Lesley Schmaltz

Lesley Schmaltz is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 16 years of experience. She practices from a warm, inviting style and focuses on building strong working relationships with people who are navigating hard moments.

Lesley helps people with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, trauma and abuse, and relationship and parenting concerns. She also supports those coping with life changes, mood disorders, postpartum depression, ADHD, and self-esteem or body-image struggles.

Her background includes hospice work with terminally ill patients and their families, school-based psychotherapy across elementary to high school levels, and virtual psychotherapy treating a wide range of concerns. Those roles exposed her to grief counseling, trauma-informed care, parenting support, and behavioral approaches that she draws on in sessions.

Lesley uses a mix of approaches to fit each person’s situation. Her tools include Trauma-Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Attachment-Based Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. She partners with clients to create a treatment plan that feels realistic and useful.

Lesley earned a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Louisville in 2005. She holds LCSW credentials in Indiana and in Kentucky and works in Indiana. To begin, people complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule according to therapist availability.

How therapeutic approaches translate to online care

Lesley commonly uses Trauma-Focused Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in her work. Trauma-Focused Therapy looks at how past harmful experiences affect current thoughts, feelings, and relationships and aims to reduce the ways trauma gets in the way of daily life. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings while choosing actions that align with their values to move forward.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will work with each person to decide which methods fit their goals, needs, and comfort level. Sessions can combine different approaches over time as priorities change.

Session formats are not specified here, so confirm current options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life - for example by cutting travel time, allowing shorter check-ins during a break, or avoiding the need to be on camera when that helps someone stay focused. Licensed professionals offer online therapy to help people access care from where they are and work toward manageable changes without rearranging their whole schedule.