Our Team
Michelle Jones, LCSW
she/her
AASECT-Certified Sex Therapist
Clinical Lead and Education Coordinator
Michelle is licensed in the state of Pennsylvania and is also registered to provide telehealth therapy to clients in Florida
Michelle is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with extensive experience serving adults. She specializes in helping clients navigate anxiety, depression, emotional regulation, relationship challenges, and sexual concerns.
Specialties:
Anxiety, Depression, Grief, and Emotion Regulation: Michelle can help you better understand your emotional patterns, reduce your distress and suffering, and build skills for greater stability and resilience in your life.
Relationships: Using the evidence-based Gottman Method, Michelle supports couples/ partners in improving communication, rebuilding connection, and navigating conflict more effectively.
Sex Therapy: AASECT-certified and sex-positive: Michelle specializes in desire discrepancies, lack of desire/ pleasure/ orgasm, low sexual self-esteem, sex after cancer, sex for older adults, sexual concerns in LGBTQIA+ relationships, erectile dysfunction, and compulsive sexual behavior. Michelle does not specialize in or work with clients whose sexual concerns are related to illegal behavior. She also does not specialize in all areas of sexual concerns, so referral options for other providers may be provided.
*** Please note: As licensed mental health professionals, we provide therapeutic support through conversation and education only. There is no physical or sexual interaction involved in sex therapy sessions.
Why Choose Michelle?
Michelle believes that therapy is a place for acceptance, compassion, growth, and change. She employs mindfulness-based, trauma-informed, and compassion-focused approaches, alongside Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and the Gottman Method, to support you in your journey.
Client Focus:
Michelle is dedicated to helping adults navigate their mental health and relational challenges. She also provides specialized sex therapy, addressing issues such as lack of desire, orgasm difficulties, sex after trauma, and erectile dysfunction. If your needs fall outside her specialties, she can help refer you to a more appropriate provider.
Inclusive and Affirming:
Michelle is committed to providing inclusive, sex-positive, and affirming care, ensuring a supportive and understanding environment for all clients.
Therapeutic Approach:
Michelle believes that effective therapy leads to inner peace, balance, and fulfillment. Her approach is goal-oriented and collaborative, with an emphasis on making meaningful progress together.
Insurance Accepted:
Commercial plans from: Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, UPMC, Aetna, United/ Optum
In addition to providing therapy to her clients, Michelle is also the Clinical Lead and Education Coordinator for our practice. In this role, Michelle provides clinical supervision to other therapists, develops educational resources for the practice, and oversees important areas of clinical growth for Life Balance that benefit both our team and our clients.
Sara Scarberry, LPC
she/her
Clinician
Sara is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a strong background in helping individuals facing relational and personal challenges. She is dedicated to providing an open and respectful environment where you can explore your thoughts and experiences with honesty and insight.
Specialties:
Anxiety, Stress, and Depression: Sara helps you better understand how your thoughts and emotions impact your well-being. She offers practical strategies to reduce overwhelm and build greater emotional balance and resilience.
Neurodivergent Affirming Care: Sara’s direct and honest approach tends to resonate well with neurodivergent individuals who seek a therapist that provides straightforward and authentic communication. She creates a supportive environment and fosters clarity and self-acceptance.
Trauma Recovery: Sara helps clients navigate past trauma with a focus on understanding, healing, and rebuilding a sense of safety and strength.
Relationship Dynamics: With a focus on communication and developing healthier interpersonal patterns, Sara helps you address relational challenges and stressors in your relationship.
Self-Discovery and Identity: Sara supports individuals in exploring their sense of self and building confidence in their unique identity.
Sexual Health and Intimacy: As a sex-positive therapist, Sara can help you address low libido, desire issues, sexual dysfunction, pain during sex, and problematic use of pornography. Sara does not specialize in or work with clients whose sexual concerns are related to illegal behavior. She also does not specialize in all areas of sexual concerns, so referral options for other providers may be provided.
*** Please note: As licensed mental health professionals, we provide therapeutic support through conversation and education only. There is no physical or sexual interaction involved in sex therapy sessions.
Why Choose Sara?
Sara’s approach is caring, insightful, and grounded in a commitment to helping clients understand how their emotions and experiences shape their lives. She blends authenticity with compassion, creating a safe space for reflection, growth, and resilience. Clients describe her as direct yet supportive and as someone who helps them feel both seen and empowered.
Client Focus:
Sara works with adolescents and adults navigating stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, identity exploration, and relationship challenges. She is passionate about empowering her clients to feel more confident, resilient, and connected in their lives.
