Joy Close, LCSW

Joy Close is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 28 years of experience helping adults navigate life’s challenges. As a LCSW she blends clinical knowledge with practical skills to support clients in building coping strategies, improving relationships, and finding greater clarity and purpose.

Joy approaches therapy as a collaborative process, creating an accepting and respectful environment where adults can explore concerns and develop new tools. She emphasizes individualized care, drawing from a range of therapeutic techniques to tailor sessions to each person's needs and goals. Her work focuses on developing skills, strengthening coping, and seeking resolution for issues that interfere with daily life.

Over nearly three decades she has worked with adults facing anxiety, depression, grief, family conflict, sexuality and adjustment concerns, and relationship challenges, including work with LGBTQIA+ clients. Joy is committed to social justice and describes her practice as anti-racist, anti-sexist, LGBTQIA+ affirming, and sex positive. She works with adults from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds and aims to foster a space where clients feel heard, valued, and empowered to make meaningful change.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Care with Joy Close

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) encourages people to clarify their values and commit to actions that align with what matters most. ACT combines acceptance strategies with behavior change techniques and can be helpful for anxiety, depression, and life transitions where emotions and avoidance interfere with goals.

Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes empathetic listening and respect for each person’s experience. In this approach the therapist follows the client’s lead, offering support that helps clients explore feelings, build self-understanding, and strengthen their own problem-solving capacity.

Mindfulness Therapy teaches present-moment awareness and gentle attention to thoughts and sensations. It can assist people coping with stress, rumination, and emotional reactivity by cultivating steadier focus and greater tolerance of difficult feelings.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic work. Joy Close, as an experienced LCSW, collaborates with each client to determine which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences, adapting techniques as the relationship progresses.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility - sessions by video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging allow clients to access consistent care from different locations and on schedules that suit their lives. These options can make it easier to maintain momentum in therapy and integrate therapeutic learning into everyday routines.