Counseling
When life feels overwhelming and old patterns keep repeating, counseling can help you restore clarity, steadiness, and a sense of agency. Lance Garland offers trauma-informed counseling for people who are ready to move beyond coping and create real, lasting change.
Individual counseling with Lance Garland, MA, LPC — serving Charleston and South Carolina.
Lance’s Approach to Counseling
Lance Garland’s counseling practice is integrative, focused, and depth-oriented. Rather than spending extended time only discussing symptoms, his work is designed to help clients identify and resolve the underlying patterns that keep them feeling stuck.
He is highly trained in EMDR and trauma-informed therapy and regularly works with anxiety, PTSD, and stress-related conditions. Depending on the individual and the moment, Lance may incorporate clinical hypnosis, somatic and nervous-system regulation practices, or focused dialogue—knowing when it’s time to explore and when it’s time to listen.
Lance’s background in yoga, mind–body integration, and psychophysiology allows him to support clients as whole people, not just as diagnoses. When lifestyle factors, physical health, or stress physiology are contributing to emotional distress, he helps clients address those influences directly—either within the counseling process or through coordinated care with other trusted professionals at Charleston Holistic Center, including Laura Griffith Garland, PhD.
At the core of Lance’s work is a simple goal: to support greater clarity, stability, and integration—mentally, physically, and emotionally—so meaningful, lasting change can take hold.
Lance’s Specialties:
Trauma & PTSD
Anxiety & Chronic Stress
Depression
Counseling & Other Options:
Counseling Session - 60 min, 75 min, 90 min
Individual counseling sessions are tailored to your specific goals and needs. Lance Garland draws from trauma-informed therapy, EMDR, clinical hypnosis, and mind–body regulation practices to support meaningful, focused work.
Sessions are collaborative and integrative—designed to help you address underlying patterns, restore emotional steadiness, and move toward meaningful, lasting change.
Stop Smoking & Vaping Program - 2 Sessions
Hypnotherapy-Based Sessions
This offering is a focused, hypnotherapy-based program designed specifically to support smoking cessation. It is not counseling and does not fall under insurance-based mental health services.
The stop smoking program typically consists of two structured sessions, each approximately one hour in length. Lance Garland uses clinical hypnosis and evidence-informed techniques to help interrupt habitual patterns, reduce cravings, and support lasting behavioral change.
This approach is best suited for individuals who feel ready to quit and are looking for a targeted, nonjudgmental intervention rather than ongoing therapy.
Past Life Regression Therapy - 2 hr Session
2-Hour Hypnotherapy Session
This offering is designed for individuals interested in deeper exploratory work through hypnosis. Past life regression sessions use a structured hypnotherapeutic process to explore symbolic, emotional, or narrative material that may feel disconnected from one’s current life experience.
Some people are drawn to this work out of curiosity or personal exploration. Others seek it because they notice persistent patterns that do not seem to have clear roots in their personal history.
Examples may include:
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Long-standing fears or phobias without an identifiable origin
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Repetitive relationship patterns that don’t align with one’s upbringing
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Ongoing self-sabotaging behaviors with no clear background
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Recurring choices that feel automatic or difficult to interrupt
Sessions are conducted with care, psychological grounding, and clinical discernment. Experiences may be understood as literal past-life material, symbolic narrative, or psychological imagery; the focus remains on insight, integration, and how the material can support greater clarity and forward movement in your current life.
Therapeutic Approach FAQ
What is Lance’s therapeutic approach?
Lance practices integrative psychotherapy, meaning sessions are guided by evidence-based clinical training while also attending to the emotional, somatic, and experiential layers of healing.
While conversation is an important part of the work, sessions are not limited to traditional talk therapy. Depending on your needs, Lance may incorporate approaches such as EMDR, hypnotherapy, somatic awareness, or experiential techniques to help address patterns that are difficult to shift through insight alone.
The focus is always on helping you develop greater clarity, regulation, and forward movement—at a pace that feels supportive and appropriate for you.
Is this traditional therapy or something different?
It is therapy—but not rigid or formulaic.
Lance is a licensed professional counselor with extensive clinical experience, and the foundation of the work is solidly grounded in psychological science. At the same time, he recognizes that meaningful change often requires working with the nervous system, unconscious patterns, and lived experience—not just analyzing problems intellectually.
This approach tends to resonate with people who want depth, practicality, and real change without being reduced to a diagnosis or a checklist.