Inclusive and Affirming:
Sara, along with all therapists at Life Balance, is LGBTQIA+ affirming and committed to inclusive care.
Insurance Accepted:
Commercial plans from: Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, UPMC, Aetna, United/ Optum
Hope Collins, LSW
she/her
Clinician
Hope is a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) who specializes in providing neurodivergent-aligned and informed care. With a focus on adults and teens over 14, Hope is committed to offering a supportive and inclusive environment where clients can explore their emotions and challenges and work towards healing and growth.
Specialties:
Trauma Recovery: Hope provides compassionate support for individuals navigating past trauma and building resilience.
Body Acceptance: Hope can help you develop a more positive relationship with your body and gain more self-acceptance.
Grief and Loss: Experiencing the complexities of grief and loss can feel overwhelming. Hope can help you through your loss with compassion and steady movement forward.
Relationships and Life Transitions: Hope supports clients as they navigate changes in relationships and major life events.
Depression and Anxiety: Helping clients understand and manage the effects of depression and anxiety, while building coping skills to achieve better emotional well-being and resilience, is one of Hope’s specialties.
Emotion Regulation: Hope can help empower you with the tools to manage and express your emotions in healthier, more adaptive ways.
Why Choose Hope?
Hope’s clients appreciate her friendly, relatable nature and her ability to create a space where clients feel understood and supported. She takes the work of sitting with clients in their vulnerabilities seriously, approaching each individual with openness, curiosity, and respect.
Client Focus:
Hope works with adults and teens over 14, supporting you through trauma, life transitions, relationship challenges, and more. She is passionate about helping clients gain confidence in themselves and overcome obstacles to lead a more fulfilling life.
Inclusive and Affirming:
Hope is dedicated to providing neurodivergent-aligned care and is LGBTQIA+ affirming. She ensures that every client feels valued, respected, and accepted, offering an inclusive therapeutic space where individuals can explore their identities and experiences freely.
Supervision:
Hope is currently supervised by Michelle Jones, LCSW
Insurance Accepted:
Commercial plans from: Blue Cross/ Blue Shield , UPMC, and Aetna
Melina Harden, LSW
she/her
Clinician
Melina Harden is a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) who is trained in DBT-informed practice and works with teens and adults ages 14–50. Melina is passionate about creating a safe, affirming space where you can show up exactly as you are. Clients often describe Melina as calming, genuine, and easy to talk to. Whether you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or just trying to navigate life’s challenges, Melina brings an understanding and a steady presence to help guide the way.
Specialties:
Depression & Anxiety: Melina offers support in making sense of your emotions, reducing overwhelm, and finding a greater sense of balance.
Interpersonal Concerns: Melina can help you explore relationship patterns and building stronger, healthier connections with the people who mean the most to you.
Life Transitions: Having support during times of change can be incredibly powerful. Whether you’re starting fresh, adjusting to something new, or just need help finding direction, Melina can help you with a plan and with the support you deserve.
Emotion Regulation and Coping: Melina can help equip you with practical strategies and skills to manage stress and feel more grounded day-to-day. She is also skilled in assessing and treating self-harm.
Identity & Belonging: Melina offers affirming support for LGBTQIA+ and gender-expansive individuals, as well as for neurodivergent clients.
Why Choose Melina?
Melina believes therapy should feel like a safe place to be honest, feel heard, and start taking steps toward the life you want. She blends compassion with down-to-earth support and structure, meeting you where you are and walking alongside you at your own pace. Her clients appreciate her calming presence and her ability to make therapy feel supportive and approachable.
Client Focus:
Melina specializes in working with teens and adults who are navigating anxiety, depression, neurodivergence, identity, relationships, self-harm, and life changes. She has a particular passion for supporting LGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent clients and brings openness and curiosity to every session.
Inclusive and Affirming:
Melina is deeply committed to creating an inclusive space where you feel seen and supported. Her work is grounded in respect for each person’s lived experience, and she honors the courage it takes to reach out and begin this work.
Supervision:
Melina is currently supervised by Michelle Jones, LCSW
Insurance Accepted:
Commercial plans from: Blue Cross/ Blue Shield , UPMC, and Aetna
Cielo Prischak, LAPC
she/her
Clinician
**Currently on a leave of absence, but will be returning in Winter 2026-2027
Cielo is a Licensed Associate Professional Counselor (LAPC) who works with teens 14+ and adults navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, and life stressors. With a warm and calming presence, Cielo offers a supportive space for healing, exploration, and growth.
Specialties:
Anxiety, Depression, and Life Stressors: Cielo helps you understand the impact of emotional patterns and stress in your life while offering tools to manage your symptoms, regain your sense of self, and give you direction.
