Loretta Samenga, LCSW

Loretta Samenga is a licensed clinical social worker in New York who helps people cope with stress, anxiety, depression, bipolar mood shifts, addictions, and low self-esteem. She focuses on practical steps that make life easier day to day. Her manner is calm and down-to-earth so people can talk honestly about what feels hard.

Loretta keeps sessions centered on the person in front of her. She listens first, then helps set clear, manageable goals. Therapy often includes learning new coping skills, practicing different ways to handle strong emotions, and trying small behavior changes between sessions.

She uses cognitive behavioral ideas to spot unhelpful thinking patterns. She combines this with client-centered listening that respects each person’s pace and priorities. Dialectical behavior ideas and mindfulness practices are added when emotion regulation and stress management are key goals.

Loretta also supports issues tied to relationships and identity, such as attachment concerns, abandonment, adoption and foster care history, and communication problems. She works with people facing chronic pain, caregiver stress, body image struggles, and substance use concerns.

Sessions aim to build practical coping tools and clearer self-understanding. Loretta encourages small experiments that fit into busy lives. Her approach is collaborative, steady, and focused on real-world change.

Approaches you can use online

Loretta draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice and change thinking patterns that fuel anxiety and low mood. CBT focuses on practical steps and experiments you can try between sessions to reduce symptoms and build helpful habits.

She also incorporates Client-Centered Therapy, which means sessions begin with attentive listening and follow the client's priorities. This approach is useful when people need space to process emotions and make choices at their own pace. Dialectical Behavior Therapy techniques are sometimes used to teach emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills for intense mood swings or urges.

Finding the right mix is a team effort. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, try different strategies, and adjust the plan based on what helps most. That collaborative process is part of the work, not a one-time decision.

Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to match life demands. Video allows face-to-face conversation, phone works well when bandwidth is limited, chat can be a shorter check-in, and messaging supports ongoing coaching between meetings. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or medical schedules.