Is this therapy spiritual or psychological?
The work is psychological in nature and clinically grounded.
Some clients naturally bring spiritual language, meaning-making, or personal symbolism into sessions, while others do not. Lance does not impose spiritual beliefs or frameworks. Any material that arises—emotional, symbolic, or experiential—is explored only in ways that support your goals, well-being, and integration.
The emphasis is always on insight, regulation, and growth within your real, day-to-day life.
Fit & Readiness for Counseling FAQ
What if I’ve tried therapy before and it didn’t help?
That experience is more common than many people realize.
Sometimes therapy stalls because the approach wasn’t the right fit, the work stayed too cognitive, or deeper nervous-system patterns weren’t addressed.
Lance’s integrative style is often helpful for people who understand their challenges intellectually but still find themselves reacting, stuck, or repeating the same patterns.
Past therapy experiences are always taken into account, and sessions are shaped around what has—or hasn’t—worked for you before.
Who tends to benefit most from working with Lance?
Clients who tend to benefit most are often thoughtful, self-aware individuals who feel “stuck” despite effort, insight, or previous therapy. Many are high-functioning on the outside but experience anxiety, emotional overwhelm, unresolved trauma, or a sense that something important isn’t fully integrated.
This work is often a good fit for people who:
- Want more than surface-level coping strategies
- Are open to exploring emotional and somatic patterns
- Value a grounded, collaborative therapeutic relationship
- Prefer therapy that adapts to them rather than following a rigid formula
Is this a good fit for everyone?
Not necessarily—and that’s intentional.
This work may not be the best fit for individuals seeking only brief, directive advice or purely skills-based interventions without deeper exploration. It also requires a willingness to engage thoughtfully in the therapeutic process.
If you’re unsure whether this approach is right for you, that can be discussed during an initial conversation so you can make an informed decision.
Session Logistics & Expectations FAQ
What does a typical counseling session look like?
Sessions are conversational and collaborative, but not unstructured. Lance helps guide the session in a way that keeps it grounded, focused, and responsive to what you bring in that day.
Some sessions may feel reflective and insight-oriented, while others may involve more experiential or somatic work, depending on what is most supportive at the time. There is no single “right” way for a session to unfold, and the pace is always adapted to your needs
How long are sessions, and how often do people usually come?
Standard counseling sessions are 50 minutes in length, but 75 min and 90 min sessions are available.
Frequency varies depending on your goals and circumstances. Some clients begin with weekly sessions and later transition to bi-weekly or as-needed appointments. This can be discussed and adjusted over time rather than decided rigidly in advance.
Do I need to prepare anything before a session?
No formal preparation is required.
Some clients find it helpful to reflect briefly on what feels most present for them before a session, but others arrive without a specific agenda. Both are completely appropriate. The work begins where you are.
What if I’m not sure what to talk about when I arrive?
That is very common and not a problem.
Part of the therapeutic process involves helping clarify what is emerging, even when it feels vague or hard to put into words. You do not need to have things “figured out” in order for the session to be useful
Is this short-term or long-term therapy?
This depends on the individual and the nature of the work.
Dream Interpretation FAQ
Is dream interpretation symbolic?
Not in a one-size-fits-all or abstract way. Rather than assigning fixed meanings to symbols, dreams are explored as personal expressions of the nervous system and unconscious processing. Any imagery is understood in context, based on your experiences, emotions, and current life patterns.
Do I need to remember a lot of details about my dream?
No. Even partial memories, emotions, or a single image can be enough to work with. The goal isn’t to reconstruct the dream perfectly, but to notice what stands out and explore how it connects to what you’re experiencing now.
Is dream interpretation spiritual or psychological?
It’s approached psychologically and therapeutically. Dreams are viewed as part of how the mind and body process experience, integrate emotion, and communicate information that may not yet be fully conscious. This work is grounded, collaborative, and always oriented toward insight and integration rather than belief or interpretation systems.
Do I have to bring in dreams to work with Lance?
No. Dream work is always optional and only used when it feels relevant and supportive. Some clients never bring in dreams, while others find them to be a helpful doorway into deeper understanding.
Our Practice
Location
2356 Ashley River Rd.
Charleston, SC 29414
Make an Appointment
All sessions are by appointment only
Call Now!
(843) 259-8349
Open Hours
Tuesday – Thursday: 10am -6pm
Saturday: 10am – 7pm