What's My Approach to Therapy?
Life can feel overwhelming and confusing when our sense of possibility gets clouded by stress, pressure, or repeated attempts to change that never seem to stick. Sean Lawlor believes that no matter how stuck we may feel, there are always more pathways forward than we can initially see, and that restoring a sense of agency and centeredness within ourselves is a powerful starting point for real change. Sean is committed to providing a warm, compassionate, and collaborative environment where clients can explore their inner world, gain clarity about what matters most, and begin to shape their lives in alignment with their deepest values and desires. He believes that therapy can be an empowering tool for breaking old patterns, strengthening resilience, and nurturing a more hopeful, authentic connection to one’s life and potential.
At Foundations Counseling, Sean works with a wide variety of clients who may be seeking services that include:
· Mental health and wellness – severe anxiety, stress, drug and alcohol use and addiction recovery, self-esteem, and holistic health,
· Life transitions – life coaching, spirituality, job transition, male and female role issues, and restoring meaning to life,
· Growth-oriented counseling – career counseling, burnout and lack of motivation, quarter-life crisis, empowerment, and individual development,
· Individual counseling – anxiety, attachment, creativity, divorce recovery, worrying, catastrophic thinking, self-worth issues, codependency, and trauma,
· Men’s counseling – anger management, healthy boundaries, restoring vitality, courage, confidence, and defining one’s purpose.
Sean Lawlor holds a Master of Arts degree in mindfulness-based transpersonal counseling from Naropa University, a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Chatham University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from the University of San Diego. Sean holds a Level 2 Certification in internal family systems (IFS) therapy. He has also earned certifications in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and other psychedelic therapies, and he incorporated his knowledge and understanding of these subjects into his book Psychedelic Revival: Toward a New Paradigm of Healing (Sounds True, 2024).
In the counseling field, Sean has worked with diverse client populations in various settings, including community mental health, a medical clinic, and a group ketamine-assisted therapy practice. Prior to counseling, Sean worked as a high school English teacher, an online course creator and host, and a certified personal trainer. He enjoys sharing his knowledge on exercise, movement, and strength training with his therapy clients, and his desire to bridge the gap between training and counseling led him to earn a certification in trauma-informed weightlifting.
A lifelong student of the world, Sean navigates the world with curiosity and thrives on learning more about the breadth of human experience and the mysteries of the universe we navigate. His curiosity has led him to travel extensively, study various spiritual systems, and, most importantly, connect with people from widespread backgrounds over shared aspects of their humanity. He loves reading fiction and philosophy, watching and studying film, and playing, and on rare occasions, writing music on his trusty acoustic guitar. He is grateful for the opportunity to support each one of his clients as they walk their unique journey through life.