Heartwalker Psychotherapy LLC is the private practice of Dr. Denise McMorrow, located in the historic Allegheny West neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA.  

Denise's work is about creating the conditions for people to connect with an authentic sense of depth, integrity, vitality, and sacredness within themselves, in relationship with others, and in relationship to the more-than-human-world of nature. She welcomes each client as a whole and complex person whose symptoms can be heard as meaningful communications about how one's life and relationships may need tending and deeper conscious awareness or participation. 

Denise's work with each client is individualized according to their unique needs, which are explored in depth during the initial sessions. Her integrative approach supports the exploration of patterns and the recovery of connection to aspects of the self that may be experienced as fragmented, lost, or seeking development in one's life.  Her stance invites clients to come into a deeper relationship with the heart, as a vital and sacred complement to the mind. 

Dr. McMorrow works with clients experiencing a broad range of concerns, including but not limited to issues of:

Anxiety and Panic
Depression
Grief and Loss
Trauma, including sexual abuse and assault
Refugee and Immigrant Challenges
Combat related and military sexual trauma
Divorce and Separation
Relationship Concerns
Perinatal Loss, Fertility Issues, Post Partum support
LGBTQ Issues
Life Transitions
Spiritual and existential concerns
Experience of Soul Loss
Creative Blocks

Individual Psychotherapy

Denise offers individual talk psychotherapy for adolescents and adults, as well as child-centered play therapy for children 4 and up. 
 

Art Therapy

Often, working with art-making as a therapeutic process can allow another valuable way of knowing to emerge and provide insights and experiences not accessibly via talking alone.  For interested clients, Denise offers a space and structure for working with a range of art materials and art therapy processes, with the understanding that art creates awareness, which in turn allows for new ways of healing.

Couples and Family Therapy

Denise works with couples and families to support discernment and a deeper understanding of the patterns that might be impacting the ways of communicating and relating within the family or couple system.  Differences and intersections between developmental stages, family "roles,"  intergenerational patterns, and moving into emotionally focused understandings are often the focus.

Journeywork

For clients interested in developing practical skills that serve to deepen one's relationship with one's heart and the larger ecology of relations, Denise offers assistance in using processes such as dreamwork, active imagination, sand tray work, ritual, and working with the drum to activate clients' native capacities for visioning, creating, and receiving the benefit of more compassionate, transpersonal perspectives.
 

Group Therapy

Denise is currently building membership for a weekly process group that supports exploration of relational dynamics with the unique benefit of working feedback from other group members.  This supportive but challenging form of therapy often brings profound insight into how others might experience us towards more healthy and conscious relating.  To discuss with Denise, please use the contact form below.

insurances accepted

Dr. McMorrow is an in-network provider for UPMC Commercial, UPMC for Kids, Highmark, and Blue Cross Blue Shield plans.  She also accepts clients who prefer to pay out of pocket for services. Please contact her for current out of pocket rates.

Dr. Denise McMorrow is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and practicing artist who offers her clients an integrative,  heart-centered approach to psychotherapy.  She draws upon primarily depth-oriented, gestalt, and multicultural traditions within psychology, supporting a conscious engagement not only with one's mind but also with one's heart as a way of perceiving, understanding and relating to self, others, and the greater ecology of our more-than-human-world.

Denise sees a wide range of clients, including individual adults and children, couples, families, and groups with over 10 years experience providing talk psychotherapy and over 16 years facilitating community and individual art therapy.  She has practiced meditation and yoga for over 20 years, and has been a registered yoga teacher since 2003.  She has studied a range of cross-cultural understandings of psychological wellness and healing for several years, with an emphasis on dreamwork, imaginal and creative process, and connection to the natural world.

Denise received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Duquesne University with an emphasis in Existential-Phenomenology.  She completed her pre-doctoral clinical internship in the Department of Psychiatry at Allegheny General Hospital, where she specialized in working with trauma across the lifespan. She completed her Post-Doctoral Fellowship with Soldier's Heart, a NY-based organization that is dedicated to bringing veterans home through the integration of archetypal psychology and indigenous wisdom related to how community can tend the psycho-spiritual needs of returning warriors.  She has assisted as a therapist with Soldier's Heart Retreats, as well as with Canyon Heroes, accompanying and working with veterans with severe PTSD on healing river journeys into the Grand Canyon.  She received her Masters in Fine Art from the Pratt Institute in 2002, and continues to create artistic work that explores the intersections between place, healing, and the psychic life of communities.  She is a member of the American Psychological Association, Divisions 32 (Humanistic) and 39 (Psychoanalysis) as well as the Pennsylvania Psychological Association.