Lauren Tanghongs

Maybe you’re doing well on paper, but inside, you’re much harder on yourself than anyone realizes. You replay conversations, compare yourself to other people, worry about disappointing someone, or feel like who you are changes depending on the room you’re in. For teens and young adults especially, it can be exhausting trying to keep up with school, friendships, family expectations, appearance, and everything else while still figuring out who you actually are.

Lauren enjoys working with clients in exactly these seasons. She has a particular heart for tweens, teens, and young adults struggling with anxiety, self esteem, body image, identity, or the pressure to perform. She wants counseling to be somewhere clients can sort through what is happening without feeling like there is a right answer they are supposed to find.

Her own background gives her a unique connection to clients who spend a lot of time in high expectation environments. Lauren trained in ballet for 15 years and understands how something you genuinely love can also become tied to achievement, comparison, body image, and the feeling that you should always be doing better. That experience is part of why she is especially interested in working with dancers, athletes, students, and other young people who put a lot of pressure on themselves.

Lauren is naturally curious about people, and that comes through in the way she counsels. She wants to understand why something makes sense to you, not simply tell you what you should think or do differently. Family, culture, relationships, faith, and past experiences can all shape how we see ourselves. Lauren helps clients start connecting those dots and decide what they want to do with what they discover.

Before transitioning into a clinical role, Lauren actually got to know Mosaic Way from a different seat. She served on the practice’s admin team, talking with people who were considering counseling and helping them get connected with a therapist. She heard the nervousness that sometimes comes with that first phone call and learned just how personal choosing a counselor can feel. Now, as she moves into the counseling room herself, she carries that perspective with her.

Outside of work and school, Lauren is much more likely to be found knitting, reading, baking sourdough, or searching for a good café than doing anything particularly loud. Since she trained as a ballerina for much of her life, she still has a creative side that needs somewhere to go, including the sweater she recently managed to knit herself. Her faith and time with family are also important parts of how she stays grounded. Lauren tends to appreciate the quieter things that require patience and time, which fits her approach to people too. She isn’t in a hurry to decide who someone is. She’d rather get to know them.