about (old) — therapybylorena

Hi There!

I'm Lorena Klahr, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Miami, FL originally from Caracas, Venezuela. I specialize in working closely with individuals, couples, and families, offering dedicated support for various challenges. I use a psychoanalytic approach to help you become more self-aware, guiding you through difficulties and finding meaning in your personal journey.

Many people I work with struggle with feelings of depression, anxiety, life transitions, grief, and wanting better coping skills. For couples, I'm skilled in addressing communication issues, resolving conflicts, rekindling emotional bonds, and providing tools to talk about future plans, financial alignment, and intimacy. I'm also experienced in helping with complex family dynamics, giving insights into understanding family members better, and providing strategies to handle tough conversations and set boundaries.

I'm naturally drawn to clients who are committed to working together, aiming for goals, and searching for purpose. If you become my client, you can expect well-organized sessions, a safe space for open conversations without judgment, a thoughtfully planned treatment strategy with goals and steps, and supplementary materials to make discussions easier.

While this space is primarily for therapeutic services, it also reflects my personal journey. Nature and exploration have played a big role in shaping who I am and they took me to where I am today.

Hopefully you can get a taste of my practice, life and things I do for fun. Do not hesitate to reach out for more information!

Lorena Klahr, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

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Every therapy session is unique and caters to your needs and specific goals. During the first session we will discuss childhood history, family background, career, education, relationship history and reasons for seeking therapy. Goals will also be created at the end of the first session. During the following sessions, we will spend the first 15 minutes discussing weekly updates, focusing the rest of the discussion exploring what is keeping you stuck and helping you move past blocks and traumas in your life so that you can get to a happy and healthier place. Every week we reevaluate the goals to make sure we are moving to the desired direction. I will assign homework weekly so the skills can be applied outside of the session as well.
Typically, the first and second session begins with standard interview questions about the relationship’s history. We will likely also deep dive into both of your family of origin, values, and cultural background. You will both vocalize your goals individually and we will find ways to turn them into couple goals. During treatment, we will gain insight into the dynamics causing problems in the relationship. I will guide you and your partner to understand your roles in dysfunctional interactions. This greater insight into relationship issues and distress will help change how you both perceive the relationship and each other. Every week we reevaluate the goals to make sure we are moving to the desired direction. I will assign homework so the skills can be applied outside of the sessions. Individuals can join the call from different locations; the video call link will be sent to both of you separately.
Family therapy is a type of treatment designed to help families with issues that specifically affect mental health and overall functioning. During treatment we will build stronger relationships, improve communication, and manage conflicts within the family system. Some of the primary goals of family therapy are to create a better home environment, solve family issues, and understand the unique obstacles that a family might face. In family therapy, a group can consist of many different combinations, such as parents/guardians and their children, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, caregivers, etc. All together, we will make a family tree to understand the family dynamics as a whole and create steps to work on the issues brought to therapy.
I am certified in psychoanalysis from the William Alanson White Institute and from Florida Psychoanalytic Center. As a result I work with the interaction and forces within the person, particularly unconscious thoughts, structures of personality and childhood traumas. I believe in systemic treatment, meaning that I do not only focus on the individual but also in the external forces that might be affecting the inner self.
I also have a strong concentration in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This approach is backed by research demonstrating their effectiveness in treating a wide variety of problems including anxiety, worry, obsessive-compulsive disorder, suicidal thoughts, depression, and problems in emotion regulation.
Individual: depression, anxiety, grief, life transitions, coping mechanisms and attachments.
Couple: communication, conflict resolution, divorce, infidelity, polyamory, break ups, intimacy and premarital counseling.
Family: strained relationships between family members, communication, immigration, coping with sudden changes, and problems between siblings.
Typically, therapy sessions run 50 to 55 minutes long. The length of the therapy session depends on the type of mental health service you are receiving.
Yes. Currently taking:
*United Health Care.
* Cigna.
* Aetna.
*Oscar Health.
* Oxford.
* BCBS.
According to the American Psychological Association, teletherapy is just as effective as in-person sessions for treating a wide range of mental health conditions and couple’s relationships. I currently only provide teletherapy services.

Testimonials

I’m not as religious as I should be but Lorena is an absolute blessing!! She’s everything I’ve ever looked/hoped for in a therapist. I’ve done therapy before but never stood consistent because I just felt like the therapist wasn’t helping me in a way I could understand or cope with. I tell everyone about Lorena and how they should try to get an appointment with her.
She seems to me to be an experienced person, since before I started my therapies for the first time with her, I felt confident and knew that she was the right one. tomorrow is my second session. but what I like about her is that she focuses on me as a patient and leaves me homework and work sheets for me to do during the week. So far it's a 10 out of 10 :)
Lorena and I worked together, and then my partner joined in with the therapy later on along the process. That transition to couples therapy was offered by Lorena, was so appreciated, she ensured reliability, dependability, openness was consistent. Lorena created a safe space for us to share whilst keeping in place effective challenge to some of the topics and discussion brought to session; she was always receptive to our needs and was encouraging. We are feeling confident about the progress made and would say this is a credit to her as our therapist. Recommended. Thank you so very much!
I have previous experience with different approaches to therapy and I was initially skeptical about trying a new approach (psychoanalysis vs behavioural therapy), but I gave it a chance and within the first session I had already established a trusting rapport with Lorena. I am getting a lot of value out of our sessions. She has been consistent in responding to my requests for homework, challenging me, offering compassion, etc. It's been a great start to a therapeutic relationship and I am looking forward to continuing my healing journey with Lorena's support.
After only two sessions, Lorena has been very supportive and offered new perspectives on circumstances and ways of handling "life". Lorena is very kind and easy to speak with. Highly recommend her expertise. Thank you, Lorena.
In the short time I’ve been working with Lorena, she has challenged me to understand myself and shift my perspective in a way that has already been hugely beneficial. She has been responsive and understanding of my situation and what I need to work through. Very happy so far and have every confidence this will continue to be the case.
Lorena is a very supportive and attentive therapist. She has allowed both individual and couples sessions as a part of my therapy, as a lot of my concerns have been around my relationship. She has helped both my partner and I have more clarity and understanding about each other, ourselves and the relationship itself. I would highly recommend her services.
Best therapy I’ve been too.
She understands your needs and gives you the perfect system to achieve your goals. (i.e. I love reading and she recommended me books related to my problems)
Lorena has been a true breath of fresh air during times of struggle. She has offered useful tools for me to explore rooms of my mind that I had not visited enough.
Totally amazing service and amazing conversation.
Lorena is the best therapist I have ever worked with. She is a good listener, and not afraid to challenge me when necessary. She is thoughtful in her follow up through the week, which has me looking forward to our next conversation. She has been instrumental in putting my wife and I back on a good path of communication.