serve you, and what you want to do differently. I tend to be active and conversational in therapy, and I may challenge you to look at something from another perspective while keeping the work collaborative and grounded in your goals.

Our first session is a chance for us to get to know one another and understand what brought you to therapy. We’ll talk about what’s happening in your life, what feels most important right now, relevant parts of your history and experiences, and what you’d like to be different.

You don’t need to arrive with everything figured out or tell your entire life story in one session. There will also be space for you to ask questions, get a sense of how I work, and decide whether therapy with me feels like a good fit.

By the end, we’ll begin identifying what you’d like to focus on and what direction makes sense for our work together.