About Stephen
Stephen Murphy is a licensed clinician with ten years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, and life transitions. He holds LICSW and LCSW-C credentials and is also listed as MD LCSW-C. He works from Maryland and offers sessions in English and to international clients.
Stephen keeps sessions straightforward and practical. He focuses on clear, usable skills for daily life. Clients can expect calm, focused conversations about what is most pressing for them right now.
Background and approach
He uses several therapy approaches to match needs and preferences. That can mean working on unhelpful thoughts, learning new coping skills, or exploring attachment patterns that affect relationships. The aim is to find tools that fit each person's life and goals.
Stephen often supports people facing depression, grief, addiction concerns, trauma and abuse, and issues around self-esteem and identity. He also helps with career strain, parenting stress, compassion fatigue, and ADHD-related challenges. Sessions look at what is getting in the way of feeling steady and what can be changed.
Practical matters are part of his work. Sessions may include short skill practice, problem-solving, and planning manageable steps. He emphasizes collaboration so clients leave with actions to try between meetings.
Stephen uses a respectful, nonjudgmental style and adapts his approach to each person's situation.
How therapy approaches translate online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck. It focuses on values-driven action and small steps toward a meaningful life, which can help with anxiety, depression, and major life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behavior. It teaches practical strategies to test unhelpful thoughts and build coping skills for stress and mood challenges. Attachment-Based Therapy explores how early patterns of relating affect current relationships and emotional responses, and it can be useful for communication problems and recurrent relationship difficulties.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist collaborates with each person to choose methods that match their goals and day-to-day needs. That may mean combining techniques, trying a few tools, and adjusting the plan as progress is made.
Online sessions offer flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video is useful for deeper conversations and skill practice. Phone calls can fit a short check-in or when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text messaging allow brief check-ins and written reminders of strategies. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or travel schedules while keeping focus on usable skills and steady progress.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, District of Columbia, Maryland
- Languages
- English
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