About Denise
Denise Stuntzner is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than two decades of experience helping people manage stress and anxiety. She practices in Oregon and brings a straightforward, practical way of working. Denise focuses on clear goals and hands-on strategies that people can use right away.
She favors client-centered care that keeps the person's needs first. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution-Focused techniques, and mindfulness are among the approaches she uses to help people change unhelpful thinking and behavior.
Background and approach
Sessions emphasize problem-solving, small achievable steps, and skills that support daily life. Denise has worked across medical, hospice, and inpatient psychiatric settings as well as community programs. That background informs her steady, organized style when dealing with grief, trauma, addictions, mood concerns, and caregiving stress.
She also has experience with chronic illness, end-of-life issues, and age-related concerns. Her manner is active and direct while still acknowledging how hard change can be. She helps people identify patterns that get in the way and then creates realistic plans to shift them.
Whether someone is coping with panic, sleep problems, relationship strain, or career stress, the focus is on practical steps that can improve daily functioning. Outside of practice she has a long history in competitive swimming and enjoys skiing and travel.
That balance of disciplined athletic experience and decades in clinical roles shapes a therapy approach that is both goal-oriented and respectful of personal limits.
Practical approaches for online therapy
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on the person's goals and perspective. The therapist listens closely, reflects what’s important, and helps shape a plan that fits the client's values and priorities. This approach is useful for people who want their own goals to guide the work.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts and actions keep problems going. Sessions include learning simple tools to notice thinking patterns and try new behaviors, which can help with anxiety, panic, sleep problems, and mood shifts. Mindfulness Therapy adds brief practices to calm the body and increase present-moment awareness, which can reduce reactivity and improve coping for stress and trauma.
Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the process. The therapist will work collaboratively to decide which methods suit a person's needs, goals, and preferences, and adjust the plan over time based on progress and feedback.
Online work uses video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility. Video is good for deeper conversations and visual cues, phone can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat offers short check-ins, and messaging supports ongoing work between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule and keep momentum between meetings.
Questions people ask
What concerns does she help with?
What is her therapy style like?
How much clinical experience does she have?
What credentials and location are listed?
Are sessions offered in other languages or internationally?
Which session formats are available?
How are fees and payment handled?
What are the first steps to begin therapy?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Addictions
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Grief
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 22 years
- Licensed
- Oregon
- Languages
- English
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.