Dr. Lori Malkasian
Family therapist focused on practical support
- Credentials
- LMFT
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed in
- South Carolina
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Lori
Dr. Lori Malkasian is a licensed marriage and family therapist with a Doctor of Psychology in counseling and 20 years of clinical experience. She focuses on practical support for families, parents, adolescents, and adults.
Lori speaks plainly, listens closely, and helps families find clearer ways to manage stress and behavior. She works in South Carolina and offers services in English, including options for clients outside the U.S. Her work often addresses common family worries like parenting challenges, teen behavior, and communication problems at home.
Background and approach
Lori also helps with anxiety, depression, anger, grief, and coping with major life changes. She draws on therapy methods that are straightforward and goal-focused so families can try new strategies quickly. In sessions she blends client-centered listening with techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy and emotionally focused therapy.
That means she pays attention to each family member's experience while teaching tools to change unhelpful thoughts and patterns. She also uses mindfulness and narrative work to help people notice how they tell their own stories and to reduce stress in daily life. Lori brings experience with adoption and foster care, autism and Asperger syndrome, blended family issues, and other family-specific concerns.
She offers a calm, practical space for parents worried about schooling, social skills, or behavior. Parents and teens leave with concrete steps to try between sessions. To begin, clients complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule sessions based on the therapist's posted times.
Sessions are available in a range of online formats to fit busy family schedules.
Therapeutic approaches and online family support
Client-centered therapy focuses on understanding each person in the family. The therapist listens without judgment and helps clients name what matters most to them, which can calm tensions and open conversation.Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, teaches practical steps to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. It is useful for anxiety, depression, anger, and many everyday family struggles where small habit changes make a difference.
Emotionally-focused therapy (EFT) helps people notice patterns in their emotional responses and rebuild connection in relationships. It is often helpful when communication has become tense or distant within a family.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Lori collaborates with each family to figure out which methods fit their goals and comfort level. She may blend approaches so the plan matches a family's needs and timeline.
Online sessions make it easier to fit therapy into busy family life. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation from home, phone sessions are available when screens are impractical, and live chat or text-based messaging can support quick check-ins or ongoing coaching. These options offer flexibility so parents and teens can work on issues without lengthy travel or schedule conflicts.
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.
Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
Attends to the emotions underneath a recurring argument or distance, and to the attachment needs driving them. Often used where a relationship keeps returning to the same painful loop.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Parenting issues
- Depression
Also works with
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- South Carolina
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Lori
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point