- Years in practice
- 22
- Credentials
- LCSW
- Licensed in
- Illinois
- Languages
- English
- Focus
- Stress, Anxiety
- Focus
- Family conflicts
- Focus
- Trauma and abuse
About Austa
Austa Murray is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 22 years of experience helping people cope with stress, anxiety, depression, and parenting challenges. She works with adults facing relationship strain, grief, trauma and abuse, and issues around self-esteem and intimacy. Her approach is steady and respectful, aimed at meeting each person where they are.
Austa moves at a pace that feels comfortable for the client and focuses on building a supportive connection.
Background and approach
Sessions emphasize listening first, then teaching skills and strategies that can be used between meetings. She draws on practical techniques to reduce distress and improve day-to-day functioning. Her work often considers attachment and developmental history to understand how past relationships affect present behavior.
Cognitive behavioral strategies are used to identify unhelpful thinking patterns and make small, manageable changes. Dialectical behavior ideas help with emotion regulation and coping under pressure. Austa also uses client-centered principles, which means the person's goals shape the plan.
For people navigating family stress, adoption or foster care concerns, blended family dynamics, or caregiver strain, she helps map practical steps forward. She also addresses topics like abandonment, codependency, and commitment worries. Sessions may include skill practice, exploring personal stories, and setting concrete goals for change.
Austa blends insight with hands-on tools so people leave each session with something to try. She provides care from Illinois as a licensed LCSW and offers therapy in English.
What Austa works with
Everything Austa lists, in the therapist's own terms. Parenting is the reason this directory exists; the rest shows what else Austa helps people with.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Self esteem
- Depression
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Coping with life changes
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- ADHD
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Attachment issues
- Blended family issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trichotillomania
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Austa lists
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Gottman Method
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
Listing an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist names and does not check training records.
Therapeutic approaches and online options
Austa uses attachment-informed work to look at how past relationships shape current behavior and feelings. This can help when people struggle with connection, abandonment concerns, or patterns that repeat in relationships.She also uses cognitive behavioral therapy, which focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing small behavior changes. CBT is practical for anxiety, depression, and everyday coping skills.
Choosing the right approach is part of how she works. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what feels most useful. Together they decide on techniques and adjust them over time so the plan matches changing needs.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people work face to face when schedules or distance make in-person visits hard. Phone sessions can be a quicker check-in or suit lower bandwidth situations. Live chat and messaging make it easy to share brief updates, practice skills between sessions, or fit therapy into a busy day. These options aim to make working with a licensed professional more flexible and easier to fit into real life.
Questions people ask about Austa
What concerns does Austa help with?
She supports people dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, parenting concerns, relationship and intimacy issues, trauma and abuse, grief, and related challenges.
How would you describe her therapy style?
Her style is compassionate and non-judgmental with a focus on listening, teaching skills, and building insight. Sessions are collaborative and paced to each person's comfort.
What is her experience background?
She has 22 years of experience working in a range of mental health settings providing individual and group support and addressing trauma, developmental issues, and family stress.
What credentials and location are listed?
She is an LCSW licensed in Illinois and provides services from that state.
Which languages are sessions offered in?
Sessions are offered in English.
What session formats are available?
Therapy is offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different schedules and preferences.
How are costs and payments handled?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
How does someone get started?
Begin by selecting the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule sessions according to the therapist's availability.
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