Joanna Sanchez

Joanna Sanchez is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Alaska with 15 years of experience. She helps people who are feeling stuck, isolated, anxious, or overwhelmed by life changes. Joanna aims to create a respectful, compassionate space where people can be heard and understood.

She trained with a Master of Social Work and a Master’s in Clinical Psychology and has worked in outpatient therapy, residential treatment, and leadership roles in mental health and substance use care. That range of settings shaped how she approaches complicated problems like addiction recovery, trauma, and grief.

Joanna’s style is warm and collaborative. She leans into thoughtful conversation to help people uncover the patterns behind their feelings. Her goal is to move beyond quick fixes so clients can better understand why they react the way they do.

Clinically, she draws from relational and psychodynamic ideas while integrating trauma-informed care, narrative therapy, and cognitive behavioral techniques when helpful. This mix lets her tailor sessions to individual needs rather than use a single method for everyone.

People who value reflective dialogue and curiosity about their inner life tend to find her approach useful. Joanna works with concerns such as stress, depression, anxiety, addiction, relationship and communication problems, post-traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and isolation or loneliness. She listens closely and helps clients identify practical next steps toward feeling more connected and grounded.

How Joanna’s approaches adapt to online work

Joanna uses relational and psychodynamic perspectives alongside trauma-informed care, narrative therapy, and cognitive behavioral techniques. Relational and psychodynamic work focuses on patterns in relationships and history to make sense of current feelings and behavior and can help with issues like attachment, abandonment, and long-standing relational pain.

Narrative therapy helps people separate themselves from problems by examining the stories they tell about their lives, which can be useful for grief, shame, and rebuilding a sense of self. Cognitive behavioral techniques offer practical tools to notice and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, helping with anxiety, stress, and some aspects of addiction recovery.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Joanna aims to collaborate with each person to choose which ideas and techniques to use, adjusting over time as needs and goals change. She emphasizes curiosity and trying methods that fit the client’s pace and preferences.

If you are considering online therapy, confirm the session formats offered before booking since formats were not specified in the biography. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into daily life, limit travel time, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and offer options that reduce the need to be on camera or travel for appointments. Licensed professionals can discuss which format would best match your schedule and goals.