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Lecia Crider, LAC
About Me as a Therapist
Who I Work With
I work with individuals across the lifespan, beginning around age 10, with a particular love for working with teens and young adults. I especially enjoy helping young people who are trying to figure out who they are, where they fit, and what they want their lives to look like. I also work with teens and young adults struggling with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, self-worth, identity, and the pressures that can come with growing into adulthood.
I also work with adults experiencing significant life transitions - divorce, loss, medical challenges, empty nesting, retirement, faith crises, and other circumstances that can leave someone questioning their identity, purpose, or direction.
I have a special understanding of the foster care experience as well. I grew up with many foster siblings and later spent time as a foster parent myself. That personal experience has given me a deep appreciation for the complexity of foster families and the unique challenges foster parents often navigate.
Group therapy is another area I especially enjoy. I love creating a space where people discover that they are not alone in their struggles and begin to recognize that they have something meaningful to offer others, too.
It’s magical.
How I Approach Therapy
My first job with every client is to build a relationship of trust.
I do that by listening to learn, not to “fix.” I will never know as much about what it is like to be you as you do.
Once you feel heard, safe, and supported, our work will often include three areas.
We may build practical skills that help support nervous-system regulation and increase your ability to feel grounded when emotions become overwhelming.
We may also do thought work, such as learning to recognize the difference between helpful and unhelpful thoughts, understand the influence those thoughts have on emotions and behavior, and decide what to do with them.
And when it is appropriate, we may work more deeply with painful or traumatic experiences from the past that are continuing to affect your life in the present.
That is only a general guide. Therapy is never one-size-fits-all, and our sessions will always be shaped around your individual needs, experiences, goals, and pace.
What It Feels Like to Work With Me
My clients would probably describe me as warm, empathic, and someone who brings a sense of humor into the room.
I am oriented toward practical solutions and want therapy to translate into meaningful change outside of the counseling office. At the same time, I often find that the most important work happens when we slow down enough to understand what is happening beneath the surface.
Clients can expect me to be genuinely interested in their story and to meet them without judgment. I will listen carefully, ask questions, validate the difficult things they have experienced, and sometimes gently challenge the way they are seeing themselves, their relationships, or their circumstances.
I want therapy to be a place where you do not have to pretend that everything is okay but also a place where you do not have to remain stuck in the same patterns.
I believe people change when they feel safe enough to be honest and supported enough to try something different.
My Clinical Approach
I draw from several evidence-based approaches, including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).
Depending on the needs and preferences of the client, I may also incorporate meaning-centered therapy and faith-based counseling when requested.
These approaches allow us to work on several levels: developing practical coping skills, understanding patterns of thinking and behavior, increasing emotional flexibility, regulating the nervous system, and processing experiences that may still feel unfinished.
I have a particular interest in working with teens and young adults experiencing anxiety, depression, identity concerns, life transitions, and eating-disorder-related struggles. My interest in eating disorders is both clinical and personal, shaped in part by my family’s own experience with anorexia.
Why This Work Matters to Me
I believe difficult experiences do not have to be meaningless.
One of the ideas that resonates deeply with me is the hope that no pain is in vain, that even experiences we would never have chosen can eventually contribute to greater compassion, wisdom, connection, and purpose.
An excerpt from my personal journal, dated October 3, 2026, probably explains why I am a therapist better than I could in any formal biography:
“Driving home from work today, I realized my heart was so full because I feel a great deal of love for my brave and struggling clients.”
Another reason I became a counselor comes from walking the road of anorexia with my teenager some years ago. She first had a therapist who made an already difficult situation worse, and later a wonderful therapist who helped her heal.
That experience changed the way I understand this profession.
Therapy is important work, and I feel the beautiful weight of that every day.
I know how much it matters to have someone sitting across from you who takes your pain seriously, who understands the responsibility of being invited into someone’s life, and who believes that things can become different.
My clients and I grow in strength together.
A Little About Me
Outside of work, I love the beauty of nature, especially clouds.
I also love to read. I am almost always in the middle of a book, and my TBR pile is perpetually high. I enjoy writing when I have the time, and once upon a time I had a young adult novel published called Becoming Cinderella.
My kids and grandbabies always bring a smile to my face, and I am still married to my high school sweetheart.
Those parts of my life matter to me. They have shaped the way I understand relationships, change, family, resilience, love, loss, and the many different seasons a person can move through over a lifetime.
We May Be a Good Fit If…
You and I may be a great fit if you are navigating a season of change, feeling a little lost or overwhelmed, or trying to understand yourself and your life in a new way.
Maybe anxiety or depression has made life feel heavier than it should. Maybe something painful from the past is continuing to show up in the present. Maybe you are facing a transition you never expected, questioning who you are, struggling with your relationship with food or your body, or simply realizing that the way you have been coping is no longer working.
You may want a therapist who will genuinely listen, help you make sense of what you are experiencing, offer practical tools when you need them, and go deeper when that is where the work needs to go.
Someone who can laugh with you, cry with you, challenge you when needed, and walk alongside you as you find your way forward.
That is the kind of therapist I hope to be.