Rachel Ehrhardt, LPC

Rachel Ehrhardt is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology (MSCP) from Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA. She brings 25 years of clinical experience across a wide range of settings, including prisons, inpatient and outpatient programs, psychiatric wards, schools, nursing homes, halfway and three-quarter houses, alternative housing, and vocational programs for people with developmental, intellectual, and physical disabilities. For a decade she led outings and respite trips through an organization called Exceptional Adventures, providing community experiences for people who use wheelchairs or have intellectual disabilities.

She offers individual and couples therapy and focuses on relationship and family concerns, intimacy issues, parenting, coping with life changes, stress and anxiety, addiction and substance use, grief, anger, self-esteem, depression, and compassion fatigue, as well as communication problems, divorce and separation, fatherhood issues, midlife challenges, postpartum concerns, and questions about life purpose and self-love. Much of her career has centered on substance abuse treatment, including extensive work in correctional settings, where she developed a direct, practical style shaped by that experience.

Rachel emphasizes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and solution-focused strategies, teaching skills to examine and reframe unhelpful thoughts and to implement concrete changes. She has completed Level 1 training in the Gottman Method for couples and is pursuing additional training toward sex therapy credentials and family therapy education. She does not work with children or teenagers and maintains practice boundaries to ensure clients receive care from the most appropriate providers.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Care

Rachel uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help clients identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts and replace them with more accurate, practical thinking. CBT is commonly used for anxiety, depression, stress, and self-esteem concerns and emphasizes skill-building that clients can use between sessions.

She also incorporates the Gottman Method for couples work - an approach focused on improving communication, increasing understanding, and building practical skills for managing conflict and strengthening connection in relationships. For clients working on addiction or motivation to change, she draws on Motivational Interviewing, a collaborative, patient-centered style that helps people find their own reasons and confidence to make changes.

Choosing the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Rachel works collaboratively with each person or couple to assess goals, preferences, and needs, and she tailors interventions so the work fits the client rather than forcing a single model.

Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, which support flexible scheduling and access from home or other locations. These formats allow licensed professionals to deliver many of the same therapeutic tools and skill-building exercises used in person while making it easier for clients to attend regularly and maintain momentum in their work.