LORI MAHALA, LCSW, RELATIONSHIP & TRAUMA THERAPIST
Loving relationships start with your relationship with yourself.
Therapy for women seeking deep healing, personal growth, and meaningful connection.
Many times life’s most painful moments become the catalyst for deep healing, personal growth, and a more meaningful life.
After my second marriage ended, my self-esteem and sense of self-worth were at an all-time low, and I wasn’t even sure I knew who I was anymore.
What I did know was that I longed to feel alive, whole, and deeply connected to myself. And yes, I wanted to find love again … but not just any love. Healthy love. Fulfilling love. Soulful love.
As I began to heal, I came to understand that every relationship I had ever been in had been unhealthy, but I wasn’t sure why. After all, I was a smart, self-aware, growth-oriented woman.
What began as healing from the end of my marriage soon became something much deeper. I discovered the wounds, beliefs, and experiences that had shaped the way I saw myself, caused me to question my worth, and led me to settle for less than I truly wanted and deserved, in my life and in my relationships.
As I released the fears, insecurities, and limiting beliefs that had kept me stuck for so many years, the strong, confident, empowered woman within me began to emerge.
Eventually, I started dating again, but in a very different way. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t looking for someone to choose me. I was choosing myself, my values, and eventually the relationship that aligned with the woman I had become.
Today, I have a loving partner, and I’m deeply grateful for the relationship we’ve built together. But the greatest gift wasn’t finding him.
It was finding myself.
This journey is why I’m so passionate about helping women to heal after heartbreak, relationship loss, and betrayal. While the end of a relationship is often what brings women into therapy, it’s rarely where the story ends.
Together, we’ll heal the deeper wounds beneath the heartbreak, rebuild self-trust and self-worth, and create a life and relationships that reflect who you truly are.
Therapy with me is warm, relational, and deeply transformative. I believe healing happens when people feel emotionally safe enough to explore the parts of themselves and their experiences that have long been hidden, ignored, or shaped by pain.
Clients often describe me as warm, empathetic, compassionate, and authentic. I bring my full self into the therapy room, which means there is space not only for depth and vulnerability, but also for humor, honesty, and at times, a bit of tough love rooted in compassion and respect.
My approach combines the best of traditional talk therapy with EMDR, Accelerated Resolution Therapy, and Clinical EFT, all of which are shown to address issues at their core. While insight and self-awareness are important, lasting transformation often requires deeper healing within the nervous system, emotional body, and relational patterns shaped by past experiences.
Together, we’ll explore the roots of the patterns keeping you stuck in unhealthy or unfulfilling relationships and do the deeper healing work that allows you to relate to yourself and others in healthier, more meaningful ways.
At the core of my approach to therapy is the belief that beneath every painful relationship pattern is a deeper story shaped by past experiences, attachment wounds, and learned ways of relating that can be understood, healed, and transformed.
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO WORK WITH ME
This is where the deep inner work begins.
Healing begins when you stop looking outside yourself for answers and start turning inward with curiosity, compassion, and honesty. As you begin to better understand yourself and your relationship patterns, things start to make sense — why certain dynamics keep repeating, why emotionally unavailable partners feel familiar, or why healthy love has felt difficult to find or sustain.
With deeper awareness comes the opportunity for change. You begin reconnecting with your needs, your voice, your worth, and the parts of yourself that may have been lost in unhealthy relationships. From this place, the way you love, relate, and show up in relationships begins to shift, creating space for healthier, more meaningful connection.
Get the support that’s right for you.
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I’m trained in a variety of therapy methods, allowing me to tailor my approach to your unique goals and needs. These include:
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to help you heal from the painful moments of your life and transform unhealthy relationship patterns.
Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) to help you regulate emotions, reduce anxiety, and calm your nervous system (so you don’t desperate-text your ex).
Humanistic Therapy to deepen self-awareness, facilitate introspection, encourage personal growth, and awaken your innate potential for healing.
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) to change your thoughts, which changes your emotions, which leads to changing your behavior.
Motivational Interviewing to help you define what you want and find ways to get there.
Life Coaching to help you build a life that’s even better than you imagined it could be.
Yoga Therapy to empower you to cultivate inner peace, balance, and a deeper connection to yourself.
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Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky
Master of Social Work Degree, University of Missouri-St Louis
Ready to get started?