About Laura
Laura Scales is a licensed marriage and family therapist who moved into counseling after several other careers. She draws on hands-on experience caring for people with chronic illness and working in senior living communities.
Background and approach
Her background also includes teaching outdoor skills like rock climbing and sea kayaking, and she brings that practical, steady presence into sessions. She earned a master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and completed clinical practicum work at a psychiatric hospital.
Laura spent time in community mental health as an intake, individual, and group counselor. That work exposed her to many different life situations and sharpened her skills over five years in the field.
In session she focuses on relationships and how they shape wellbeing. She helps people talk through depression, anxiety, grief, anger, and stress.
She also supports those dealing with intimacy concerns, addictions, parenting pressures, career shifts, and trauma and abuse. Her approach is practical and collaborative.
She uses evidence-based therapeutic techniques and adapts methods to each person's needs. Clients can expect a nonjudgmental space to explore problems and try new ways of relating and coping.
Laura believes small changes in how people connect lead to bigger shifts in mood and satisfaction. She aims to empower clients to make choices that feel right for their lives.
Outside of work she spends as much time as possible outdoors, which informs her calm and focused style.
Therapeutic approaches and how online therapy fits
Laura draws on evidence-based approaches that focus on patterns in relationships and internal experience. Internal Family Systems helps people notice different parts of themselves and how those parts affect choices and relationships; it can be useful for managing strong emotions and trauma responses. Cognitive behavior therapy focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and teaches practical skills to reduce anxiety and depression. Dialectical behavior therapy offers tools for regulating intense emotions and improving distress tolerance in moments of crisis.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals, needs, and preferences. That plan can change over time as progress is made or new issues come up.
Online formats make it easier to fit therapy into life. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when seeing facial cues matters. Phone sessions can be helpful when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to use video. Live chat and text-based messaging provide brief check-ins, follow-up notes, and flexible ways to communicate between sessions. These options allow people to schedule care around work, family, and other obligations while keeping continuity with a licensed professional.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Relationship issues
- Grief
- Anger management
Also works with
- Addictions
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Experience
- 5 years
- Licensed
- Colorado
- Languages
- English