About Denise
Denise Stutes is a licensed independent social worker who uses a warm, direct style to help people manage anxiety and related concerns. She speaks plainly and focuses on practical steps clients can use right away. Denise draws on five years as a therapist within a longer mental health career to guide each session.
She brings experience from community settings, hospitals, domestic violence shelters, and corrections. That background shaped her ability to support people who have lived through trauma, grief, addiction, or major life changes.
Background and approach
Her work includes helping people with relationship struggles, stress, depression, and self-esteem issues. Sessions tend to be interactive and down-to-earth. Denise mixes client-centered ways of listening with cognitive behavioral techniques and mindfulness exercises.
She also uses emotionally-focused ideas when relationships and attachment are central to the concern. Denise aims to help clients spot their strengths and build on them. She can guide conversations about communication problems, codependency, caregiver stress, and forgiveness.
Her tone is compassionate and straightforward, with occasional humor when it fits. People can expect practical tools and a focus on what matters to them day-to-day. Denise works in Iowa and holds an IA LISW credential.
She offers a space that is nonjudgmental and oriented toward growth.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening closely and following each person's concerns. It aims to make people feel heard and supported while they decide what changes matter to them most. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect and teaches concrete skills to reduce anxiety and change unhelpful patterns. Denise will work collaboratively to find which approach fits best. Early sessions include conversations about goals, preferences, and what feels most useful. That shared decision-making can blend methods so the work matches each person's needs. Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to create options that fit different days and routines. Video calls are helpful for in-depth conversations and seeing nonverbal cues. Phone sessions work when bandwidth is limited or a hands-free option is needed. Live chat and text are useful for brief check-ins, ongoing coaching, or when a shorter touchpoint fits a busy schedule. These formats make it easier to keep regular contact, fit therapy into work or caregiving schedules, and try different ways of communicating with a licensed professional. The therapist will discuss which format suits your goals and adjust as needed.Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Anger management
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Traumatic brain injury
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 5 years
- Licensed
- Iowa
- Languages
- English
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