Lisa McCarton, LCSW

Lisa McCarton is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with twenty years of experience in Virginia. She helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, parenting strains, and career or relationship concerns. Her style is practical and goal-focused, aimed at making daily life feel more manageable.

She often uses cognitive behavioral techniques to help people notice and change unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns. Lisa also draws on attachment-based ideas to look at how early relationships shape current responses. Her client-centered stance means she listens first and adapts plans to each person's needs.

Lisa began her clinical work after earning a Master of Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2000. Early in her career she worked in residential settings supporting children who experienced abuse and loss, and she provided direct therapy and case management in those roles.

Her practice addresses a wide range of concerns including grief, bipolar disorder, ADHD, anger, and coping with life changes. She also focuses on related areas such as abandonment, adoption and foster care issues, attachment difficulties, and communication problems.

Sessions are practical and skills-oriented. Lisa aims to teach tools people can use between meetings, such as coping strategies, problem-solving steps, and ways to shift harmful thinking. She emphasizes building a trusting relationship while working toward clear, achievable goals.

How her approaches translate to online sessions

Lisa often uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people spot patterns of thinking that cause stress and then practice new, more helpful behaviors. CBT is useful for anxiety, depression, anger, and many everyday problems because it focuses on clear steps and exercises.

She also uses Attachment-Based Therapy ideas to look at how early connections influence reactions now. That work helps when someone wants to understand relationship patterns, trust, or emotional responses rooted in past connections.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist collaborates with each person to match methods to their goals and preferences, adjusting techniques as progress is made. Therapy is framed as a team effort to try things, check results, and change course when needed.

Online sessions offer practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions can fit into a busy schedule or work better when bandwidth is limited, and live chat or text-based messaging work well for brief check-ins, written reflections, or when writing feels easier than speaking. These options make it simpler to keep regular sessions and practice skills between meetings.