LiftWell Health

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LiftWell Health An elevated approach to behavioral healthcare. Our patented approach to treatment planning is marked by receptivity, candor, and creativity. Ms.
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LIFT Wellness Group is a comprehensive counseling, psychiatry, nutrition, behavioral health, and family wellness company, on a mission to l i f t up your mental, physical, and emotional well-being, 'from the inside out.'

LWG realizes our dream of integrating mental and physical health services, and proves that the process of finding your happy can be personable, accessible, and approachable. In a field often dictated by managed care, impersonal providers, and disconnected parts, LWG fundamentally rejects the reductionist provider/patient model and instead, views the provider-client relationship first and foremost as a HUMAN connection, occurring in REAL space and time, where healthcare practitioners become your partners in self-inquiry. LWG's multispecialty and interdisciplinary team of providers are first, passionate, invested and highly skilled, artful and intuitive licensed clinicians, and alternately, your allies, teammates, cheerleaders, gentle guides, coaches, mediators, and accountability partners. Most importantly, LWG providers are a warm and unflinching reflection into your innermost self, where the love and happiness can at last be found. Call today and speak with a real person to learn about the LIFT difference: (203) 908-5603. ABOUT OUR FEMALE FOUNDER:

Mary Dobson, LMFT, CEDS began her career in research as a part of the CT Women’s Health Project at Yale University, where she co-authored work on the influence of pre-natal depression and attachment on adolescent and young adult women. Dobson is the principal/founder of LIFT Wellness Group. Dobson received her master's in Marriage and Family Therapy from Fairfield University, where she was a member of Psi Chi and Phi Betta Kappa. She is among the first MFTs in the country to obtain a unique post-graduate certification in the provision of family-focused school-based mental health services, making her a unique asset as an advocate for children and families working to receive fair and appropriate school-based behavioral and educational interventions. Dobson is one of a few select practitioners in Fairfield County certified as an eating disorder treatment expert through the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals. Dobson is the founding regional director of nationwide eating disorder facilities, where she recruited, trained, and spearheaded teams providing the highest quality psychiatric, dietary, behavioral health, pharmacological, and medical interventions to adolescents ages 10-18. Dobson draws from an impressive case history of success providing individual, family, and group therapy in both residential treatment programs and private practice settings. She utilizes a multifaceted approach that includes cognitive behavioral therapy, insight-based therapy, narrative therapy, and family systems work. Dobson has served as the founding CT Chapter President of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals. She has worked as a regional school consultant on adolescent issues and lectures to area students and parents on bullying, anxiety, body image, self-esteem, social media, eating disorder prevention work, truancy and school avoidance, educational disabilities and outplacement advocacy, and drugs/alcohol. Dobson is passionate about helping adolescents and their families navigate through pivotal periods of transition with open communication, mutual respect, and sound physical and mental health. Dobson is available for media and speaking engagements and contributes regularly to local radio, tv, periodicals, and journals. Dobson enjoys hosting and facilitating live assemblies, retreats, and webinars for schools, organizations, and corporate teams. In addition to overseeing LIFT, Mary Dobson maintains a small but diverse caseload, engaging in deep/intensive work with her other passion projects which include:

couples
positive parenting
coaching and consulting
women/attention deficit disorder
industrial/organizational psychology
victims of narcissistic abuse
family reunification work
executives/burnout

LiftWell founder/Westport psychotherapist Mary Dobson and clinical therapist Maria Cimina had the pleasure of presenting...
10/09/2026

LiftWell founder/Westport psychotherapist Mary Dobson and clinical therapist Maria Cimina had the pleasure of presenting today to our friends at Sasco River Center on the utilization of RO-DBT in the treatment of disorders of over-control. Thank you for hosting us, Sasco team!

💙 Is your teen having a hard time between therapy sessions?If school, friendships, or everyday life are becoming harder ...
10/05/2026

💙 Is your teen having a hard time between therapy sessions?

If school, friendships, or everyday life are becoming harder to manage, they may need more support than weekly therapy can provide. Our guide explains IOP and PHP, two options that offer more care and structure.

Unsure what your teen needs next? Read the guide and learn what each option could look like: https://bit.ly/4gGiDXr

Chronic stress doesn’t just affect how you feel. It can impact focus, memory, sleep, decision-making, and emotional regu...
09/30/2026

Chronic stress doesn’t just affect how you feel. It can impact focus, memory, sleep, decision-making, and emotional regulation.

Learn what prolonged stress can do to the brain.

Read more from LiftWell Health. https://bit.ly/4d8LYaU

Introducing Shelf Reflections: The Thinking Woman’s Self-Help Club — a brand new, therapist-and-author facilitated gathe...
09/30/2026

Introducing Shelf Reflections: The Thinking Woman’s Self-Help Club — a brand new, therapist-and-author facilitated gathering for women who want more from self-help than simply reading the book!

Each month, we’ll take on a compelling book about the psychology of being human—relationships, identity, mental health, resilience, parenting, body image, ambition, and the complicated work of becoming ourselves. Then we’ll bring it off the shelf and into conversation, guided by therapists and clinicians who can help us think more deeply about what we’ve read.

And whenever we can, we’ll invite the person who wrote it into the room.

We’re thrilled to launch Shelf Reflections with author Betsy Brenner, joining us to discuss The Longest Match: Rallying to Defeat an Eating Disorder in Midlife. If you are a woman who has faced body image issues in midlife (and who hasn’t?!), this conversation is for you!

Think book club meets bibliotherapy: smart conversation, clinical insight, exceptional authors—and books worth reflecting on long after the last page.