Trauma and Emotional Healing: Using a compassionate and mindful approach, Cielo supports clients in processing difficult experiences and reclaiming a sense of safety and trust in themselves.
Life Transitions: Whether you're navigating young adulthood, career changes, parenting, or identity shifts, Cielo helps you move through transitions with more clarity, resilience, and confidence.
Women’s Mental Health: Cielo is especially passionate about working with women who are facing mental health symptoms, stress, burnout, self-doubt, or identity challenges. She offers a space that is both empowering and affirming.
Why Choose Cielo?
Cielo is known for her calm, compassionate presence and her ability to create a space where you feel safe being fully yourself. She brings genuine warmth, curiosity, and emotional attunement to each session, helping you feel heard, validated, and supported. Clients describe her as grounded, funny, and insightful. Cielo helps her clients slow down, reconnect with their inner strengths, and find clarity during stressful and uncertain times.
Therapeutic Approach:
Cielo draws from DBT-informed, relational, and mindfulness-based practices to help you feel more grounded and emotionally resilient. Her style is collaborative and strengths-based. Cielo will meet you where you are with warmth, curiosity, and respect and challenge you to achieve the growth and change that is important to you for your own life.
Client Focus:
Cielo works with both teens (14+) and adults. She understands how overwhelming it can feel to ask for support and strives to create a space where you don’t have to have everything figured out in order to begin.
Inclusive and Affirming:
Cielo, like all Life Balance therapists, is LGBTQIA+ affirming and committed to inclusive care. She welcomes clients of all identities and backgrounds, and provides a space where you can show up as your full self.
Supervision:
Cielo is currently supervised by Marlo Ann Torrelli, LPC.
Insurance Accepted:
Cielo is currently in-network with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. UPMC and Aetna commercial credentialing is pending.
Aurelia Jorden, PhD., LPC, ATR
she/her
Registered Art Therapist
Clinician
** We expect Dr. Jorden to be accepting new clients in the Fall of 2026
Dr. Aurelia Jorden is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Registered Art Therapist (ATR) who works with adults. She provides trauma-informed, affirming care and specializes in trauma and PTSD, sex therapy, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Aurelia integrates EMDR, art therapy, and mind-body approaches to help clients process difficult experiences, understand deeply rooted patterns, and create meaningful change.
Specialties:
Trauma and PTSD: Aurelia helps clients process trauma and difficult life experiences and address the beliefs, emotions, and responses that can remain long after an experience has passed. She utilizes Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), art therapy, and other trauma-informed approaches to support healing.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Aurelia works with adults experiencing OCD, helping clients better understand obsessive thoughts and patterns and reduce the ways they interfere with daily life and well-being.
Art Therapy: As a Registered Art Therapist (ATR), Aurelia can incorporate creative expression into therapy as another way of exploring experiences, emotions, and patterns that may be difficult to access through words alone. No artistic experience or ability is necessary to participate in art therapy.
Body Image and Women's Issues: Aurelia supports clients in exploring body image, identity, self-worth, and concerns related to women's experiences and life transitions.
Pregnancy, Prenatal, and Postpartum Concerns: Aurelia supports clients through the emotional and psychological challenges that can accompany pregnancy, the prenatal period, postpartum adjustment, and related life transitions. Please note that Aurelia does not specialize in postpartum psychosis.
Chronic Health Issues and Pain: Aurelia supports clients navigating the emotional and psychological impact of chronic health conditions and chronic pain, including the ways these experiences can affect daily life, relationships, identity, and overall well-being.
Sex Therapy and Sexual Health: Aurelia provides sex-positive, affirming, and nonjudgmental therapy for adults navigating sexual concerns, intimacy, sexuality, and sexual health. Her work is LGBTQIA+ affirming, polyamory and ethical non-monogamy (ENM) affirming, and kink-friendly.
*** Please note: As licensed mental health professionals, we provide therapeutic support through conversation and education only. There is no physical or sexual interaction involved in sex therapy sessions.
Aurelia understands that knowing something intellectually and feeling it emotionally are not always the same thing. You may understand that you are safe, worthy, or no longer defined by something that happened to you while still experiencing emotional or physical responses that tell you otherwise. Aurelia helps clients explore this connection between mind and body so that insight can become meaningful emotional change.
Her approach is compassionate, collaborative, and nonjudgmental. She recognizes the vulnerability involved in beginning therapy and considers it an honor to support clients as they confront fears, break longstanding patterns, and develop a different relationship with themselves and their experiences.
