About Mary
Mary Dooley is a licensed independent clinical social worker with ten years of experience helping people cope with stress and anxiety. She practices in Alabama and uses straightforward, respectful conversation to help clients sort through difficult issues. Her style is warm and interactive and she focuses on practical steps people can try between sessions.
Mary has worked with a wide range of concerns, including depression, relationship and family problems, parenting stress, grief, and trauma and abuse.
Background and approach
She also supports people dealing with addictions, career challenges, and life transitions. Special topics she has addressed include adoption and foster care, attachment and blended family issues, cancer-related stress, and first responder challenges. In sessions she tailors the direction to each person.
She uses client-centered methods to follow what matters most to the client. She also draws on cognitive behavioral ideas to identify unhelpful thinking and test different behaviors. Mary includes mindfulness practices to help with overwhelming emotions and psychodynamic ideas to look at patterns that repeat over time.
She can use solution-focused techniques to set small, achievable goals and measure progress. Together with a client, she builds a plan that fits real life and daily demands. Her approach aims to reduce shame and blame while offering concrete tools.
Conversations are practical and respectful, with an emphasis on what a person wants to change and small steps to get there.
Therapeutic approaches and online options
Mary often blends client-centered work with cognitive behavioral strategies. Client-centered therapy focuses on listening closely and following what matters most to the person, which helps people feel heard and understand their priorities. Cognitive behavioral therapy looks at thoughts and behaviors and teaches specific skills to test new ways of thinking and acting when anxiety or stress gets in the way.Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will work together with the client to decide which methods fit their goals and daily life. Plans are adjusted over time so techniques match what helps most in real situations.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video calls are useful for face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or for a quick check-in. Live chat and text messaging can fit into a busy day and allow short check-ins or ongoing support between longer sessions.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Addictions
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Blended family issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Jealousy
- Money and financial issues
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Postpartum depression
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- Alabama
- Languages
- English
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