Amanda McLean, LCSW, LICSW

Amanda McLean is a licensed social worker in Washington who focuses on helping people through stress, anxiety, relationship strain, and life transitions. She works with concerns related to depression, self-esteem, grief, parenting, career shifts, ADHD, and LGBTQ issues. Amanda uses straightforward, practical conversation to help people take steps forward.

She brings 13 years of experience in clinical work and offers a warm, honest, and down-to-earth style. Amanda centers the person in the room as the expert on their life and helps them build on their strengths. Sessions are collaborative and focused on reachable goals rather than long lectures or jargon.

Amanda draws from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and client-centered methods to shape each plan. That means she helps people notice unhelpful thoughts, try small behavior changes, and clarify what matters most to them. Mindfulness and motivational interviewing also inform how she supports motivation and awareness.

In practice she works through common issues like attachment and family of origin patterns, communication problems, codependency, and intimacy-related concerns. She also supports people navigating fertility questions, gender dysphoria, autism-related needs, and alternative-sex-culture concerns such as kink and BDSM. Amanda aims to make progress manageable by breaking problems into small steps.

Her sessions use multiple formats for conversations, and she describes therapy as a partnership. New clients can expect a down-to-earth tone, clear goals, and practical tools to try between meetings.

How Amanda brings CBT and ACT online

CBT helps people notice unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors to reduce stress and anxiety. In simple terms, it’s about spotting patterns in thinking, testing new responses, and tracking progress over time. ACT - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - focuses on clarifying personal values and taking committed action even when difficult feelings are present. It supports people who want to live more in line with what matters to them rather than getting stuck trying to eliminate feelings.

Amanda treats finding the right approach as a team effort. She will listen to your goals and preferences, try methods that fit your needs, and adjust the plan as you go. The process is collaborative and practical, with goals set together and tools to practice between meetings.

Online therapy offers flexibility for people with busy schedules or limited travel options. Amanda uses video calls and phone sessions for real-time conversation, and live chat or text-based messaging for brief check-ins or when typing feels easier. Live chat lets you have instant-messenger style talks, while text messaging supports shorter updates and ongoing check-ins between sessions. These formats make it easier to fit care into work, parenting, or other obligations while still working steadily toward your goals.