Leah Niehaus (she/her)

Anxiety has a way of whispering that something is wrong with you — I'm here to tell you it's not. Anxiety often masks something deeper: a relationship pattern, an unmet need, or a self that's gotten a little lost. I work with teens, young adults, and adults to slow down and get curious about what the anxiety is trying to say. Using DBT, psychodynamic, and strengths-based approaches, we untangle the noise together — so you can stop just managing anxiety and actually start living.

As a mom of three, I get it — parenting is beautiful and hard and brings up everything. Often it brings up our own wounds from childhood. I help parents explore their own family of origin patterns, understand what they want to carry forward and what they're ready to leave behind, and do the inner child work that makes us more present and intentional with our own kids and partners. When you heal something in yourself, the whole family feels it.

Teenagers are some of my favorite people to sit with — especially the ones who feel too much, think too much, or have been told they're "too much." So much of teen therapy is about helping them hear their own voice beneath all the noise — parents, peers, social media, expectations. We work on identity, individuation, and navigating complicated family dynamics, so they can start living for themselves — not just performing for everyone else. This is brave, important work, and I'm honored to do it

Everything starts with our earliest relationships — they wire our nervous systems, shape how we see ourselves, and form the blueprint for every connection that follows. Attachment theory is at the heart of how I work, because understanding your attachment patterns is often the missing piece. When we explore those early bonds in a safe, consistent therapeutic relationship, something shifts — your nervous system learns it's okay to trust, to need, and to let people in. That's healing.

DBT is one of my go-to frameworks — especially with teens and young adults — because it's honest, practical, and actually works. I love that it doesn't ask you to just think differently; it gives you real tools for managing overwhelming emotions, navigating relationships, and finding your footing when everything feels like too much. The concept of Wise Mind — that sweet spot between emotion and reason — is something I come back to constantly. It resonates with people.

Psychodynamic therapy is where my roots are, and honestly, it informs everything I do. It's the belief that understanding *why* — why we repeat patterns, why certain people trigger us, why we stay stuck — is itself transformative. There is nothing quite like sitting with someone when the lightbulb goes on. That moment of genuine insight, when something that's been operating in the shadows suddenly makes sense, changes everything. I find this approach quietly powerful.

Anxiety has a way of whispering that something is wrong with you — I'm here to tell you it's not. Anxiety often masks something deeper: a relationship pattern, an unmet need, or a self that's gotten a little lost. I work with teens, young adults, and adults to slow down and get curious about what the anxiety is trying to say. Using DBT, psychodynamic, and strengths-based approaches, we untangle the noise together — so you can stop white-knuckling through your days and start actually feeling like