Therapy in Cumming, Georgia
Families arrive here at different points. Sometimes a teenager has been holding it all together for years — the grades, the schedule, the appearance of being fine — and the cost of that only shows up at home. Sometimes things have already come apart, and the question is what to do this week. Both are reasonable places to begin.
I provide individual, couples, and family therapy, as well as extended trauma sessions, for teens and adults at my Cumming office.
What I work with here
Much of the work at this office involves teens and their families. That includes anxiety and perfectionism, the kind of achievement pressure that becomes hard to put down, difficulty with friendships and identity, and the point at which a teenager's coping has narrowed to one or two strategies that no longer serve them.
I also see adults for trauma and PTSD, eating disorders and body image, ADHD and perfectionism, and the aftermath of emotionally abusive relationships.
Working with teens
Teenagers are usually accurate about their own experience and often have not been asked about it directly.
Confidentiality is settled in the first session, with the teenager and their parents in the room together. What a teen tells me generally stays with me; what I bring back to parents are themes and direction rather than transcripts. Safety is the exception — if I believe a teenager is at serious risk, parents become part of that conversation, along with anything the law requires me to report. Saying this plainly at the outset means no one spends the following months guessing where the lines sit.
Read more about my approach to teen therapy →
The office
Mary Elizabeth Burns, MS, NCC, LPC
104 Pilgrim Village Drive, Suite 300
Cumming, Georgia 30040
770-670-8849
Appointments are available Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Cumming office serves Forsyth County and the surrounding area, including Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Suwanee, Roswell, and Dawsonville. Telehealth is available throughout Georgia.
Fees and getting started
The practice is private pay. Superbills are available for clients seeking out-of-network reimbursement. New clients may begin with a complimentary ten-minute consultation.