About Dawn
Dawn Shanklin is a Maryland-based therapist who helps people manage anxiety, stress, and life changes. She aims to create a straightforward space where clients can learn skills to cope and build confidence. Dawn works with people feeling low energy, overwhelmed, or unsure about next steps in life.
She uses a person-first style that centers each client's experience. Conversations focus on what matters most now and on practical steps to reduce worry and boost functioning.
Background and approach
Cognitive techniques are used to identify unhelpful thinking patterns and try new responses to stress. Dawn also draws on client-centered methods that prioritize empathy and listening. Sessions tend to move at a client’s pace, with the therapist reflecting concerns and helping set achievable goals.
This approach supports people who want a calm, steady process for change. Across 11 years of professional practice Dawn has worked with people facing depression, compassion fatigue, social anxiety, workplace pressures, and relationship or communication problems. She helps clients tackle isolation, questions about life purpose, and money-related stress in practical ways.
Her background includes medical and mental health training, listed as MD, LCPC, and LMHC, and she practices in Maryland. Dawn invites people who want to reduce anxiety, develop coping skills, or regain confidence to start with a short matching questionnaire and schedule a session. She aims to work collaboratively so clients leave with clearer steps they can use between sessions.
How these approaches work online
Dawn uses client-centered therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy in online work. Client-centered therapy focuses on careful listening, reflecting what the client says, and helping people set their own goals. It helps when someone needs time and space to feel heard and clarify what matters next.Cognitive behavioral therapy looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect and teaches practical skills to change patterns that feed anxiety or low mood. It is useful for stress, worry, and improving day-to-day coping skills.
Finding the right mix of methods is a collaborative process. Dawn will discuss goals, try approaches that fit those goals, and adjust plans based on what helps most. Clients help steer the work and set the pace for change.
Online sessions are available by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video is close to a traditional session, phone can work when bandwidth is limited, live chat and messaging suit quick check-ins or shorter exchanges, and text can help people fit therapy into busy days. These options make it easier to keep appointments and use skills between sessions.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 11 years
- Licensed
- Maryland, Massachusetts
- Languages
- English
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