Willena “Lena” Hayes, LMFT

My approach offers a warmhearted, confirming listening ear, and is person-centered while giving you the push for accountability by challenging when needed. I believe this helps in the maintenance of integrity for the goals that you set while offering you respect and understanding.

I specialize in working with children and families, including couples. The main model I work from is Integrated Family Systems Therapy, which helps families understand how each individual influences and is impacted by their relationships with each other. Everyone will gain an increased level of self-awareness that will facilitate change. I also specialize in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). Using this model, I help children, adolescents, and young adults understand how their traumatic experience (i.e. changing schools, divorce, abuse, loss of a loved one, bullying, etc.) has shaped how they view the world at large and how they interact with their world socially, behaviorally, and emotionally. Through processing these traumatic events in a TF-CBT structured way, you or your child will begin to feel more in control of the symptoms that present themselves and the negative memories. My goal is to help everyone delve into their assertiveness, improve upon their self-advocacy, and feel the joys that the world has to offer. 

As a Black, female therapist in Philadelphia but also as a human, I work extra hard to make space for those within the BIPOC community. I see you. I support you. I am you. We are in this together. Through solidarity, I believe that change can happen. I am here to help you or your child explore any underlying beliefs about yourself; to tease out what has been given to you through the systems in which you find yourself existing and what is yours truly. Together, we can explore the intersectionality of all of your parts. My hope for you, and all of us in this social justice movement (#BlackLivesMatter), is that you will find peace within yourself to feed your aspirations and meet your personal goals regardless of what obstacles stand in your way.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia, completing my undergraduate work at Millersville University with a major in Psychology and concentrations in African American and Women’s Studies. I moved back to Philadelphia to pursue my masters from La Salle University in Marriage and Family Therapy. With over six years of experience in the field, I have worked in a variety of mental health agencies throughout the city providing services to ethnically and culturally diverse communities. I have notable experience working with children, teens/adolescents, adults, couples, and families who have been affected by traumatic experiences and those who have been traditionally underserved or under-represented. In 2016, I began pursuing a Ph.D. in Marriage and Family therapy, with a concentration in working with adolescents and their families. In my free time, I enjoy hanging out with friends and family, volunteering to serve the community, traveling, exploring novel places, singing karaoke, and the occasional and energetic dancing like no one’s watching.  

Schedule of Availability

Monday: 4-8p; virtual

Wednesday: 4-8p; virtual

Thursday: 4-8p; virtual

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