About Benjamin
Benjamin Lara is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with 11 years of practice in Idaho. He focuses on creating respectful, nonjudgmental counseling where each session is shaped around the person's needs and goals. He emphasizes simple, direct support for people feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, stress, or addiction.
Benjamin centers sessions on what matters to the client. He uses a person-centered attitude that encourages clients to set the pace and topics.
Background and approach
That approach pairs well with brief, practical tools when people need relief from intense feelings or daily difficulties. He commonly draws on cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice unhelpful thinking patterns and try different actions. Motivational interviewing is used to strengthen a person's own reasons for change, especially with addictions or health habits.
Mindfulness and acceptance strategies are woven in to help tolerate distress and stay focused on valued life directions. Benjamin has worked with a wide range of concerns including depression, grief, trauma, relationship and intimacy issues, caregiver stress, chronic illness, and eating or sleep difficulties. He also supports clients navigating identity and LGBT-related concerns and those dealing with ADHD and career challenges.
Sessions are offered through video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different schedules and preferences. He values clear goals and steady progress, and he collaborates with people to find approaches that feel right for them.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Benjamin often blends cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy in online work. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps people spot unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors to ease symptoms like anxiety or depression. Acceptance and commitment therapy focuses on clarifying values and taking meaningful action even when difficult feelings are present.He treats the choice of method as a shared decision. During early sessions he will discuss what feels most useful and adjust techniques based on the person's goals and feedback. That collaborative planning helps ensure the work aligns with what the person wants to change or manage.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect. Video calls allow a face-to-face conversation when interaction is important. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging are offered for quick check-ins, brief coaching, or when written reflection fits better into a busy day.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 11 years
- Licensed
- Idaho
- Languages
- English
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