Barbara Austin, LISW-CP

Barbara Austin is a licensed clinical social worker with 25 years of counseling experience. She listens first and helps people who are feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, depression, grief, parenting strain, relationship and intimacy issues, and trauma. Her approach aims to make changes feel manageable and realistic.

Barbara uses straightforward conversation to learn how a person has coped so far. She values the details of each life story and works with clients to notice patterns that cause pain. From there she and the client look for small shifts that lead to different results.

Her work often draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to spot and reshape unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. She also uses Attachment-Based and Client-Centered ideas to focus on relationships and on the person's own goals and values. Sessions balance practical steps with time to reflect on meaning and purpose.

Barbara has particular experience supporting people with postpartum challenges, pregnancy and childbirth stress, women's issues, and struggles with codependency, shame, and family of origin concerns. She also addresses LGBT concerns, communication problems, and life purpose questions.

In sessions she aims to be encouraging and clear about next steps. People leave with concrete tools they can try between meetings and with a plan to build more satisfying ways of relating to themselves and others.

Approaches that guide online sessions

Barbara often uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice thoughts and habits that keep problems going and to try small, practical experiments that change how they feel. Attachment-Based Therapy is used to look at relationship patterns and safety in connections, which can help with intimacy, communication, and family of origin concerns.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will help clients choose methods that match their goals, values, and the issues they bring, and will adapt as progress is made so treatment fits the person's needs.

Online sessions are available by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to offer flexibility. Video calls suit deeper conversation and visual cues, phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or for a quick check-in, and chat or messaging can fit brief updates or focused skill practice between longer sessions. These options make it easier to keep therapy going around work, childcare, or other responsibilities.