Alanna Higgins, LCSW

Alanna Higgins is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) practicing in Pennsylvania with ten years of experience. She focuses on practical, goal-oriented work to help people manage stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, career setbacks, and depression. Alanna encourages clients to build on their existing strengths and to take small, steady steps toward change.

She uses straightforward tools to boost motivation and confidence. Sessions center on clear goals, concrete skills, and real-life problem solving. Clients can expect direct feedback, collaborative planning, and strategies they can try between meetings.

Alanna also pays attention to issues that often sit beneath daily struggles, such as guilt, shame, isolation, and feelings of emptiness. She brings experience supporting people who have dealt with adoption or foster care, caregiving strain, and military-related concerns. Obsessive or compulsive behaviors, hoarding, and relationship wounds like infidelity are also areas she addresses.

Her approach draws on cognitive behavioral ideas alongside mindfulness and techniques for emotional regulation. EMDR and motivational interviewing are additional tools she may use when trauma or readiness for change are central concerns. Together, these methods are applied in ways that match each person’s needs.

Alanna aims to make the first steps into therapy less overwhelming. She meets people where they are, helps set manageable goals, and focuses on practical progress over time.

How therapeutic approaches translate to online care

Alanna commonly draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which helps people identify unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviors to reduce anxiety and depression. CBT focuses on practical exercises and homework that easily carry over to video or text-based formats.

She also uses Dialectical Behavior Therapy techniques to teach emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and clearer communication. DBT skills are concrete and can be practiced during phone check-ins or reinforced through messaging between sessions.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, life demands, and preferences, then suggest which methods to try first. Clients and therapist adjust the plan as progress unfolds so the approach fits the person’s needs.

Online therapy offers flexible ways to work that fit busy lives. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction when demonstrations or nuanced conversation matter. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging support quick skill reminders, brief coaching, and ongoing reinforcement between formal sessions.