Meet the Team
My Therapeutic Approach
I believe play is a language. I believe human connection is medicine. Both are at the absolute core of how I work.
I believe my clients are not broken. They are people who have been carrying hard things — quietly, often alone, and usually for far longer than anyone around them knew. They deserve a therapist who will meet them with genuine warmth, deep understanding, and real human presence — not a professional sitting behind a wall of clinical authority.
My goal with every single client is simple and profound at the same time — I want you to feel seen, heard, and understood from the very first session. And by the time our work together is complete I want you to walk out into the world knowing something deeply and unshakeably:
You are capable. You are worthy. You always were.
Lauren Donovan, MSW, LCSW, RPT™
Registered Play Therapist™, Certified AutPlay Therapy Provider
I began my career working with children because I was once a child who needed a therapist that truly understood me — one who would step down from their place of authority and meet me where I was, in the language I actually spoke: play.
That experience, along with my own journey as a woman who has done deep personal healing work, became the foundation of everything I do at Oak Haven Therapy.
What started as a passion for helping children find their voice grew into something larger when I kept recognizing in the women sitting across from me the same little girl I had once worked with — someone who had spent her childhood learning to be strong, to be capable, to hold things together, and who had never quite had the space to just be. Women who had done everything right and still felt like something was missing. Who were exhausted in ways they couldn't fully explain, carrying a quiet ache they had never had the right space to explore.
So I built Oak Haven. Because I needed it once and couldn't find it — and every woman, and every child she loves, who walks through our doors deserves to finally feel seen, heard, understood, and reminded that they were never broken to begin with.
Founder & Clinical Therapist
Maui, CGC, CGC-A, CGC-U, ATD
Meet our four-legged therapist, Maui — a certified therapy dog with a heart as big as her personality. She has an extraordinary gift for knowing exactly who needs her and when, quietly making her way to the person in the room who needs her most without ever being asked. Intuitive, warm, and endlessly loving, Maui has a way of melting walls that words sometimes can't reach — and she takes her job very seriously, even if she occasionally gets distracted by a good belly rub. Follow her on Instagram @thegoldie_maui
Chief Therapy DogPlay Therapists are licensed clinical mental health professionals who have earned a graduate degree in a mental health field and obtained extensive specialized play therapy education, training, and supervised experience. Registered Play Therapist™ and RPT™ are trademarks identifying credentials exclusively issued by the Association for Play Therapy, Inc. The trademarks identifying APT’s credentials are special and exclusive – not all therapists have earned these credentials.
Please click here for more information about this credential.
Your Haven Is Here.
You don’t need to be fixed. You need to be understood, supported, and given the tools to truly thrive.
Ready to take the first step? We'd love to talk about how we can support you.
