About

About Me

My name is Tom Lawless. I hold a Master’s Degree in Counselor Education from the University of Virginia (2001) and am licensed as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor in the State of North Carolina (License # 9717). I have more than fifteen years of post-graduate clinical experience working with culturally diverse populations focusing on older adolescence and adults. I have years of experience working directly with university students, individuals while in private practice, and those suffering from chronic mental illness in psychiatric hospital settings.

I work with teens 16 years and older to address issues including mood disorders (anxiety, depression, panic disorder), self-esteem and self-confidence, LGBTQIA+ and related issues, grief and loss, trauma (including early life experience), academic issues, stress management, procrastination, sexuality, spirituality, relationships, developmental issues, life transitions, mental illness, suicidal and homicidal ideation, sexual assault, domestic violence, self-injury, anger management, substance abuse, trauma, foster care adjustment, bereavement, academic and career concerns, and other life stressors through a variety of clinical approaches including cognitive behavioral therapy, attachment, mindfulness, and solution-focused counseling.

I work with all individuals regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or handicap. The only exception would be if for any reason I do not believe I have the experience or training necessary to work with your particular situation or difficulty, in which case I would refer you to another mental health professional that is more qualified to work with you presenting concerns.

A Way of Being

I am passionate about cultivating hope and resilience in individuals whose lives have been impacted by emotional distress, mental illness, as well as working with those in search of self-actualization. My ability to communicate unconditional acceptance, openness, caring, and warmth is based on my fundamental belief that each person has inherent value, and this way of being allows me to provide true relationship-centered care.

My strength-based approach encourages clients to explore barriers to success and identify negative beliefs. I empower each client by highlighting successful issue resolution as evidence of the innate capacity for achievement and self-determination while cultivating the creation of a new positive narrative to boost self-esteem, confidence, motivation, and vitality.


Theoretical Orientation

Like many counselors, I use an integrative approach to psychotherapy, which is to say I incorporate aspects of well-researched, established, and respected counseling techniques to create a framework in which to bring about change. This framework is flexible and allows me to create individualized approaches that fit the uniqueness of each person’s experience and needs to promote living a more satisfying life.

Underlying my integrated approach to counseling is a set of fundamental beliefs designed to create a non- judgmental environment allowing a ‘therapeutic relationship or alliance’ to form. The principles or core conditions that facilitate this therapeutic alliance, which is widely accepted to be necessary for change, were first described by Carl Rogers in his approach to therapy known as “person-centered counseling” and include unconditional positive regard, which means that as your counselor, I accept you unconditionally and without judgment. You are free to explore all thoughts and feelings, positive or negative, without danger of rejection, criticism, condemnation, or shame.

Upon the foundation of the therapeutic alliance rests my counseling framework, which includes aspects of theories, techniques, and interventions designed to further elicit understanding and change. The counseling approach that I have found by far the most effective is called cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is not a distinct therapeutic model, but rather a general term for a classification of therapies that are based on the idea that our thoughts, by in large, cause our feelings and behaviors, not external things, like people, situations, and events. CBT is a multidimensional approach that allows and encourages the use of a variety of techniques and interventions based on the needs of each individual or couple. The specific counseling techniques and ideas are based on identifying negative or distorted thinking patterns and learning new ways of looking at situations and experiences that are more realistic and reduce emotional distress.

Counseling is a process and requires your active involvement as part of the experience. I see counseling as a synergy - where our combined efforts create greater positive effects than the sum of our individual efforts would produce. You may be asked to apply or practice what you learn both during and in between our sessions. There will likely be some short homework assignments, including worksheets designed to promote insight, in combination with some journaling, and general reflection about certain themes related to your situation. All of these tasks are specifically designed to help you to achieve the goals that we identify for you in counseling in a straightforward, logical, and objective way.