Gretchen Raring
Supportive, practical therapy for parents
- Credentials
- LICSW, LCSW
- Experience
- 24 years
- Licensed in
- New Jersey, Florida, Massachusetts
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Gretchen
Gretchen Raring is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) practicing in New Jersey. She brings 24 years of experience to sessions and focuses on family and parenting concerns among many other issues. Gretchen aims for straightforward, compassionate work that helps people manage stress, anxiety, relationship struggles, depression, and changes in life.
Gretchen uses practical strategies as well as talk-based work. She blends acceptance and mindfulness with problem-solving tools so people leave sessions with something they can try that week.
Background and approach
She also incorporates attachment-informed thinking to help with relationship patterns and emotionally focused techniques when relationships are a central concern. Her background includes long clinical experience across different settings. She trained at Temple University for her master’s degree in social work and holds the MA LICSW LICSW124622 and ND LCSW 6418 credentials.
That experience informs a flexible style that adapts to each person’s situation and goals. Sessions are offered in English and delivered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Costs vary with location and therapist availability and use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
Gretchen emphasizes collaboration. She works alongside clients to set goals and choose approaches that feel right. New clients begin by selecting the Start Therapy button, filling out a short matching questionnaire, and scheduling based on therapist availability.
How her approaches translate to online therapy
Gretchen uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, and to clarify what matters most so clients can take values-based action. ACT is useful for stress, anxiety, and getting unstuck from patterns that interfere with daily life.She also brings Attachment-Based Therapy and Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) into work that centers on relationships. Attachment-informed thinking helps identify long-standing patterns in how people relate, while EFT techniques focus on strengthening emotional bonds and improving communication between partners or close others.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Gretchen collaborates with each person to pick methods that match their needs, goals, and preferences. She adjusts tools and pacing as people try things out and report back on what helps.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. These options offer flexibility for busy schedules and can make it easier to fit regular work into daily life. The variety of formats lets clients choose how they want to connect and try therapeutic tools in ways that feel most practical for them.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Less about arguing with difficult thoughts, more about loosening their grip and acting on what matters to you anyway. Values and committed action carry the work, which suits conversation at a distance.
Attachment-Based Therapy
Looks at how early bonds shaped what you expect from closeness, and how that plays out now with a partner, a parent, or your own children.
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.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 24 years
- Licensed
- New Jersey, Florida, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Arizona
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Gretchen
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point