Training & credentials
- Licensed LICSW in Massachusetts
- NPI #1366122939
- MSW Simmons University
- MA University Of Aberdeen Scotland
ABOUT
Moira Macdonald, LICSW
I came to psychotherapy the long way around, and what a journey it’s been!
Before I ever trained as a clinician, I spent years working directly with people in some of life’s hardest moments: supporting adults with disabilities, older adults living with dementia, and families fighting systems that were not built for them. That frontline work taught me things no classroom could: how to stay present when things feel unbearable, how to earn trust slowly, and how powerful it can be to feel genuinely seen and taken seriously by another person.
When I decided to pursue clinical training, it was not a career change so much as a deepening of the same path. I wanted to sit with people one-to-one, in a quieter space, where real understanding and meaningful change could take root.
Over the years I have worked with hospice patients, cancer survivors, and many others carrying losses that do not always have a name. I understand how profoundly certain experiences can shape a person’s inner world and relationships over time.
I grew up in South Africa, lived in Canada and the UK, and have called Massachusetts home for more than a decade. Living across countries has taught me that you can change your address, your passport, even your language, and still find that old losses and old loyalties travel with you. It has also given me a deep respect for the courage it takes to adapt, begin again, and build a life that feels authentic and sustainable.
Outside the therapy room, I am a mother, partner, daughter, and sister, which means I also know from the inside how love and exhaustion can occupy the same moment, how hard it is to ask for what you actually need, and how much can go unspoken in even the closest relationships. These are not abstract concerns for me. They are part of why I take seriously what people bring into this work, and why I try to hold it carefully.
Many of the people I work with appear highly capable to others while privately carrying grief, anxiety, loneliness, shame, or relationship patterns that have become painful and difficult to change. I understand that some experiences change people permanently, and that healing is rarely simple or linear.
My Approach
The work is psychodynamic and relational at its core, which means I am interested not just in what you are struggling with now, but in the patterns, in relationships, in self-perception, in what you reach for under stress, that have often been taking shape for a very long time. Therapy with me tends to be collaborative and exploratory rather than prescriptive. I will pay close attention to what you say, what you hesitate over, and what shifts between us in the room, because that is often where the most useful understanding emerges.
Two Lanterns Therapy
I called this practice Two Lanterns because of something I keep coming back to in my work: therapy, at its best, is never one person “fixing” another. It’s two people in a room together, each bringing their own light. You bring your honesty, your history, your willingness to show up. I bring my training, my attention, and genuine care for how things go for you. That exchange, that back and forth, is where real change tends to happen.
The name is also about connection. Not the surface kind, but the kind that actually helps people feel less alone in what they’re carrying. That’s what I’m here for.
Starting therapy can feel like a big step, especially if you’ve been managing on your own for a while, or if you’re not even sure exactly what’s wrong, just that something is. That’s okay. You don’t need to arrive with the right words or a clear explanation. You just need to show up.
This is a space where you can be honest about what’s actually going on. Not the edited version, not the one that sounds reasonable. The real one. Whatever you’re carrying, we’ll figure it out together.
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” — Nelson Mandela
Ready to take the next step?
If something here resonates, I’d love to hear from you.