Karen Foley, LICSW

Karen Foley is a licensed clinical social worker in Washington with 32 years of experience. She works with people facing stress, anxiety, addictions, trauma and abuse, low self-esteem, and depression. Karen aims to make the first contact feel manageable and to meet clients where they are.

Her approach centers on listening carefully and treating the client as the expert on their own life. She combines practical skills with gentle encouragement so people can try new ways of coping. Sessions often focus on building small, useful tools for daily life rather than lengthy theory.

Karen uses methods drawn from cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness, motivational interviewing, and client-centered work. That mix helps address panic, post-traumatic stress, social anxiety, and struggles with guilt or shame. She also supports people dealing with body image, control issues, divorce and separation, and isolation.

In a typical session she helps clients identify patterns, develop clearer choices, and practice skills between meetings. Work might include learning grounding techniques, testing unhelpful thoughts, or setting steps toward a meaningful goal. The focus stays practical: what helps you feel steadier day to day.

She believes starting therapy takes courage and that progress comes from steady effort. Karen aims to create a calm space for people to try changes at their own pace and to build on the strengths they already have.

How these approaches translate to online therapy

Client-centered work focuses on listening and responding to each person's unique story. It involves open questions, reflection, and support to help someone discover their own solutions, which fits well into talk-based video or phone sessions.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) teaches practical techniques to change unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns. It often uses brief exercises, thought records, and action steps that clients can complete between meetings, making it easy to use in video calls, text check-ins, or phone sessions.

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) brings skills for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and improved communication. Those skills are taught in short practice segments and homework tasks that translate well to messaging or live chat as quick reminders and coaching between longer sessions.

Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss goals, try methods, and adjust based on what helps most. Clients and the therapist work together to find techniques that fit the person’s needs and daily life.

Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is useful for full sessions and skill practice, phone can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat suits brief check-ins, and messaging supports ongoing small exercises. This range makes it simpler to fit therapy into a busy schedule and to keep momentum between sessions.