Nastassja Hanna
Nastassja Hanna is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), National Certified Counselor (NCC), and founder of Lumen Counseling, providing online therapy, virtual therapy, and telehealth counseling throughout Pennsylvania. She works with adolescents and adults navigating anxiety, OCD, intrusive thoughts, overthinking, perfectionism, trauma and PTSD, depression, BPD and emotional dysregulation, relationship problems, and life transitions. You may feel exhausted from constantly worrying, replaying conversations, second-guessing yourself, checking or seeking reassurance, trying to stay ahead of what could go wrong, or managing emotions that feel overwhelming. Maybe painful experiences continue to affect you, or you keep finding yourself in patterns you understand but cannot seem to change.
My work is grounded in a values-oriented approach, helping clients align their actions with what truly matters to them in a practical and meaningful way.
Nastassja helps clients look beneath the symptoms to understand what may be keeping them stuck, develop practical tools, and make meaningful changes. Her approach is warm, analytical, compassionate, practical, and values-driven. She believes you are more than your struggles and seeks to understand your experiences, relationships, strengths, beliefs, values, and goals. Her work helps clients develop the tools to respond differently to life’s challenges and make choices aligned with what truly matters to them. Christian counseling and faith-integrated therapy are available upon request.
First session
Your first online therapy session with Nastassja will focus on getting to know you and developing a clear understanding of what is bringing you to therapy. She will ask about your current concerns and symptoms, relevant history, relationships, previous treatment experiences, strengths, and goals. You do not need to arrive knowing exactly how to explain everything or having perfectly defined goals. Because the first session includes a comprehensive intake and assessment, it may involve more questions and information gathering than future sessions. This allows Nastassja to understand not only your symptoms but also the experiences, relationships, strengths, values, and patterns that may be affecting you. You are encouraged to ask questions and share concerns throughout the process. By the end of the session, you can begin identifying treatment priorities together and discussing which approaches may be most helpful for moving forward.
Strengths
Nastassja brings compassion, genuine curiosity, analytical thinking, attentive listening, and practical problem-solving to therapy. She looks beneath the surface to identify patterns, connections, and contributing factors while creating a space where you can feel heard, respected, and appropriately challenged. Her therapeutic style is warm, direct, collaborative, practical, and values-driven. She uses evidence-based approaches including Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for OCD and intrusive thoughts, Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for trauma and PTSD, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for emotional regulation and intense emotions, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Treatment is individualized rather than one-size-fits-all. Nastassja balances insight with action. Sessions may involve challenging unhelpful patterns, reducing avoidance, learning to respond differently to intrusive thoughts, processing painful experiences, strengthening emotional regulation, improving relationships and boundaries, or developing healthier ways of responding to anxiety and stress. Her goal is to help you leave therapy with more than insight—with practical tools you can use in everyday life to navigate challenges with greater confidence and intentionality.
Ideal clients
Nastassja works especially well with adolescents and adults who want to better understand themselves and are willing to take an active role in therapy. You may be struggling with anxiety, OCD or intrusive thoughts, overthinking, perfectionism, trauma, intense emotions, relationship difficulties, or simply feeling overwhelmed or stuck in patterns you have tried to change. You may understand what you are doing but still wonder, “Why do I keep doing this?” You do not need to have everything figured out before starting therapy. Nastassja especially enjoys working with clients who want to understand the “why” behind what they are experiencing while also learning what they can do differently. She values curiosity, honesty, collaboration, and a willingness to practice new skills or explore different perspectives. Ultimately, the goal is to help you develop greater self-awareness, practical coping and relationship skills, emotional resilience, and confidence to make intentional, values-driven choices in the life and relationships that matter most to you.
Origin story
Nastassja was drawn to counseling by a genuine belief in people and a deep curiosity about what shapes how we think, feel, relate, and respond to life. She believes people are more than their symptoms, diagnoses, struggles, or circumstances and are capable of meaningful growth. She is passionate about helping people understand themselves more clearly, recognize patterns that may be keeping them stuck, and develop practical tools to respond differently to life’s challenges. For Nastassja, therapy is not simply about feeling better in the moment; it is about developing the insight, skills, and confidence to live more intentionally. She believes you do not have to wait until anxiety, intrusive thoughts, painful emotions, trauma responses, or difficult circumstances disappear before moving forward. Growth can mean learning to respond differently while difficulties are present, make choices aligned with your values, strengthen meaningful relationships, and continue building a life centered on what matters most to you.
Ongoing work together
Ongoing therapy with Nastassja is collaborative, active, practical, and tailored to your goals. Depending on your needs, sessions may include understanding patterns that keep you stuck, practicing evidence-based skills, responding differently to anxiety or intrusive thoughts, reducing avoidance, challenging unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, processing painful experiences, strengthening emotional regulation, improving relationships and boundaries, and applying what you learn to everyday life. Treatment is not one-size-fits-all or static. Nastassja will revisit your goals, evaluate what is helping, and adjust the approach as your needs change. Progress is not always linear, but over time you may notice that difficult thoughts and emotions feel more manageable, unhealthy patterns have less control over your choices, relationships improve, and you navigate challenges with greater confidence. Ultimately, the goal is for the insight and skills developed in therapy to become increasingly your own—helping you live intentionally, make choices aligned with your values, and continue moving toward a meaningful life even when difficulties arise.
Treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
CBT helps clients understand the connections between their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and identify patterns that may be contributing to distress or keeping them stuck. Rather than simply replacing “negative” thoughts with positive ones, we examine whether thoughts are accurate, helpful, and supported by evidence while developing more adaptive ways of thinking and responding. Treatment may also include behavioral strategies, skill-building, and opportunities to practice new responses outside of sessions.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Through ACT, clients learn to develop greater psychological flexibility—the ability to experience difficult thoughts and emotions without allowing them to dictate every decision or behavior. Instead of making the elimination of discomfort the goal, our work focuses on changing the relationship with internal experiences, clarifying what matters most, and making intentional, values-driven choices even when discomfort or uncertainty is present.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
DBT provides practical skills for navigating intense emotions, tolerating distress, strengthening relationships, and responding more effectively during difficult situations. Depending on each client’s needs, therapy may incorporate emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and present-moment awareness. The goal is not to eliminate difficult emotions, but to understand them and develop greater confidence in responding to them effectively.
Exposure Response Prevention (ERP)
When treating OCD and related anxiety concerns, ERP focuses on breaking the cycle between fear, avoidance, and compulsive responses. Together, we identify patterns such as reassurance-seeking, checking, avoidance, or other compulsions and gradually practice facing feared thoughts, situations, sensations, or uncertainty without relying on those behaviors for relief. Over time, clients learn that they can tolerate discomfort and uncertainty while allowing OCD and anxiety to have less influence over their choices and daily lives.
Eclectic
No single therapeutic approach is appropriate for every person or every concern. Treatment is therefore individualized according to each client’s history, strengths, values, goals, current needs, and response to therapy. In addition to my primary approaches, I may thoughtfully incorporate elements of Cognitive Processing Therapy, Positive Psychology, attachment-based approaches, Behavioral Activation, Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Therapy, and other evidence-supported interventions when clinically appropriate. This allows treatment to remain structured and evidence-informed while flexible enough to respond to the individual person.
Location
Virtual sessions