PuttingFamilyFirst

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PH Portrait of Penny Howland
Online therapist

Penny Howland

Therapist blending practical methods with long experience

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Credentials
LCSW
Experience
40 years
Licensed in
Florida
Languages
English
Format
Online sessions

About Penny

Penny Howland is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 40 years of practice. She blends practical, evidence-informed methods with a respectful, down-to-earth style. Penny focuses on helping people navigate family and parenting concerns alongside a broad range of emotional and life challenges.

She works in plain language and aims to make sessions feel usable from the first meeting. Penny draws on two main clinical approaches to guide care. She uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people spot and change unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns.

Background and approach

She also uses Psychodynamic Therapy to look at longer-term patterns and how past experiences influence current reactions. Her background includes work in medical and mental health settings. That experience covers care for people facing serious medical conditions, substance-related struggles, grief, and complex life adjustments.

She brings practical knowledge from those settings into therapy conversations. Penny earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Social Work from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. She holds a Florida LCSW license - FL LCSW SW1238.

She is a member of professional organizations and has training related to addictions. In sessions she aims to help people build coping tools, improve communication, and reduce problematic symptoms. Her approach honors resilience while addressing concrete problems like stress, sleep trouble, anger, and relationship strain.

She welcomes international clients and conducts work in English.

How Penny’s approaches work in online therapy

CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and habits and replacing them with more useful ones. It is often used for anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and behavior patterns related to stress or compulsions.

Psychodynamic Therapy looks at recurring emotions and relationship patterns that come from past experience. It helps people understand why they react a certain way and can be useful for deeper issues like attachment, grief, and longstanding relationship patterns.

Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Penny will discuss goals, try methods that match those goals, and adjust the plan as needed. The focus is on what helps the person make concrete changes while also understanding underlying causes when that feels important.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls let conversations feel more like in-person meetings, while phone, live chat, or text messaging provide options for brief check-ins or when scheduling is tight. These formats make it easier to fit therapy into a busy family life and to continue work from different locations.

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.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Exploring how earlier relationships and patterns still shape the present, often over a longer stretch of time. It relies on conversation and reflection rather than exercises.

Frequently asked questions

What kinds of issues does Penny address?
Penny works with a wide range of concerns including addictions, grief, depression, anxiety, stress, relationship and intimacy issues, sleep problems, anger, self-esteem, and career-related stress. She also focuses on specific areas such as caregiver stress, hospice and end-of-life counseling, and compulsive or impulsive behaviors.
What is her therapeutic style like?
She combines Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Psychodynamic Therapy to offer both short-term coping tools and exploration of deeper patterns. Sessions aim to be practical, plainspoken, and focused on goals you set together.
How long has she been practicing?
Penny has forty years of clinical experience spanning medical and mental health settings, including work with people facing serious illness, substance issues, and major life changes.
What credentials and location apply to her practice?
She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker - LCSW - licensed in Florida with the registration FL LCSW SW1238. Her education includes a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Social Work from Wayne State University.
Which languages are supported and can international clients connect?
Sessions are offered in English. International clients are accepted.
In what formats are sessions offered?
Therapy is available through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to suit different schedules and preferences.
How is cost handled for sessions?
Costs vary with location and therapist availability and sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
What steps are involved to begin working together?
To start, select the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule according to therapist availability.

Specialties and expertise

Top specialties

Also works with

Therapeutic approaches

Experience
40 years
Licensed
Florida
Languages
English

Next step

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