About Cilicia
Cilicia Gooden is an LCSW who helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, bipolar symptoms, relationship struggles, and trauma. She works with people who are facing life transitions like pregnancy and childbirth, and those coping with grief, shame, or discrimination. She uses clear, practical strategies in session.
Conversations focus on immediate problems and tools that can be tried between meetings. Sessions are warm and straightforward, aimed at helping people feel steadier day to day.
Background and approach
Her approach blends several evidence-based methods. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is used to spot unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors. Somatic therapy brings attention to body sensations and grounding skills.
She also uses EMDR-informed techniques to address painful memories when appropriate. Cilicia draws on eight years of clinical work in Arizona. She pays attention to how culture, race, and societal pressures shape emotions.
That perspective informs treatment choices and the kinds of coping skills she suggests. People who want to focus on specific goals will find solution-focused tools in her practice. Motivational Interviewing is used to strengthen commitment to change and to clarify priorities.
Together these approaches help clients build routines, improve communication, and reduce emotional overwhelm. Her sessions emphasize practical progress. Clients leave with steps they can use right away.
The work aims to reduce distress, increase self-compassion, and help people move toward clearer purpose and healthier relationships.
How her approaches translate to online therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps people identify unhelpful thoughts and try small behavior changes. Online CBT sessions often include homework, worksheets, and brief experiments to practice between meetings. EMDR-informed work focuses on processing distressing memories and can use guided techniques adapted for video or phone sessions to reduce the intensity of painful thoughts.Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist and client review symptoms, goals, and preferences together and then try methods that feel like a good fit. Adjustments are made over time so the work matches what the client needs most in daily life.
Online formats offer flexibility for different needs. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction for skill coaching and EMDR-style eye movement guidance. Phone sessions are useful when bandwidth is limited or when a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging make it easier to send quick updates, practice coping tools between sessions, or check in on a tough day. These options help people fit therapy into busy schedules and maintain momentum between meetings.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Bipolar disorder
- Communication problems
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Guilt and shame
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Self-love
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 8 years
- Licensed
- Arizona
- Languages
- English
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