Dr. Mary Moran, LCSW

Dr. Mary Moran is a licensed clinical social worker with two decades of experience in mental health and substance use treatment. She holds a Ph.D., a Master of Social Work, and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. She is based in Washington and practices using a mix of approaches to help people manage stress, anxiety, addiction, grief, and other life challenges.

She takes a collaborative approach in sessions, working with each person to set clear, achievable goals. Conversations focus on thoughts, feelings, and how daily surroundings affect well-being. Sessions often include practical tools people can use between meetings to handle difficult moments.

Her background includes supervisory work with social workers and mental health counselors for more than a decade. That experience supports a structured, reflective style in therapy and an emphasis on building skills that last. She also brings knowledge of trauma-informed ways of working.

Dr. Moran uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as one of her main approaches, alongside client-centered listening and mindfulness techniques. She also draws on Motivational Interviewing and relationship-focused methods when helpful to a person’s goals. Choices about approach are shaped by what each person needs in the moment.

People come to her for help with mood concerns, post-traumatic stress, relationship difficulties, caregiving strain, identity-related stress, and life transitions. Sessions aim to be practical and down-to-earth, with a focus on small, steady changes that add up over time.

Approach and online options for building coping skills

Dr. Moran commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice unhelpful thought patterns and practice new behaviors; CBT is often useful for anxiety, depression, and stress-related concerns. She also uses Client-Centered Therapy, which emphasizes listening, validation, and helping people identify their own goals and solutions. When relationships are a focus, she can draw on aspects of the Gottman Method to address communication and interaction patterns.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Dr. Moran treats approach selection as a joint decision, matching techniques to a person’s goals, preferences, and the issues they bring. She will check in about what is working and adjust the plan over time so sessions stay relevant and useful.

Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction and exercises that use visual cues. Phone sessions can fit into a short break or be simpler when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text messaging can support quick check-ins, brief skill practice, or ongoing encouragement between longer sessions. These options aim to make regular work on goals easier to fit into daily life.