Elaina Sand, MSW, LICSW
Minnesota-based virtual therapist for teens and adults.
Elaina is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with a Master of Social Work degree and genuine clinical experience supporting children, teens, adults, and families navigating complex presentations. Her caseload includes trauma, OCD, anxiety, ADHD, autism-related needs, PTSD, and nervous system dysregulation. She is a working clinician, not a wellness brand, and her practice reflects that.
She brings training across multiple evidence-informed modalities and a professional background that includes child protection advocacy work and direct clinical experience with survivors. The breadth of that history is deliberate and shapes how she works with clients today.
Background & Experience
Before entering private practice, Elaina has worked in supporting child protection advocacy, supporting children and families navigating high-stakes, complex system involvement. That work required clinical precision under pressure, an understanding of how institutions interact with trauma, and the ability to hold steady in situations without easy answers. It is not background she mentions as a credential flourish. It shaped how she thinks clinically.
Across clinical settings, she has worked with survivors of sexual assault, teens and adults working through trauma, families in active crisis, and individuals with OCD, PTSD, ADHD, and autism-related presentations. That range is not a list of specialties collected over time for marketing purposes. It reflects consistent work with people whose needs did not fit a single protocol.
For clients in her current virtual practice, that breadth matters. She is not reading from a textbook when a case gets complicated. She brings a wide-lens, trauma-informed view to individual therapy, and she knows how to adapt when a straightforward approach is not the right one.
Training & Clinical Modalities
Elaina holds an LICSW and MSW and has pursued specialized training across several evidence-informed modalities to work effectively with complex clinical presentations. The following reflects her current training and how it applies in practice.
LICSW / MSW — Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with a Master of Social Work degree.
DBT-Informed — Uses Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.
ERP-Trained (OCD) — Trained in Exposure and Response Prevention, the gold-standard approach for OCD treatment.
TF-CBT — Experience with Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for children and adolescents.
EMDR Trained — Not Currently Offering EMDR Processing — Elaina has completed EMDR training but is not currently offering EMDR processing sessions. She can support stabilization, emotional regulation, and window-of-tolerance work that complements trauma treatment.
If you have questions about specific modalities or what to expect in sessions, visit the FAQ.
Direct. Grounded. Evidence-informed.
Elaina works in a direct, non-performative way. Sessions are collaborative, but she will not stay neutral when something clinically relevant needs to be named. She is trauma-informed, which means she understands how the nervous system shapes behavior, cognition, and relationships and she works with that, not around it.
Clients can expect her to take the work seriously, bring structure when it helps, and not default to open-ended reflection as a substitute for clinical skill. Pacing is responsive to the individual. She is not a blank-slate therapist.
What she values in the therapeutic relationship: honesty, clarity, and appropriate challenge. Therapy is sometimes uncomfortable, and that is not a sign something is wrong. It is often a sign that real work is happening.
Ready to see if this is a good fit?
Consultations are a low-pressure way to ask questions, share what you're looking for, and hear how Elaina works. No commitment required.