About Lynda
Lynda Harkins uses practical therapy methods to help people manage stress, anxiety, addiction, and intimacy concerns. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, and she brings 14 years of experience to sessions. Her style is direct and collaborative, aimed at helping people make clear changes and feel more in control.
She often combines Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with mindfulness practices to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors. Motivational Interviewing is used when clients want help changing habits related to substance use or process addictions.
Background and approach
Narrative work helps people reframe painful stories they tell about themselves. Sessions focus on small, usable steps. Clients learn skills for handling panic, reducing avoidance, and improving self-esteem.
Conversations also target relationship patterns, communication problems, and feelings of abandonment that get in the way of connection. Lynda has worked with mood disorders, post-traumatic stress, and social anxiety, and she addresses guilt, shame, impulsivity, and isolation.
She helps people navigate the overlap between mental health and addictive behaviors, including drug and alcohol issues and process addictions such as gambling or compulsive sexual behavior. Therapy is offered in English from Massachusetts and is adaptable to different schedules. Lynda uses techniques like role play and written exercises when they fit the client’s goals.
The aim is steady progress through clear, manageable steps.
Approaches that translate well to online therapy
Mindfulness Therapy helps people build awareness of thoughts, feelings, and body sensations through simple practices. It can reduce reactivity to stress and support better emotional regulation during panic or anxiety episodes.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) identifies unhelpful thinking patterns and tests new behaviors. It is hands-on and goal oriented, which makes it easy to use in video or phone sessions to address mood, panic, and social anxiety.
Motivational Interviewing focuses on a person’s readiness to change and strengthens motivation. This approach is useful for addressing drug and alcohol addiction or process addictions by helping people set and commit to small goals.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences, and what has worked before, then adjust methods as therapy progresses. Clients and therapist decide together which techniques to try and when to shift course.
Online sessions are offered as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video works well for skill practice and role play, phone calls can be simpler when bandwidth is limited, and messaging fits quick check-ins or ongoing support between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, family, or travel schedules.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 14 years
- Licensed
- Massachusetts
- Languages
- English