Individual & Play Therapy

Counseling/therapy sessions are  conducted using a convenient, encrypted telehealth platform. Please familiarize yourself with my services and we can discuss by telephone and/or email how this works.

If you live outside of Maryland, do not require mental health therapy or diagnosis, and may be better suited for coaching services, please click on that page on this website. This practice participates in-network with CIGNA and Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans as well as the Johns Hopkins Employer Health Plan (EHP). This helps employees at Sibley Memorial Hospital, Suburban Hospital, Howard County General Hospital and Johns Hopkins Healthcare to obtain a variety of mental health/counseling services. 

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When stress hits critical mass, help does make a huge difference. Expressing yourself to a trained therapist, who can serve as your own or your child’s thinking partner is the first step.

Loriann Oberlin, MS, LCPC counsels children as young as six and sees adult clients through their careers into retirement. Since children and teens don’t always sit right down and talk as adults may, Loriann uses creative modalities, including therapeutic books, games, art, toy, apps or video clips that help connect with youth whose words then emanate from play. As we learned in 2020, therapy can be done via telehealth. Rest assured I will make counseling as engaging as possible, and may ask parents to participate as well in some of our virtual sessions.

I can suggest some fun, therapeutic worksheets and crafts. I am prepared to email parents how they can use easy-to-find materials, likely on hand in your home, for this purpose.

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Children who have lost their joy benefit from counseling sessions

While maintaining that safe space for kids and teens to share, Loriann checks in with parents involving them in sessions, as needed. People benefit from counseling when there are:

  • too many worries, depressed mood or anger
  • irritability, self-doubt, feeling taken for granted
  • underachievement, not meeting milestones and personal goals or when adults/parents continue to over-function
  • peer/social conflicts, bullying or loneliness
  • trouble adapting to life transitions, illness, chronic pain, grief/loss, sexual or romantic difficulties
  • few assertiveness or good communication skills such that you end up pleasing others, not yourself

Children, in particular, benefit from having someone other than parents to talk with when:

  • they no longer seem happy in their play, with their friends or studies
  • moodiness, clingy behavior and too much worry impacts their daily lives 
  • irritability has become an unfortunate way of life
  • they struggle to cope with life transitions such as divorce, a parent’s dating/remarriage and more

Teenagers can be impacted by all of the above symptoms. Since the job of the adolescent is to differentiate oneself, sometimes they can use guidance in forming successful friendships with peers and/or healthy dating relationships.

Referrals to others who need help are often life’s best compliments…

“In my sessions, Loriann has provided a confidential, positive and emotionally safe atmosphere to share relationship and parenting difficulties. She’s extremely competent and knowledgeable helping me to regain strategies to get back on track after some very trying and tragic events in my life. That she works with all ages has been an added plus as I’ve given her name to others struggling with stress.” — person helped by counseling

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“I so appreciate the tools you gave me and my child to better manage anxiety and attention issues that plagued our household and affected success in school and social settings. I found it especially helpful that you encourage parents to be a part of some sessions. I’ve happily referred others to your practice to receive such help because we left counseling at such a better place than when we first came to your office.” — parent and child who benefited from sessions

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Has anger within your family become a way of life?

If you’re a parent and want to learn better strategies for handling anger in your child and home, The Angry Child (found on the books page) can definitely help. So can watching lead author Dr. Tim Murphy in these interviews as he discusses the ten traits and four types of families where anger exists. The book explores communication, family meetings, problem solving, media influences and much more.

Book TV interview done with Tim Murphy, Ph.D. in C-SPAN archives
CBS EARLY SHOW

CANCELLATION POLICY is 48 hours in advance of your appointment OR FRIDAY in advance of a Monday appointment. Reminders for appointments are not guaranteed; in fact, they are rare. Should you miss or cancel scheduled appointments within this 48-hour window, it cannot be billed to your insurance company and you will be responsible for the charges at my usual and customary fees.

Out of session time necessary for proper case coordination with physicians, school counselors, other treating providers, attorneys and anyone else is billed at my hourly rate, pro-rated. Outside of quarterly or yearly statements, administrative fees may apply for paperwork/invoicing as payment is due at time of service. Therefore, once again, please know your benefits as this knowledge empowers you as the consumer.

Regrettably, though communicated in a myriad of ways, billing issues and misunderstandings regarding the 48-hour or Friday-before-Monday notice wreaks havoc on the therapeutic relationship. I always want to avoid that.

True emergencies mean a death in the immediate family, an ER or hospital visit, a bed-ridden or seriously contagious illness. Sports practice, games, having to work, or a babysitter cancelling are not exempt from this policy. You can avoid hassle/fees by setting reminders, keeping in close communication of potential problems in your schedule. Email is preferred; phone message as well; text only during business hours and ONLY for scheduling snafus or if you do not have email access.