Dr. Norja Cunningham, LMFT

Dr. Norja Cunningham helps people who are feeling stuck by offering straightforward, practical therapy. She listens to what matters most and focuses on small changes that build over time. Dr. Cunningham holds a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist credential and works from Connecticut, bringing 21 years of experience to her clinical work.

Her sessions shift to meet the moment - sometimes guiding with structured tools, sometimes listening and reflecting, sometimes teaching new skills. She uses cognitive behavioral techniques to spot patterns in thoughts and behaviors and to try new responses. She also draws on acceptance and commitment ideas to help people clarify what they care about and move toward those values.

Dr. Cunningham attends to trauma and emotional pain with care, and she uses dialectical behavior ideas when emotions feel overwhelming. She emphasizes translating insight into concrete steps, so clients practice different ways of relating and coping between sessions. Cultural awareness informs how she frames goals and suggestions.

Common concerns she supports include relationship struggles, grief, low self-esteem, anxiety, stress, depression, ADHD, parenting challenges, and issues around intimacy and attachment. She also helps with workplace stress, social anxiety, body image, and finding life purpose.

Outside of her clinical role she enjoys singing, creative writing, sports, weightlifting, and travel. This variety of interests shapes a practical, relatable approach in sessions.

CBT and Acceptance-based Work Online

Dr. Cunningham commonly uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice unhelpful thought patterns and try different behaviors to change how they feel. CBT offers clear, practical exercises and experiments that can be done during and between sessions to reduce anxiety, depression, and relationship stress.

She also draws on acceptance and commitment therapy to help clients identify what matters to them and take values-driven steps even when emotions are difficult. Client-centered principles shape the conversation as well, so the therapist follows the client’s concerns and priorities while offering guidance and reflection.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. She will collaborate with clients to choose strategies that fit their goals, needs, and preferences. That might mean combining CBT skills with acceptance-based practices or emphasizing emotion-regulation tools from dialectical behavior therapy when needed.

Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video is useful for longer, skill-focused sessions; phone calls can be easier when low bandwidth is needed. Short check-ins and written reflections work well over chat or text. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules while still practicing tools between sessions.