About Ryan
Ryan Sheehan is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, and LGBT issues. He offers straightforward support for low self-esteem, motivation struggles, and the challenges that come with life changes. Many people come for help with addiction, grief, relationship concerns, or coping after trauma.
Ryan emphasizes practical steps and steady support rather than jargon. He treats each person as the expert on their own life and works alongside them to build on existing strengths.
Background and approach
Sessions are conversational and focused on tangible skills you can try between meetings. He uses approaches that teach practical coping tools, improve emotional awareness, and help shift unhelpful thinking patterns. Ryan brings six years of professional experience to his work as an LCSW, licensed in Illinois and Virginia.
That background includes supporting people through career stress, caregiver strain, chronic illness concerns, and identity-related challenges. He draws on methods that emphasize values, present-moment awareness, and emotional connection. In sessions he aims for clear goals and small, achievable steps.
Therapy can include problem-solving, emotion regulation practices, and mindfulness exercises tailored to everyday life. He also addresses communication problems, attachment issues, and the fallout of family-of-origin wounds. People who look for help with anger, intimacy issues, ADHD-related struggles, or compassion fatigue may find this approach useful.
Ryan focuses on helping clients make changes that fit their daily routines and personal values.
Therapeutic approaches and online options
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people clarify what matters most to them and take small steps toward those values. It uses mindfulness and action-based goals to reduce avoidance and increase meaningful activity. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact and teaches practical strategies to change unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviors. That approach is useful for anxiety, depression, and coping skills.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what has helped or not helped in the past. Then he and the client pick methods and pace the work to match needs, adjusting as progress is made.
Online therapy is offered through several formats to fit different schedules and needs. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and longer session work. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging are helpful for brief check-ins, ongoing reminders, and quick skill coaching between longer sessions. These options provide flexibility for people juggling work, caregiving, or health challenges.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Traumatic brain injury
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 6 years
- Licensed
- Illinois, Virginia
- Languages
- English
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