Dorothy Pedro, LCSW

Dorothy Pedro is a licensed clinical social worker with 25 years of experience. She helps people cope with grief, trauma, addiction, anxiety, depression, and life changes. Dorothy draws on practical problem solving and calm, focused listening to help people move forward when life feels overwhelming.

She spent much of her career in acute care hospitals, supporting people through life-changing illnesses and traumatic loss. That work sharpened her ability to help someone manage immediate crises and plan next steps for themselves and their family. She also uses motivational interviewing to help people set goals and make realistic plans during chaotic times.

Dorothy has worked with military families and with a school-based homeless program providing meals, counseling, home visits, and resources. She has coordinated with schools, courts, and child protective services to help families remain together when possible. She has also provided couples counseling, family counseling, and group work, and taught parenting skills while learning from parents themselves.

Her typical approach draws on systems thinking, which looks for changes that create positive ripple effects across a family or life system. She focuses on strengths and practical steps rather than blaming. Sometimes brief supportive interventions are enough; other times more intensive work is appropriate depending on where people are in their process.

Dorothy describes the work as collaborative. She listens for what matters to a household and helps guide small, realistic shifts that can lead to larger changes. If she cannot meet someone’s needs, she will offer direction toward another provider who can.

How Dorothy’s approaches translate to online work

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice unhelpful thoughts and choose actions that match their values. It can be useful for anxiety, depression, and making life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying thinking patterns and testing them with small behavioral experiments, which can help with anxiety, mood, and sleep problems. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationship patterns affect current interaction and emotional responses, and it can be helpful for relationship and intimacy-related concerns.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Dorothy treats this as a collaborative process, helping each person name their goals and then picking methods that fit those goals and their day-to-day life. She will adjust techniques over time based on what is helpful and what needs more focus.

If you are considering online therapy, confirm the session formats available before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit appointments into a busy schedule, allow shorter check-ins when that suits the client, and support ongoing practice of skills between meetings. Licensed professionals can guide exercises, teach coping strategies, and help create plans that people can use in real life, whether the sessions are brief problem-focused meetings or longer term work.