Surilla Lawrence, LPC

Surilla Lawrence is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) in Michigan who uses a practical, person-centered approach to therapy. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, relationship strain, grief, depression, and addiction. Her work also addresses intimacy-related concerns, parenting stress, and compassion fatigue. Surilla writes plainly and listens closely while tailoring sessions to each person's needs.

With seven years of experience, she draws on several approaches to fit individual concerns. She often uses attachment-based ideas to look at how past relationships shape current patterns. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is applied to identify unhelpful thoughts and test new ways of responding. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) tools are used when emotions feel overwhelming or when communication needs rebuilding.

Surilla also supports people facing specific life challenges such as abandonment wounds, blended family stress, caregiver burden, cancer-related emotional needs, end-of-life issues, and HIV/AIDS concerns. She helps people work through codependency, control issues, guilt, and shame so they can set healthier boundaries and make clearer choices.

In sessions she aims to be respectful and compassionate while offering concrete steps and strategies. She will work with each client to build a practical plan that fits daily life and goals. To begin, she asks people to share what matters most and then shapes the pace and focus to fit those priorities.

How these approaches translate to online therapy

Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how past bonds shape current reactions and relationship patterns, helping people reconnect with their needs and responses. Client-Centered Therapy focuses on a nonjudgmental, respectful dialogue where the person’s goals lead the work and the therapist follows their pace. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) targets unhelpful thoughts and behaviors with simple exercises and experiments to try between sessions.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods match their goals, needs, and preferences. That plan can change as progress unfolds, and the client helps set the pace and focus.

Confirm available session formats before booking, as the profile does not list specific online options. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life by removing travel time, allowing shorter check-ins on hectic days, and enabling work around job or caregiving schedules. It also lets people use tools like worksheets, behavioral experiments, and emotion regulation exercises between meetings so work continues outside the session.