Lydia Cardenas, LCSW

Hi, I’m Lydia!

I’ve always loved connecting with others, having meaningful conversations, and learning about how people experience the world. When I realized I could build a career around understanding people and helping them create meaningful change in their lives, I was sold!

I’m most drawn to attachment-focused relational therapy, where healing happens not just through insight, but through experiencing safety, honesty, and connection within the therapeutic relationship itself.

In session, I aim to balance compassion with directness — helping clients learn that difficult emotions, vulnerability, and growth can coexist with safety and support.

“I chose to pursue becoming a therapist and never looked back. I can truly say that it feels like the career of therapy called to me and I answered; I love my job!

My approach is collaborative, trauma-informed, and focused on helping clients build greater emotional tolerance, self-understanding, and authenticity in their relationships with themselves and others.”

My Approach

My approach with new clients starts with curiosity, collaboration, and building a strong understanding of what someone is carrying and what support may actually be helpful.

Often, we come into therapy focused on the “story” of what’s happening — the conflict, anxiety, relationship struggles, or painful experiences — without realizing there are deeper emotional and behavioral patterns underneath that can be understood and worked with more effectively.

Together, we begin to “look under the hood” at the processes driving distress, whether that’s unresolved experiences, attachment wounds, perfectionism, emotional avoidance, difficulty with boundaries, or survival patterns that no longer serve you. From there, therapy becomes less about simply reacting to symptoms and more about building awareness, emotional tolerance, healthier patterns, and a more authentic relationship with yourself and others.

Specialties

  • Trauma

  • Identity Fragmentation

  • Shame

  • Perfectionism

  • Relationships & Family Dynamics

Modalities

  • EMDR

  • Internal Family Systems (IFS)

  • Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Skills

  • Psychodynamic Therapy

  • Mindfulness

Client Focus

  • Teens

  • Adults

Clinical Side

Education

  • Utah State University

  • University of Utah

Training

  • EMDR

  • Treating Dissociative Disorders

Human Side

I enjoy spending a free weekend:

There are definitely two versions of my ideal weekend. In the summer, it’s sunshine, a good book, and time spent at the pool or lake with friends. In the winter, you’ll find me skiing with my husband and taking advantage of Utah’s incredible mountains.

My guilty pleasure is:

I’m trying to retire the phrase “guilty pleasure.” Give me a mojito, some sunshine, and a pool, and I’m a very happy human.

A piece of therapeutic advice that works for me:

“Your mood is not like the flu, you do not have to wait for it to pass.”