Betsy Elder LCPC Counseling
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor
Maine License #CC4940
207-504-6600

I am a fully licensed Maine LCPC, Sweetser Affiliate and have been in private practice in Brunswick since February 2014. I completed my Masters in Counseling at University of Southern Maine with a focus on clinical mental health, including Adult Outpatient internships at Tri-County Mental Health Services (TCMHS) and nine months at The New England Family Institute (NEFI).

Trained in family systems, couples, analytic, psychodynamic, transpersonal, Jungian, sensorimotor, somatic, mindfulness, expressive, TAT (Tapas Acupressure Technique), CBT, DBT, Trauma-Focused and Solution-Focused therapies, I bring a unique combination of experience and skill to the following areas of specialty.

                                                                                                Anxiety and Depression

                                                                                                Complex Trauma, Abuse, PTSD, Panic and Anger

                                                                                                Family Systems/Couples/Relationship Issues

                                                                                                Aging, Grief, Loss, End-of-Life

                                                                                                Identity, Sexual Identity and Body Image evolution 

                                                                                                Finding meaning in transition, illness, disability, dementia

                                                                                                Career adjustments

                                                                                                Mood, Personality and Sleep Disorders

                                                                                                Co-Occurring disorders and substance dependence

                                                                                                Reinventing and Remembering Self

                                                                                                Potentiating fulfillment and sense of wholeness

                                                                                                Cross Cultural Issues

As a meditator for fifty years, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a natural modality for me because of its basis in mindfulness. Training to participate in the present moment is a powerful tool. I offer a unique blend of strength-based, positive, goal-oriented therapy combined with life experience and maturity.

I am a fully Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC). As an LCPC in Maine, I am required by law to disclose information regarding my background and services to you prior to providing those services. I earned a Masters in Science in Counseling with a concentration in Clinical Mental Health from the University of Southern Maine which was conferred in September 2013. I also hold a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University conferred in 1980 and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from The Colorado College conferred in 1977.

While in private practice in Brunswick, I have been privileged to work with adults in many phases of life. Drawing on a wide range of counseling approaches I continue to self-educate in effective mind-body treatments including yin yoga and energy psychology. When appropriate we integrate writing, art/painting, singing/music, psychodrama, yoga, nature, meditation and movement modalities into treatment.

Before training as a counselor, I acquired learned many skills in other phases of my career. During two years as Executive Director of a non-profit Hospice Volunteers (HV), my capacities for human services were cultivated. I served the environment for two decades as Maine’s State Hydropower Coordinator of the federal licensing process and as an energy policy analyst for the Maine State Planning Office (SPO). Additionally, I pursued continuing education in memoir/screenwriting in Prague and, the Iowa Writers Festival, psychology and religion courses at Bowdoin College and Brunswick’s C.G Jung Center. I have had extensive training in active listening, meditation, grief facilitation, hospice care, music, singing, creative and technical writing, negotiation, computer applications, belly dancing and middle eastern dumbek drumming.