Meet Greg Bing, MA, LPC — Your Telehealth Counselor in Somerset, New Jersey
Licensed Professional Counselor in Somerset (Franklin Township), NJ, working with adults and older adults throughout New Jersey by secure video.
Credentials at a glance
- Licence
- Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) — New Jersey
Licence #37PC01088300 - Education
- M.A. in Counseling, Kean University (2022) M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology, Rutgers University (2007)
- Experience
- In the mental health field since 2008; licensed as an LPC since 2022
- Who I see
- I work with adults, including older adults (65+). Individual and couples counseling.
How I got here
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor based in Somerset, New Jersey, and I work with adults and older adults right across the state by secure video. I have been in the mental health field since 2008 and licensed as an LPC since 2022.
That gap is deliberate, and it shaped how I practise. I completed an M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology at Rutgers University in 2007, spent years working in the field, then returned to complete an M.A. in Counseling at Kean University in 2022 and became licensed in New Jersey. Coming to full licensure with that much lived experience behind me left me less interested in theory for its own sake and far more interested in what actually makes a difference to your Tuesday.
How I work
I start by helping you get a clear understanding of your thoughts, your behaviours and your emotions as three distinct but closely related parts of your psychology. That sounds academic until you try it. Most people arrive with all three fused into a single lump — "I am just a mess" — and separating them is what turns something overwhelming into something specific enough to work with.
From there we build insight into your habitual behaviours and the beliefs sitting underneath them, and look honestly at how those are affecting the way you feel. Not to assign blame; these habits almost always made sense at the point you formed them. But a response that protected you at twenty can quietly cost you a great deal at forty, and seeing that clearly is what makes change possible rather than just effortful.
Then we experiment. We try out new habits, test them in a real week, keep the ones that increase your happiness and satisfaction, and adjust the ones that do not. I am not interested in you performing progress for me. I am interested in what actually works in your life, which is something only you can report on.
What people usually notice first is that I am direct. I will ask questions that get to the point, I will tell you what I am noticing, and if I think you are steering around something I will say so. Direct is not the same as harsh — you will not be judged in this room, and you will not be handled as though you might break. Most people find the combination a relief, particularly if they have tried therapy before and found it too vague to be useful.
Working across cultures
I have worked with clients from many different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds, and that experience runs through every service I offer rather than sitting in a separate box labelled "specialism".
In practice it means I do not assume that my idea of a healthy family, a good marriage, an appropriate boundary or a reasonable obligation is the same as yours. It means we can talk about the expectations you carry from your family and community without me treating them as simply an obstacle to be removed. And it means you are not spending your session educating your therapist before you can get to the actual problem — which is exhausting, and which a great many people have quietly put up with.
If something about your background matters to how you understand what is happening to you, bring it. It is part of the work, not a digression from it.
What an LPC is, in plain terms
The alphabet after a therapist’s name is genuinely confusing, and it is a fair thing to want explained before you hand someone your difficulties.
A Licensed Professional Counselor holds a master’s degree in counseling, has completed thousands of supervised clinical hours after that degree, and is licensed by the state to provide psychotherapy. That is what I am, and talking therapy is what I do.
It is a different qualification from some others you will see. I am not a psychologist — that is a doctoral-level profession, and psychologists also carry out formal psychological testing and assessment, which I do not offer. I am also not a medical doctor, so I do not prescribe or manage medication of any kind. If medication is worth considering in your situation, I will encourage you to speak to your doctor or an appropriate prescriber, and with your permission I am glad to work alongside them.
For the great majority of what brings people to therapy — anxiety, depression, grief, relationship difficulty, a life that has stopped feeling manageable — a Licensed Professional Counselor is exactly the right person to see.
I hold one clinical licence: Licensed Professional Counselor in New Jersey, number 37PC01088300. It is a public record, and you are welcome to verify it through the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs licence lookup — I would rather you checked than took my word for it.
Most people arrive with their thoughts, their behaviours and their feelings fused into one lump — “I am just a mess”. Separating them is what turns something overwhelming into something specific enough to work with.
Three things we build, in this order
Therapy with me is not open-ended drifting. It follows a shape, and you will always know which part we are in.
-
A clear understanding of what is happening
We start by separating out thoughts, behaviours and emotions — three distinct but closely related parts of how you work. Seeing which is which turns "everything is awful" into something specific enough to act on.
-
Insight into the habits underneath
Then we look at the habitual behaviours and long-held beliefs driving those feelings, and at how they came to make sense. Understanding why a pattern exists is what makes it possible to change rather than just resist.
-
New habits, tested in a real week
And then we experiment. New responses, tried out between sessions, kept when they increase your happiness and satisfaction and adjusted when they do not. The aim is that you leave with skills you can use without me.
Privacy and security
All sessions run over a HIPAA-compliant video platform, under a business associate agreement, and your clinical records are held in secure, encrypted practice management software. No part of your care runs through ordinary email or a consumer video app.
The one piece I cannot control is your end of the call, so it is worth thinking about: join from somewhere you will not be overheard, and use headphones if the household is busy. Plenty of clients take their session from a parked car for exactly that reason.
Approaches I draw on
Blended to fit the person in front of me, rather than applied as a fixed protocol.
-
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
The approach I lean on most. We look at the beliefs sitting underneath a painful feeling, test how accurate and how useful they actually are, and practise steadier ways of thinking that hold up under pressure.
-
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Structured work on the loop between what you think, how you feel and what you do, with practical steps you can try between sessions.
-
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
A gradual, planned way of facing what anxiety tells you to avoid, so the fear loses its grip instead of being fed by rituals and reassurance.
-
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Skills for noticing a spiral early and stepping out of it, rather than being carried along by it.
-
Somatic approaches
Attention to what stress does in the body — breath, tension, restlessness — because distress is physical long before it is articulate.
-
Humanistic, person-centered therapy
The foundation underneath all of it: you set the direction, and you are treated as the expert on your own life.
Questions about working with me
What is the difference between an LPC and a psychologist?
Mostly the training route and the scope. A Licensed Professional Counselor holds a master’s degree in counseling plus thousands of supervised clinical hours, and is state-licensed to provide psychotherapy — that is what I am. A psychologist, by contrast, holds a doctoral degree and can also carry out formal psychological testing and assessment, which is not something I offer. Neither prescribes medication; that is a medical role. For ongoing talking therapy for anxiety, depression, grief or relationship difficulty, an LPC is exactly the right person to see, and most insurance plans cover both the same way.
Is my online session private and secure?
Yes. Sessions run over a HIPAA-compliant video platform under a business associate agreement, and your records live in secure, encrypted practice management software — not in ordinary email or a consumer video app. What you say is confidential within the limits that apply to all counseling in New Jersey, which I go through with you at the start so you know exactly where the boundaries are. The part worth planning is your end: pick a room where you will not be overheard, and headphones help.
What can I expect from our first meeting?
Mostly listening and questions. I want to understand what brought you here, how long it has been going on, what you have already tried, and what a better situation would actually look like for you. I will explain how I work and answer anything you want to ask about confidentiality, fees or the process. You do not need to prepare anything or have your story organised — and if at the end it is clear I am not the right fit, I will tell you and help you find someone who is.
How do we set goals for therapy?
Together, and early. In the first couple of sessions we turn "things are bad" into something specific enough to aim at — sleeping through the night, getting through a family visit without dreading it for a week, having one honest conversation with your partner. Concrete goals mean we can both tell whether this is working rather than guessing. We review them as we go, and they are allowed to change; what you thought you came for is often not what turns out to matter most.