About Benia
Benia Thomas is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 12 years of experience. She practices from a warm, straightforward stance and helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and relationship challenges. She trained at Fordham University where she earned a Master of Social Work and completed her bachelor’s degree at Lehman College.
Early in her career she worked in the New York City foster care system and later provided counseling and empowerment groups for incarcerated women with serious mental health needs.
Background and approach
Benia has worked with LGBTQ+ communities for more than ten years and brings lived experience as a lesbian to that work. She also has experience supervising master-level social workers, which shapes how she reflects on clinical decisions and plans treatment. In sessions she combines client-centered conversation with practical tools.
She draws on cognitive behavioral strategies to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, and uses mindfulness to help people manage intense feelings. She adapts methods to match each person’s needs rather than using one rigid approach. People can expect a therapist who is direct, encouraging, and down-to-earth.
Benia focuses on clear goals and steps people can take between sessions. Her style blends experience, creativity, and a sense of humor to keep work focused and doable.
Approaches that translate well to online therapy
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and understanding each person’s experience. It gives space for people to say what matters and for the therapist to reflect that back. This approach helps with relationship concerns, identity questions, and building motivation to change.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, breaks problems into thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and then works on small, practical changes. CBT is often used for anxiety, depression, and anger by teaching tools to challenge unhelpful thinking and try different behaviors.
Mindfulness practices help people notice their breathing, bodily sensations, and emotional reactions without getting swept away. These techniques can reduce intensity during panic, stress, or grief and are easy to practice between sessions.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match goals, preferences, and day-to-day life. Changes are planned together and adjusted as progress is made.
Online sessions make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation from different locations, phone sessions work when bandwidth is low, and live chat or text-based messaging suit quick check-ins or shorter reflections. These options increase flexibility and make consistent care more practical for many people.
Questions people ask
What kinds of concerns does Benia address?
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
What is her professional background?
Where is she licensed and located?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Can international clients work with her?
What session formats are available online?
How are fees and getting started handled?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 12 years
- Licensed
- New York, New Jersey
- Languages
- English
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