- Years in practice
- 4
- Credentials
- LCSW
- Licensed in
- New York
- Languages
- English
- Focus
- Stress, Anxiety
- Focus
- Trauma and abuse
- Focus
- Parenting issues
About Cathleen
Cathleen Lilavois is a licensed clinical social worker in New York with four years of formal clinical experience. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, trauma, parenting concerns, and low self-esteem. Cathleen aims to make the first step easier by offering steady support and straightforward guidance.
She draws on years of earlier work in child welfare to inform how she listens and responds. That background means she is familiar with adoption and foster care issues, attachment concerns, and the emotional fallout from abandonment and abuse.
Background and approach
She has also worked with mothers who had involvement in the child welfare system and with young adults navigating life planning. In sessions she uses practical conversation and problem-solving. She works with clients on communication skills, setting boundaries, and building self-compassion.
Cathleen helps people break larger problems into manageable steps and practice them between meetings. She also addresses workplace stress, compassion fatigue, mood issues including seasonal affective disorder, and symptoms tied to disruptive mood dysregulation. Her approach balances emotional validation with concrete tools for day-to-day life.
Cathleen helps clients track small changes and notice what improves. Cathleen offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different schedules. Sessions are scheduled through the site after completing a short matching questionnaire and selecting times that work for the client.
What Cathleen works with
Everything Cathleen lists, in the therapist's own terms. Parenting is the reason this directory exists; the rest shows what else Cathleen helps people with.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Compassion fatigue
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Attachment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Workplace issues
Approaches that guide online parenting and trauma work
She draws on evidence-based therapeutic techniques that focus on practical change and emotional processing. One common approach she uses helps people identify unhelpful patterns in thinking and behavior and then test small behavior changes to reduce anxiety and improve mood. This method suits stress, anxiety, and mood-related concerns.Another approach emphasizes processing difficult experiences and the emotions that follow trauma or loss. It supports people dealing with abuse, abandonment, attachment challenges, and the aftereffects of child welfare involvement by helping them name feelings, build coping skills, and create safer patterns in relationships.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals, needs, and preferences. That process may include trying techniques and adjusting them based on what helps most.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation for deeper exchanges, phone sessions can fit a quick check-in or when bandwidth is limited, and live chat or text messaging can make short problem-solving or ongoing support easier. These options help clients fit therapy into busy lives and choose the format that feels most comfortable.
Questions people ask about Cathleen
What kinds of problems does this therapist help with?
She helps people address stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, parenting concerns, self-esteem, and compassion fatigue. Additional focuses include attachment issues, abandonment, adoption and foster care, and workplace stress.
How would you describe her therapy style?
Her style is practical and supportive, combining listening with concrete steps clients can try between sessions. She emphasizes communication skills, setting boundaries, and building self-compassion.
What is her professional background?
Cathleen has four years of clinical experience and prior work in the child welfare arena where she provided counseling related to trauma, neglect, and family separation. That experience informs her current practice.
Where is she licensed and based?
She is a licensed clinical social worker - LCSW - practicing in New York.
Which languages are sessions offered in?
Sessions are offered in English.
What session formats are available?
Sessions can take place via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different schedules and communication preferences.
How does cost and billing work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Start 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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