About Sharon
Sharon Wilkening is a licensed mental health counselor with over 16 years working in mental health and substance use treatment. She moved into full-time clinical work in 2003 and later built a independent practice in New York. Sharon focuses on helping people manage anxiety and stress alongside other concerns like depression, addictions, grief, and relationship difficulties.
Before clinical practice she earned a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a master’s degree in forensic psychology from Marymount University.
Background and approach
Early in her career she worked in federal law enforcement and then ran a youth diversion program for teens with mental health diagnoses who were involved with the justice system. In sessions she aims for a neutral, nonjudgmental stance and meets people where they are. She uses practical, goal-oriented tools to help clients notice patterns, reduce symptoms, and try different coping strategies.
Conversations are focused and collaborative, with attention to real-life changes that matter to each person. Her approach draws on familiar, evidence-based techniques such as cognitive behavioral methods and motivational interviewing. She also integrates skills from dialectical behavior therapy, solution-focused methods, and strength-based work to tailor support to each person’s needs.
Sharon offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging for remote therapy. Sessions are scheduled through a subscription system that can be canceled at any time, and she provides services in English from New York.
Approaches that inform online work
Sharon commonly draws on cognitive behavioral methods to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and try different behaviors; this approach is often useful for anxiety, depression, and stress. She also uses motivational interviewing techniques to clarify values and strengthen personal motivation for change, which can help with addictions and readiness to address difficult habits.She blends skills from dialectical behavior therapy and solution-focused work to teach emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and concrete steps toward goals. Choosing the right mix of techniques is a collaborative process. Sharon will talk with each person about their needs and preferences and together decide which approaches to try first and how to adjust them over time.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility: video calls allow face-to-face conversation when more connection is helpful, phone sessions use less bandwidth and can fit into a work break, and live chat or text-based messaging can support shorter check-ins or on-the-go processing. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life while working with a licensed professional in New York.
Questions people ask
What concerns does Sharon commonly address?
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
What is her background and experience?
What credentials and location apply?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
What session formats are available?
How does payment and cost work?
How do I begin working with her?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Self esteem
- Trauma and abuse
- Experience
- 16 years
- Licensed
- New York
- Languages
- English
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.