Joy Close

Joy Close is a licensed clinical social worker with 28 years of experience who helps adults facing stress, anxiety, grief, depression, and life transitions. She focuses on practical support that helps people build coping skills and clearer direction. Joy aims to make the therapy space feel respectful and accepting so clients can speak openly and make changes at their own pace.

Her approach is collaborative and tailored to each person. She uses a mix of methods to match what someone needs at the moment, from short-term problem solving to deeper work on patterns that cause repeated stress. Sessions often center on learning concrete strategies, improving coping, and strengthening self-understanding.

Joy has long experience with LGBTQ concerns, relationship and family conflict, and issues around identity and sexuality. She also supports people navigating caregiving stress, chronic illness or pain, aging and end-of-life matters, and the effects of trauma or loss. Her background includes helping clients with career questions, substance concerns, ADHD, and mood disorders.

She describes her practice as affirming and social-justice oriented, and she identifies as anti-racist, anti-sexist, LGBTQIA+ affirming, and sex positive. Joy works with adults from varied racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds and emphasizes listening first to understand each person’s priorities.

If you want a therapist who mixes practical steps with thoughtful exploration, Joy focuses on helping people get unstuck and move forward in ways that fit their life.

Approaches that guide online work and decision making

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify what matters most and take small committed steps toward those values. It is often used for anxiety, depression, and life transitions where motivation and direction feel unclear.

Client-Centered Therapy centers on listening without judgment and following the client’s pace. This approach supports people who need a validating space to sort thoughts and build self-trust before making changes.

Finding the right approach is part of therapy. The therapist will work together with the client to choose methods that fit the person’s goals, needs, and comfort level. That collaborative process can include trying different techniques and adjusting as progress is made.

Confirm current session options before booking so you know what formats are possible. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow quicker check-ins between appointments. It also offers ways to continue work through transitions or when in-person visits are difficult, while the therapist and client decide together how often and in what form to meet.