Isabel Marchand

Isabel/Izzy (she/her/hers) is an LMSW and Certified Peer Specialist, drawing from her training, education and lived experience to inform her clinical practice. Izzy began her career in mental health care as a peer support specialist in youth access centers and the Department of Mental Health in Massachusetts, earning awards for her advocacy on behalf of the programs and young adults she worked with. While pursuing her Master’s in Social Work at Columbia University, she worked in an outpatient community clinic, collaborating with a multidisciplinary team to provide comprehensive care to youth and their families. As a therapist, she sees resilience and strength in each individual, even when they can’t yet see it in themselves. Her goal is to empower each person she works with to reconnect with who they are and their sense of purpose.

Outside of work, she spends most of her time with friends and loved ones (including her cats), relaxing with TV or video games, being in nature, and going out to eat.

Izzy utilizes a trauma-informed, holistic approach, incorporating interventions and strategies from various modalities, including:

●  Motivational Interviewing & Narrative Therapy

●  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

●  Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

●  Interpersonal Therapy

Izzy integrates her clinical education, peer support training, and personal mental health recovery experience to build real connection with everyone she meets. She believes in finding healing outside of diagnoses, and emphasizes the impact of trauma, relationships, communities, and systems on one’s experience of mental health challenges. Principles of strengths-based care, cultural humility, harm reduction, and peer support values are foundational to her approach.  She strives to create a non-judgmental therapeutic environment fostering authenticity, accountability, autonomy, and collaboration. Using tools from CBT, DBT, mindfulness, and other practices, Izzy supports each individual to develop coping strategies tailored to their needs, personal identity, and available support systems. She welcomes your feedback, questions, ideas, and "outside of the box” thinking within sessions. She values the life story you carry with you and is honored to be alongside you in your present journey. 

Izzy works with individuals ages 13 and older, with specialties in working with young adults, adolescents, and folks who identify as LGBTQIA+. Focus areas for therapy include:

●  Navigating mental health challenges (anxiety, depression, self-harm, other diagnoses)

●  Traumatic experiences in childhood or adulthood, PTSD

●  Life transitions and identity exploration

●  Relationships, Friendships, Partnerships

●  Neurodiversity

●  Educational and occupational barriers

●  Systemic and community challenges 

●  Women’s issues

●  Master’s in Social Work, Advanced Clinical Practice, Columbia University

●  Certified Peer Specialist (CPS), State of Massachusetts

●  Bachelor’s in Social Work, Simmons University