Client Focus:
Aurelia works with adults and specializes in trauma and PTSD, OCD, sexual health and sex therapy, body image, and women's issues. She also has expertise in supporting clients navigating chronic health concerns, pregnancy and postpartum concerns, and diverse relationship and sexual identities.
Inclusive and Affirming:
Aurelia is committed to creating a welcoming and affirming therapeutic environment. She provides LGBTQIA+ affirming, sex-positive, kink-friendly, and polyamory/ENM-affirming care and approaches conversations about sexuality, relationships, identity, and trauma without judgment.
Therapeutic Approach:
Aurelia integrates EMDR, art therapy, inner-child and shadow work, and mind-body approaches. Her work focuses on helping clients understand the relationship between thoughts, emotions, physical responses, and deeply held beliefs. Rather than focusing on insight alone, Aurelia helps clients work toward a place where what they understand about themselves intellectually can begin to feel true emotionally as well.
Insurance Accepted:
Soon to be in-network with commercial plans from: Blue Cross/Blue Shield, UPMC, Aetna, and United/Optum.
Sierra Wells, LAPC
she/her
Clinician
** We expect Sierra to be accepting new clients in the Fall of 2026
Sierra Wells, LAPC, is a compassionate therapist who works with young adults navigating anxiety, stress, life transitions, relationship concerns, and the challenges that can come with finding your footing in adulthood. She has a particular interest in supporting women in their 20s and 30s as they work toward greater confidence, balance, and emotional well-being.
Sierra believes therapy should be a supportive, collaborative space where you can better understand yourself, build practical skills, and create meaningful change in your life. Her approach emphasizes compassion, resilience, and helping clients recognize the strengths they already possess.
Specialties:
Anxiety and Stress: Sierra helps clients better understand patterns of worry, overwhelm, and stress while developing practical strategies for managing difficult emotions and everyday challenges.
Life Transitions: From college and career changes to relationships, independence, and other major life adjustments, Sierra supports young adults as they navigate uncertainty and build confidence in what comes next.
Women’s Mental Health: Sierra has a particular interest in supporting women with the emotional and relational challenges that can arise throughout young adulthood, including self-esteem, boundaries, identity, and balancing competing expectations.
Relationships and Interpersonal Concerns: Sierra helps clients explore relationship patterns, strengthen communication, develop healthier boundaries, and create more fulfilling connections with others.
Personal Growth and Resilience: Sierra works with clients who may feel stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure of themselves and helps them identify strengths, develop effective coping skills, and move toward positive change.
Why Choose Sierra?
Sierra brings warmth, compassion, and a nonjudgmental perspective to her work with clients. She understands that you don't have to be in crisis to benefit from therapy. Sometimes you simply need a space to sort through what you're feeling, understand patterns that aren't working for you, and figure out how you want to move forward.
Her goal is to create a comfortable and collaborative environment where clients can feel supported while developing greater confidence, resilience, and balance in their lives.
Therapeutic Approach:
Sierra primarily draws from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)-informed approaches. She helps clients recognize patterns between their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors while building practical skills for emotion regulation, coping, communication, and managing stress.
Client Focus:
Sierra works with adults, with a particular focus on young adults in their 20s and 30s. She especially enjoys supporting women experiencing anxiety, stress, relationship concerns, life transitions, and other common challenges of young adulthood.
Inclusive and Affirming:
Sierra, like all Life Balance therapists, is LGBTQIA+ affirming and committed to inclusive care. She welcomes clients of all identities and backgrounds, and provides a space where you can show up as your full self.
Supervision:
Sierra is currently supervised by Marlo Ann Torrelli, LPC.
Insurance Accepted:
Sierra is currently in-network with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Aetna commercial credentialing is pending.
Marlo Torrelli, LPC
she/her
Owner/Director
* Not accepting clients *
Marlo is a Licensed Professional Counselor with advanced training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Clinical Anxiety Treatment, as well as a post-graduate certificate in Couples and Family Counseling. She specializes in a variety of treatment areas, including women's mental health and wellness, self-harm, shame resilience, teens/ young adults, the Highly Sensitive trait (HSP), depression, anxiety, and couples/ family concerns. She also maintains significant involvement with the LGBTQIA+ community in both advocacy and professional capacities.
Marlo founded Life Balance Counseling and Wellness in 2017 after several years in private practice, with the mission to provide a validating and compassionate environment where individuals and families can build on strengths, make positive changes, and reach their fullest potential.
While Marlo is no longer accepting clients, she continues to serve Life Balance’s mission as Owner and Administrative Director and also serves as a clinical supervisor.
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