About Peggy
Rev. Peggy Ann "Serena" Hemmer is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, relationship strain, trauma, and parenting challenges. She uses a blend of practical and creative methods to help clients manage day-to-day struggles and rebuild a sense of calm.
Serena draws on 21 years of clinical experience and a background that includes public mental health work and independent practice in Ohio and Florida. Serena mixes conversation with hands-on tools.
Background and approach
She uses strategies from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice and change unhelpful thinking and behavior. She also uses elements of Attachment-Based Therapy to look at how early relationships affect current patterns. For couples she may use ideas from the Gottman Method to improve communication and reduce conflict.
Her work often includes expressive activities, movement, and guided relaxation when those tools fit a client's needs. She has integrated expressive arts, dance, Tai Chi, and guided imagery into counseling, especially with younger clients. Rational hypnotherapy is another option she offers for anxiety, phobias, or habit-related concerns.
Serena brings a holistic perspective that considers mind, body, and spiritual values when clients want that focus. She has presented workshops on topics such as maternal depression, recovery, and expressive arts in clinical settings. Her writing includes a book and articles on mental health topics.
Based in Florida, she offers sessions in English and draws on a long career working with diverse people across settings. Her approach is practical, person-centered, and creative, aiming to help people find clearer direction and greater ease in daily life.
Approaches that translate well to online care
Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationships shape current patterns. It helps people understand why they react certain ways in close relationships and gives tools to form more stable connections. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on spotting and changing thoughts and behaviors that feed anxiety and low mood. It breaks problems into concrete steps and teaches skills to manage worry and improve daily routines. Dialectical Behavior Therapy, DBT, offers practical skills for managing intense emotions and improving interpersonal effectiveness when stress feels overwhelming.Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences, and what methods seem to fit best. That collaborative process allows sessions to shift over time as needs change and new skills are practiced.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, which make scheduling more flexible. Video is useful for a full session with visual cues, phone works well when bandwidth is limited, chat can be a shorter check-in, and messaging is good for frequent updates between meetings. These options help people fit therapy into busy days and access licensed professionals from different locations.
Questions people ask
What concerns does she help with?
What is her general therapy style?
How much clinical experience does she have?
What credentials and location information are provided?
Which languages are available for sessions?
What session formats are offered online?
How is cost handled?
What steps are involved to begin therapy?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trichotillomania
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 21 years
- Licensed
- Florida
- Languages
- English
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.