Dr. Tina Lepage is the founder of Lepage Associates. She is a specialist in: personal and professional relationship issues; children, adolescents, and families; psychological, educational, and forensic evaluations; and personal growth pursuits. She holds a Doctorate and Masters in clinical psychology and a Bachelor of Science in child development & family relationships, as well as a Master’s in management, and is a Licensed Psychologist. Dr. Lepage is experienced in individual, couples/marriage, family, and group therapy for adults and teens; play therapy for children; psychological, educational, and forensic evaluations for all ages; separation and divorce; family court matters (forensics); and management. Dr. Lepage has been serving clients in a variety of settings for the past 30+ years. She is especially well known for the following: couples therapy / marriage therapy (often couples travel several hours to work with her); an in-depth understanding of children and teenagers, and a unique ability to connect with children and teens, even with those highly resistant to therapy; an in-depth understanding of family dynamics and issues, and effective interventions in family issues; parent coaching; an innovative array of divorce services as well as the more traditional custody evaluations, and a unique ability to help couple’s mediate all aspects of their divorce; child specialist consulting in divorce and on general child issues; individual therapy with adults and college students facing life transitions or engaged in a personal growth / self-analysis pursuit; career and work issues; and psychological and educational evaluations in clinically complex cases in which diagnostic clarity has been difficult to achieve and/or where previous over-diagnosis or misdiagnosis has clouded the diagnostic and intervention picture.
With adults, in addition to her specialty area of personal and professional relationships, Dr. Lepage has extensive experience working with a variety of common concerns, such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, assertiveness, weight management/body image, career planning, balancing work and family, grief and loss issues, infertility and miscarriage, cultural and minority issues, and major life events, issues, decisions, and transitions. Her experience working with children and adolescents also spans the breadth of common teen and childhood issues such as behavior problems, family and school difficulties, AD/HD, LD, social problems, social skills, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder, substance use, body image concerns, depression, anxiety, and dealing with divorce. Her experience extends to working with parents and families as well, and she has a special interest in working with children and teenagers dealing with marital conflict in the family or with divorce. In addition, she has extensive experience in testing to include: psychoeducational evaluations across the academic spectrum, evaluating for learning disabilities and AD/HD as well as gifted children and adolescents; a full range of psychological evaluations; and juvenile forensic evaluations.
At Lepage Associates, in addition to the broad array of clinical evaluation and therapy services offered, Dr. Lepage opened the innovative Center for Separating with Civility & Divorcing with Dignity®. She completed both her clinical master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation in the area of developing parenting plans, determining the highest quality protocol for assessing child and family needs and then addressing those needs in potential parenting arrangements. At Lepage Associates she went on to develop a unique, tiered approach to parenting plan consults and to custody evaluations which meets the information and cost needs of every family. Combining her expertise in and interest in workplace relationships/issues and mental health, Dr. Lepage completed her management master’s thesis on the effectiveness of employee assistance programs. She has developed and managed successful personal and professional growth programs for universities, corporations, and the U.S. military.
With her unique blend of training and experience, Dr. Lepage has developed Lepage Associates into a premier full-service psychology practice with a team of top specialists to assist individuals, couples, and families in concerns in both their personal and professional lives, to include services in the areas of: clinical/mental health concerns; marriage and family issues; psychological, psychoeducational, and forensic evaluations for children, adolescents, and adults; separation and divorce; and business/consulting.
Intervention Style: I use a combined cognitive-behavioral and experiential therapy approach, or in non-psychology jargon, I use a whole-person approach and look at thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. I am a strong diagnostician, and this early understanding in treatment of the problem results in more targeted interventions and thus more successful treatment. I also subscribe to a solution-focus philosophy, in which I strive to address the problem as quickly as possible, but with also enough depth to avoid relapse. I set goals early in treatment with adults and couples, or with children/teenagers and their families, so we can find successful solutions and change behavior problems, emotional difficulties, academic difficulties, or family problems as soon as possible. I love people and people’s stories, and am always truly and deeply interested in the story of every child, teen, and adult I meet. I also think laughter is therapeutic. Combined with my clinical skills, I think this comes across and results in strong and positive therapeutic relationships, and ultimately successful treatment.
Personal: Dr. Lepage grew up in Maine, and after college lived in Greece and Washington, DC before settling in North Carolina. She loves to travel, and enjoys time with friends, hiking, pilates, reading, theater, music, and being outdoors. Dr. Lepage serves on two local Boards, A Lotta Love and Take2Minutes. A Lotta Love is dedicated to refurbishing homeless shelters to provide a more dignified and safe experience for people transitioning through homelessness. Take2Minutes is committed to improving happiness and helping people overcome stress, anxiety, and negative thoughts by texting a positive message daily to help set a good mood for the day.