Nitasha Strait, Ph.D., M.Ed., MA, LMFT, CST

A perfect blend of warmth, empathy, and supportive learning is the quintessential therapeutic path to gaining the skills and insights into your issues and how you can solve them. At times, I will be the validating support you need to build you up and see the positives in your life. Other times, I will be the accountability and extra push you may need to make changes. I have heard from numerous current and past clients that I am “real” in the sessions. I think carrying a genuineness to myself helps you grow. Laughter and connection are at the center of healing. Our relationship will model, nurture, and empower you to create positive, healthy changes outside of therapy. These changes can lead you to feel a higher state of well-being.

My work is informed by interactions that I’ve had with past and current clients, professional training, and my collegiate teaching experiences at Temple University, Penn State University, and Rutgers University. My passion has always been to treat individuals, couples, and families through solace-oriented teaching.

There are two levels of change: first and second. First-order change is when you make behavioral changes to your life that feel good. Typically these are changes to things that you are already doing. Either you do more helpful behaviors (have meaningful conversations with your loved ones, for example) or less of the hindrance behaviors (drink alcohol) to reach your goals. You are intellectualizing the problem in first-order change. You know – intellectually – that having meaningful conversations more will help you feel better. These behavioral changes may result in you feeling better about your life, which may be an emotional change.

Second-order change is a fundamental change in how you see yourself and interact with the world. You change your systems, the patterns that exist, and your worldview. Second-order change is more emotional than first-order change and hits you in your core. While changing some behaviors is easy. Other behavior changes are much harder to accomplish or less obvious to make. You may not feel emotionally connected to the change despite knowing it’s good for you. In the example above, process-oriented therapy will help you understand the barriers to having more meaningful conversations and how they got in place. Maybe you feel like you’re a burden to others based on messages you received growing up. You will begin to embody the change you want to see in your mind and heart. Second-order change is a visceral, ‘hit you in your most vulnerable parts’ kind of change. I believe that second-order change is a deeper, more meaningful change that has a higher impact on how you feel overall and is longer lasting.

I am a process-oriented therapist, meaning I work to give you new experiences in our sessions to take and use as a model for other experiences outside of our appointments. When I work with couples, I help each individual open themselves up to new, healthier experiences that create second-order change. I provide the blueprints for transforming how you connect and support one another. The hope is that these experiences are the opposite of the uncomfortable experiences you received in your childhood or previous relationships. I guide each partner to be able to have these experiences in a way that feels genuine and creates change within.

I pull from multiple therapy models (Gottman, EFT, IMAGO, IFS, Attachment Theory, Gestalt, and Jungian Therapies) and use a variety of different tools and techniques in our work together. In the session, I aim to bring you that visceral experience of change. Outside our sessions, I might send you worksheets, podcasts, books, and anything else I come across that I think would help you get to where you want to go. It’s not unusual for me to reach out between sessions with the latest article I read or to send you a podcast as I’m halfway through it if I think it would benefit you. I’ve found that layering information (i.e., you experience it with me, and you hear it from a podcast, and you read it in a book, etc.) helps you to begin to connect to the change that you are seeking and makes it easier to have “aha” moments where things start to click for you.

As a Certified Sex Therapist and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over a decade of training and experience, I’m confident that my support and guidance will help you obtain the change you want. I received my first Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy from La Salle University. I received my second Masters in Education and Ph.D. in Human Sexuality from Widener University.

Schedule of Availability: 

Tuesday: 9:30-6p; in-office

Thursday: 9:30-3p; in-office

Friday: 9:30-3p; in-office

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