Facilitated by LiftWell founder and Westport psychotherapist Mary Dobson (Mary Dobson, Psychotherapist,) Book Club is free, open to the public, and first come, first serve. We will cap at 20 people, so claim your seat now!

🔗: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shelf-reflections-the-thinking-womans-self-help-club-tickets-1994690649428

This is BIG news! Care that fits your life—without compromising the level of care you receive. 💻✨LiftWell’s Intensive Ou...
09/29/2026

This is BIG news! Care that fits your life—without compromising the level of care you receive. 💻✨

LiftWell’s Intensive Outpatient Program is launching a new, fully virtual track, bringing our highly individualized, clinically robust model to individuals across Connecticut.

For many people, geography—not need—has been the barrier to accessing truly specialized intensive care. Our Virtual IOP changes that. Clients throughout Connecticut can now access the same seasoned, credentialed clinical team and multidisciplinary expertise available in our onsite programs, while using their insurance and receiving care from home.

Our model is intentionally different. We specialize in complex presentations and disorders of overcontrol—including anxiety, OCD, perfectionism, rigidity, and related mood concerns—with trauma-informed treatment woven throughout. Rather than placing every client into the same protocol, treatment is thoughtfully customized around the individual, drawing from evidence-based approaches and supported by weekly individual care, group therapy, and psychiatric medication management and stabilization.

Virtual IOP can serve as a step-up when weekly therapy isn’t quite enough, a step-down from a higher level of care, or a targeted “booster” alongside ongoing individual therapy. Clients can remain connected to the therapist they already know and trust while adding the structure, frequency, psychiatric support, and specialized expertise of LiftWell.

Adult Virtual IOP launches October 5.
Adolescent Virtual IOP launches November 9.
Eating disorder specialty tracks to follow.

Same LiftWell team. Same clinical rigor. Now accessible throughout Connecticut. Call today to learn more or join the waitlist.

📞 203-908-5603
💻 liftwellhealth.com

Give teens more than advice—give them skills they can actually use.Our Adolescent Skills Group helps teens build emotion...
09/29/2026

Give teens more than advice—give them skills they can actually use.

Our Adolescent Skills Group helps teens build emotional awareness, strengthen coping and communication, challenge unhelpful thought patterns, and develop greater confidence in navigating everyday stress.

Led by Nicole DeCore, LPC-A, NCC, this CBT-based group offers both practical tools and meaningful peer connection in a supportive therapeutic setting.

Wednesdays beginning October 7 | In-person + virtual | 60 minutes

📞 (203) 908-5603
🌐 liftwellhealth.com

The ways we protect ourselves can sometimes make it harder for others to see how much we want to connect.On October 23, ...
09/23/2026

The ways we protect ourselves can sometimes make it harder for others to see how much we want to connect.

On October 23, LiftWell CEO and CCO, Mary Dobson and Andrea Ciarlelli, will deliver the opening presentation of the NAMI Connecticut conference with “The Neuroscience of Being Hard to Love: RO-DBT and the Hidden Language of Human Connection.”

We’ll explore how social signals shape our relationships, what can happen when self-protection becomes a habit, and how RO-DBT helps people find a way toward connection.

We hope to see you in Cromwell at the 2026 NAMI Connecticut Education Conference!

09/22/2026

Brittany Snow celebrated 17 years of recovering related to an eating disorder. She recognized the milestone in a heartfelt Instagram post, writing, "Today, September 17th, marks 17 years of recovery for me. I’ve heard they call that a golden anniversary. And somehow, that feels fitting.

My movie, Parachute, is about this very day, the day I made the decision to stop hurting myself. The day I chose to bet on myself, even when I couldn’t yet imagine what a life on the other side might look like.

Seventeen years ago, I didn’t know if I would make it. I couldn’t see a future, and I certainly couldn’t imagine one where I would learn to be kind to myself. If someone had told me then that I would not only live, but one day have a beautiful, full life, free from the cycle of self-destruction and my eating disorder… I truly don’t think I would have believed them.

My friends saw me, heard me, helped me. My family loved me through it. And somewhere underneath the noise, there was a tiny voice inside me that kept saying: don’t give up. There is so much more to your story.

There was so much beauty ahead that I couldn’t see yet. So much love. And one of the greatest gifts of making it through is being able to turn around and share the hope I couldn’t see possible.

If you’re struggling right now, please know you are not alone. So many people have stood where you are standing. There is life beyond the place you are in today, even if you can’t picture it yet.

One day, the story you fought so hard to keep living may become the very story someone else needs to hear."

Sports Fridays at LiftWell! ⚾️🏈🎾⚽️ Fitting, because we only have champions here! 🙌🏻Mental health treatment, mental healt...
09/19/2026

Sports Fridays at LiftWell! ⚾️🏈🎾⚽️ Fitting, because we only have champions here! 🙌🏻

Mental health treatment, mental health care, mental health intensive outpatient program, partial hospitalization program, day hospital, psychiatric day hospital, mental health is health

We’re pleased to announce that LiftWell Health founder Mary Dobson will serve as a moderator, as well as keynote at the ...
09/17/2026

We’re pleased to announce that LiftWell Health founder Mary Dobson will serve as a moderator, as well as keynote at the 2026 Global Conference on Addiction in Boston.

Her lecture, “The Twelve Steps Beyond Alcohol,” explores how recovery principles can be applied to food, perfectionism, and modern behavioral addictions.

📅 October 19–21, 2026
📍 Boston + Online

Learn more and register at the link in bio.

Address

8 Myrtle Avenue
Westport, CT
06880

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