About Dawn
Dawn Whitehead is a licensed mental health counselor who draws on two decades of experience to help people facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, and issues related to sexual orientation and gender. She works directly with each person to create practical goals and simple steps they can use between sessions.
Dawn writes treatment plans that match what a person needs right now and adjusts them as progress is made. Her approach blends Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy with mindfulness and solution-focused techniques.
Background and approach
That mix helps when emotions feel overwhelming, when negative thoughts get stuck, or when past hurt keeps returning. Dawn also uses trauma-focused strategies when people need space to tell hard stories and begin to heal. She has spent about 20 years working with adults on anger management, grief, eating concerns, mood instability, obsessive patterns, and panic symptoms.
Dawn pays attention to how patterns in relationships and identity affect daily life. She helps people name unhelpful habits and try new ways of responding. Dawn emphasizes respectful, sensitive, and compassionate care.
Conversations are tailored to each person’s needs and paced to feel manageable. She encourages small, concrete changes that add up over time. Located in Rhode Island, Dawn offers sessions in English and uses a mix of talk, skills practice, and mindfulness exercises.
Taking the first step can feel hard, and she aims to make that step clearer and more doable.
Therapeutic approaches you can use online
Many of Dawn's core methods translate well to online work. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps identify unhelpful thoughts and build different habits; it is often used for anxiety, depression, panic, and obsessive patterns. Dialectical Behavior Therapy focuses on emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness, which can help when feelings feel intense or impulsivity causes problems. Mindfulness Therapy teaches attention and grounding practices that reduce rumination and improve tolerance for difficult emotions.Choosing the right approach is collaborative. Dawn will listen to your goals and struggles, explain options, and try methods together to see what fits. Goals and techniques are adjusted over time so the work stays useful and relevant to your day-to-day life.
Online sessions offer flexible ways to connect. Video calls let you work face to face for skills practice and guided exercises. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or a quick check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging are useful for shorter updates, tracking progress, or getting feedback between longer sessions. These options make it easier to schedule therapy around work, caregiving, or travel while keeping the focus on practical skills and steady progress.
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does she help with?
What is her therapeutic style?
How much experience does she have?
Where is she licensed and based?
Which languages are supported?
Can people outside the U.S. work with her?
What session formats are available?
How does the cost and getting started process work?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- Rhode Island
- Languages
- English