Brian Colangelo
Practical support for family and parenting challenges
- Credentials
- LCSW
- Experience
- 15 years
- Licensed in
- New Jersey
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Brian
Brian Colangelo is a licensed clinical social worker who focuses on common parenting and family concerns like stress, anxiety, addictions, grief, sleep problems, and parenting challenges. He speaks plainly and works to build an open, honest relationship so people feel heard. Brian offers steady, practical support and encourages direct feedback if something in therapy isn’t working.
He trained at Temple University where he earned a Master of Social Work and holds an LCSW.
Background and approach
Over 15 years he has learned a range of methods, including cognitive behavioral strategies, mindfulness, EMDR for trauma, motivational interviewing, and client-centered approaches. He also studied Gestalt work for three years at the Gestalt Institute of Philadelphia. Brian brings experience providing trauma counseling in individual and group formats, including work with survivors of sexual assault from multiple backgrounds.
He combines clinical training with personal experience of recovery to guide his work, and he frames that experience as a source of perspective rather than comparison. In sessions he favors plain language and straightforward tools. That might mean practicing mindfulness for stress, using cognitive techniques to shift unhelpful thoughts, or applying EMDR when trauma memories are blocking daily life.
He invites clients to speak up if an approach doesn’t fit so they can adjust together. Brian lives in New Jersey, enjoys running and cycling, and keeps a sense of humor in his work. He values social justice and makes it part of his practice to address harms from discrimination and oppression when they affect a person’s life.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Client-centered work focuses on listening and creating a respectful space where people set their own goals. This approach helps when someone needs support sorting out feelings and priorities in day-to-day family life.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts affect feelings and behaviors. In online sessions this often includes simple homework and skill practice to reduce anxiety, manage mood, and address sleep or stress problems.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, EMDR, is a trauma-focused method that helps reduce the intensity of upsetting memories. When appropriate, EMDR can be adapted for remote work with guided processing and pacing that align with a client’s needs.
Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences, and what methods fit best, and will adjust plans as progress is made. That teamwork helps ensure treatment stays relevant and practical.
Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text messaging. These formats make it easier to fit sessions into busy family schedules, to check in between appointments, and to keep continuity when life is unpredictable. Many people find the range of options helps them stay engaged and practice skills in real time.
Client-Centered Therapy
The direction comes from you rather than from a set programme. The therapist offers a warm, non-judgemental space to think out loud and work at your own pace. Online, this rests on the relationship rather than on being in the same room.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT looks at the link between what you think, how you feel, and what you do. You work on noticing unhelpful patterns and practising steadier responses. It suits online sessions well, because much of the work happens between appointments and can be talked through from anywhere.
EMDR
A structured protocol used with distressing memories, pairing recall with guided attention tasks. Some therapists adapt it for video sessions; whether that fits is worth asking about directly.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Men's issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 15 years
- Licensed
- New Jersey
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Brian
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point