Joanna Sanchez

Joanna Sanchez is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Alaska who works with people facing emotional and life changes. She has over 15 years of experience helping individuals manage stress, anxiety, addiction recovery, grief, and the fallout of trauma and abuse. Her approach is warm and collaborative, and she focuses on understanding what is beneath recurring patterns.

Joanna draws on a relational and psychodynamic perspective while bringing in trauma-informed care, narrative therapy, and cognitive behavioral approaches when helpful. She centers conversations on listening first, then matching strategies to each person’s pace and goals. Sessions aim to move past quick fixes toward clearer insight and more sustainable change.

Her background includes outpatient therapy, residential treatment, and leadership roles in mental health and substance use services. Joanna also holds a Master of Social Work and a master’s degree in clinical psychology, which inform her clinical judgment and case conceptualization. She uses that experience to support people through major life transitions, complicated grief, and challenges tied to attachment and abandonment concerns.

She offers therapy in English and Spanish and works with issues such as communication problems, compassion fatigue, self-worth struggles, and divorce and separation. Joanna emphasizes respect and sensitivity, helping clients explore the why behind behaviors and what healing might look like in daily life.

To begin, prospective clients are asked to complete a short matching questionnaire and then schedule sessions according to the therapist’s availability.

Approaches that guide online work

Joanna uses a relational and psychodynamic lens to help people understand how past experiences shape present patterns. This approach focuses on how relationships and early attachments influence current feelings and choices, which can be useful for those working through attachment issues or abandonment concerns.

She also integrates trauma-informed care and narrative therapy techniques that help people reframe their stories and reduce the grip of painful memories. These methods support recovery from trauma, post-traumatic stress, and complicated grief by slowing the conversation and making meaning out of difficult events.

Cognitive behavioral strategies are woven in when practical skills are needed to manage anxiety, compulsive behaviors, or addictive urges. These techniques focus on small, concrete changes in thinking and routine that can reduce distress and improve daily functioning.

Finding the right blend of approaches is a collaborative process. The therapist will work with each person to identify goals, test what helps, and adjust the plan over time so treatment fits that person’s needs and preferences.

If you are considering online therapy, confirm current session options before booking since formats are not listed here. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when a quick update is needed. It can also let people continue care during relocations or schedule changes without pausing progress.