- Years in practice
- 20
- Credentials
- LCSW
- Licensed in
- Virginia
- Languages
- English
- Focus
- Stress, Anxiety
- Focus
- Relationship issues
- Focus
- Grief
About Paula
Paula Donovan is a licensed clinical social worker with 20 years of experience. She brings a calm, practical presence to sessions and understands how stress, loss, and relationship strain can leave someone feeling exhausted or stuck. She believes the person in front of her is the expert on their own life.
That belief shapes short-term goals and longer-term changes. Paula listens closely, reflects what she hears, and helps people spot strengths they already have.
Background and approach
Conversations often include problem-solving, emotion regulation skills, and small behavioral steps that fit everyday life. Paula blends several approaches to match each person’s needs. She uses client-centered methods to follow a person’s priorities, cognitive behavioral ideas to shift unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, and mindfulness practices to calm intense reactions.
Motivational interviewing helps when someone feels ambivalent about change. Her work covers common struggles such as anxiety, depression, grief, anger, and relationship problems. She also supports people dealing with parenting stress, caregiving strain, addictions, and burnout.
Paula draws on life experience in multiple countries along with clinical training to add perspective to conversations. Sessions aim to be straightforward and humane. Paula values a working relationship that includes honesty, occasional warmth, and focused skill-building.
She encourages people who are unsure to try a first session and see how the fit feels.
What Paula works with
Everything Paula lists, in the therapist's own terms. Parenting is the reason this directory exists; the rest shows what else Paula helps people with.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
- Self esteem
- Depression
- Addictions
- LGBT
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Intimacy-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Coping with life changes
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Fertility issues
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Women's issues
Approaches Paula lists
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Somatic 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 adapted for online care
Paula often draws on client-centered therapy to keep the conversation focused on what matters most to the individual. That approach emphasizes listening, reflecting, and building on a person’s own goals and strengths. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is also a common tool she uses to identify unhelpful thoughts and to try simple behavioral experiments that can reduce anxiety or low mood.Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work together. Paula treats that as a collaborative process - she will discuss options, try techniques, and adjust plans based on what helps you meet your goals and feels workable for your life.
Online sessions are offered via video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy fit into busy schedules. Video is useful for longer sessions and face-to-face conversation, phone works well when bandwidth is limited or you prefer not to be on camera, and chat or messaging can be good for brief check-ins, homework, or when a shorter touchpoint is helpful between sessions. These options aim to make it easier to sustain therapeutic progress while juggling work, parenting, and caregiving demands.
Questions people ask about Paula
What concerns does Paula help with?
She works with a wide range of issues including stress, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship and intimacy challenges, parenting strain, addictions, and caregiver fatigue.
What is her therapy style like?
Her style is conversational and practical. She listens first, then uses client-centered, cognitive behavioral, mindfulness, and motivational techniques to build manageable steps forward.
How much experience does she have?
Paula has worked as a clinician for 20 years and has international life experience that she brings to her therapeutic work.
Where is Paula licensed and practicing?
She is a LCSW licensed in Virginia and practices with that credential in mind.
Which languages are sessions offered in?
Sessions are offered in English.
What session formats are available?
She provides video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging for flexible scheduling and check-ins.
How does pricing work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model 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 therapist availability.
More therapists for parents in Virginia
All in Virginia
Elizabeth Papa
LPC
Virginia 8 years in practice
Compassionate counselor for practical parenting concerns
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family
- Eating
Alissa Green
LCSW
Virginia 12 years in practice
Compassionate, practical support for parents
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Grief
Menzo Faassen
LPC
Virginia 24 years in practice
Compassionate, practical therapy for life changes
- Addictions
- LGBT
- Trauma and abuse