Cara Kalakewich, LMFT
Compassionate therapist helping people rewrite their stories
Details
| Name | Cara Kalakewich |
|---|---|
| Credentials | LMFT |
| Based in | Pennsylvania |
| Licensed in | Pennsylvania |
| Session format | Online |
| Languages | English |
| Years in practice | 13 |
About Cara
Cara Kalakewich is a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) practicing in Pennsylvania with 13 years of experience. She focuses on relationship and family concerns, trauma and abuse, addiction, mood differences, and everyday stresses like career and parenting. Cara aims to build a calm, nonjudgmental space so people can talk honestly about what matters to them.
She takes a collaborative, person-centered approach. That means listening first and then helping people notice how their life story, relationships, beliefs, and culture shape their choices.
Background and approach
She uses Narrative Therapy alongside client-centered methods to help people tell different parts of their story and try new ways of relating. Cara also draws on cognitive behavioral ideas to spot patterns in thinking and behavior. She may introduce practical skills for managing anxiety, mood shifts, and addictive patterns.
Dialectical behavior therapy ideas are used when stronger emotion regulation and distress-tolerance skills are needed. Sessions emphasize respect for identity, including work with LGBT concerns, body image, and nontraditional sexual cultures. Cara also supports people facing grief, compassion fatigue, ADHD-related struggles, and parenting pressures.
She pays attention to how adoption, attachment, and past abandonment can affect present relationships. Therapy is framed as teamwork. Cara helps people set clear goals and tests small changes between sessions.
Her style is warm and direct, focused on helping people feel more steady, connected, and able to make choices that match their values.
What this therapist works with
Her listing names Relationship issues, Family conflicts, Trauma and abuse among the things Cara works with, alongside the areas below.
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Intimacy-related issues
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- LGBT
- Grief
- Eating disorders
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Depression
- Coping with life changes
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- ADHD
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Attachment issues
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Dependent personality
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches listed
- Narrative Therapy: Named in her listing among her approaches.
- Client-Centered Therapy: Listed by Cara among the ways she works.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Listed by Cara among the ways she works.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Listed by Cara among the ways she works.
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT): Listed by Cara among the ways she works.
- Gottman Method: Listed by Cara among the ways she works.
- Mindfulness Therapy: Listed by Cara among the ways she works.
- Motivational Interviewing: Listed by Cara among the ways she works.
- Solution-Focused Therapy: Listed by Cara among the ways she works.
- Trauma-Focused Therapy: Listed by Cara among the ways she works.
- Internal Family Systems: Listed by Cara among the ways she works.
- Training stated: This directory copies the approaches a therapist names and does not check training records. Ask Cara directly how much of the work is narrative and what a session usually looks like.
Narrative Therapy in this listing
Narrative Therapy appears in this therapist's own list of approaches. That tells you it is part of how she works. It does not tell you how much of a session it shapes, and this directory does not check or rate training.
If a narrative approach is what you are looking for, it is worth asking Cara directly how she uses it and what a session usually looks like.
Online session options
Approaches that shape online sessions
Clients may experience Narrative Therapy, which helps separate a person from their problems by examining life stories and the meanings people give events; this can be useful for attachment, identity, and relationship concerns. Client-Centered Therapy is also part of her work and focuses on listening, acceptance, and helping people find their own answers; it supports self-esteem, grief, and relationship repair. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, used selectively, looks at thoughts and behaviors to reduce anxiety, manage mood symptoms, and address addictive patterns.Choosing the right approach is part of the process and is decided together. The therapist will talk with clients about their goals, preferences, and what feels helpful. Together they may try one method for several sessions and adjust as progress and comfort suggest a different path.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to increase flexibility. Video is often used for deeper conversational work and eye contact, phone can be easier when bandwidth is low, live chat offers a quicker check-in, and messaging lets people reflect between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules and to keep momentum between meetings.
Common questions about this listing
What kinds of problems does this therapist help with?
Cara helps with relationship and family challenges, trauma and abuse, addictions, anxiety, depression, grief, and stress. She also supports concerns like body image, parenting strain, ADHD, and work-related issues.
How would you describe Cara's therapeutic style?
She combines a narrative, client-centered stance with practical skills work. Sessions are collaborative, respectful, and focused on making small, useful changes.
What is her professional background?
Cara has 13 years of clinical experience working in settings that addressed trauma, addictions, and relationship concerns. Her work centers on understanding life stories and relationship patterns.
Where is Cara licensed and practicing?
She holds a Pennsylvania licensed marriage and family therapist credential, listed as LMFT, and practices in Pennsylvania.
Can sessions be conducted in other languages or with international clients?
Sessions are offered in English, and international clients are accepted.
What session formats are available for meeting online?
Therapy can be delivered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different schedules and needs.
How does payment and pricing work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with Cara?
Start by selecting the Start Therapy button, completing a short matching questionnaire, and scheduling according to therapist availability.
Contacting this therapist
Sessions with Cara are arranged through our partner platform. It asks a few questions about what you are looking for, then shows you the therapists available to you, including Cara where she has space. Ask about fees, and whether she holds a licence or registration where you live.
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