Austa Murray, LCSW

Austa Murray is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 22 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship and family concerns. She works with adults facing parenting strain, grief, intimacy and communication problems, and identity-related challenges such as LGBT concerns. Sessions focus on what the client wants to address first and move at a comfortable pace.

Her style is warm, nonjudgmental, and educational. She listens and helps people build insight into patterns that cause pain. Practical skills are taught alongside discussion to make day-to-day coping easier.

Austa uses cognitive behavioral techniques to help identify unhelpful thoughts and change behavior. She also draws on attachment-based ideas to look at how early relationships shape current reactions. Client-centered methods guide sessions so the client’s priorities lead the work.

She has worked in a variety of mental health settings and with many kinds of life challenges. That background informs a flexible approach that blends skill teaching, reflective work, and structured problem solving. Goals are clarified together and progress is checked along the way.

People who want collaborative, practical support often find this approach helpful. Austa aims to create a steady, supportive space where clients can build new habits, mend relationships, and handle life transitions more effectively.

How therapeutic approaches translate to online care

Austa commonly uses cognitive behavioral techniques to help people spot and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. CBT is practical and often focuses on small experiments and new skills for managing anxiety, depression, and daily stress.

She also draws on attachment-based ideas to examine how earlier relationships influence current patterns. That work helps with intimacy concerns, communication problems, and reactions that come from feeling disconnected. Client-centered methods keep the work focused on what the person wants, so sessions follow the client’s goals and pace.

Finding the right approach is a shared process. The therapist will discuss goals, try strategies, and adjust the plan based on what feels useful. Collaboration helps shape whether more skills work, insight, or relationship-focused work is prioritized.

Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to give practical flexibility. Video lets people practice skills and read facial cues, phone calls work well when bandwidth is limited or during a short break, and messaging is useful for brief check-ins or ongoing coaching between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and keep continuity across changes in schedule or location.