Carleen Gates, LICSW

Carleen Gates is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) who helps people facing stress, anxiety, grief, depression, and related concerns. She speaks plainly and offers steady, direct support to people who want practical changes. Her approach is warm and respectful, and she encourages small steps that build confidence.

With ten years of experience, she has worked in many settings including individual sessions, group work, school-based therapy, and telehealth. She has also provided in-home care and case management in past roles. That range gives her familiarity with everyday life challenges and how they affect mood, routines, and relationships.

Carleen uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) alongside Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and client-centered listening to help people notice unhelpful thinking and try new behaviors. She also draws on dialectical behavior techniques and psychodynamic ideas when they fit a person’s goals. Sessions are practical and focused on goals you name together.

She often helps people navigate family problems, guilt and shame, forgiveness, money worries, and questions about life purpose. She also supports those dealing with compassion fatigue, bipolar challenges, and ADHD by breaking problems into manageable steps. Her style is candid, compassionate, and straightforward.

Carleen works in Alabama and conducts therapy in English. She treats each person with dignity and aims to help them find clearer direction, better coping skills, and steadier daily routines.

How her approaches translate to online therapy

Carleen frequently uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions and helps people try new behaviors to feel better. She also uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which focuses on noticing difficult thoughts and choosing actions that match personal values. Both approaches lend themselves well to skills practice and homework between sessions.

She treats finding the right approach as a collaborative process. The therapist and client will discuss goals, try techniques, and adjust methods based on what works. That way sessions stay practical and focused on the person's priorities rather than a fixed treatment plan.

Online therapy is offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility. Video helps with face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat and messaging let people check in between sessions and use shorter check-ins during a busy day. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, family life, or shifting schedules while still practicing the same CBT and ACT strategies together.