About Betty
Betty Laird is a licensed clinical social worker with four decades of experience helping people navigate hard moments. She practices from Indiana and focuses on stress, anxiety, grief, trauma and depression among other concerns. Her approach centers on building a trusting relationship where clients can speak openly about what hurts and what they hope will change.
Betty creates a calm, nonjudgmental space for people to talk through loss, mood challenges, and the strain of caregiving or illness.
Background and approach
She values simple, direct conversation and listens for patterns in how someone relates to themselves and others. She has long worked with issues around adoption and foster care, attachment, and experiences that leave lasting wounds. In sessions she blends client-centered listening with tools from cognitive behavioral therapy and emotion-focused work.
That means she helps people notice unhelpful thinking, name strong emotions, and practice new ways of relating. She also draws on attachment ideas to look at how early relationships shape current responses. Betty often uses film as a way to open discussion about personality, coping, and conflict.
Using movie scenes can make difficult topics easier to name and reflect on. Over time she helps people try small, realistic steps toward feeling steadier and more connected. Her style is steady, compassionate, and pragmatic.
She works with people who want thoughtful guidance through life changes, chronic stress, parenting strain, or recovery from trauma and loss.
How her approaches translate to online therapy
Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationships shape current reactions and connection. In plain terms, this work helps people understand why they feel hurt or distant and practice new ways of relating to others.Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and supporting a person's own goals. It gives space for someone to name their concerns and move at their own pace, which helps with anxiety, grief, and identity questions.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps people spot unhelpful thoughts and test small behavioral changes. It can be useful for anxiety, sleep difficulties, and adjusting daily routines to reduce stress.
Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with each person about their needs, goals, and preferences and try methods that fit. Sessions can shift over time as new issues come up or progress is made.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is good for face-to-face conversation and deeper emotional work. Phone sessions can be easier when lower bandwidth or no camera is preferred. Live chat or text messaging work well for brief check-ins, ongoing support, or when someone wants a shorter, more flexible option. These choices make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and to keep continuity during transitions.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trichotillomania
- Visually impaired
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 40 years
- Licensed
- Indiana
- Languages
- English
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