About Susan
Susan St Vrain is a licensed mental health counselor in Washington with 30 years of clinical experience. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, grief, depression, and big life changes. Her work also includes attention to ADHD, bipolar concerns, parenting stress, and caregiver fatigue.
She draws on a client-centered and collaborative style. Sessions are often practical and goal-focused. She brings mindfulness, somatic practices, and therapeutic yoga into her work when that fits a person’s needs.
Background and approach
Susan uses techniques from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people build new habits and values-driven action. Attachment-based ideas and emotionally-focused work inform how she supports relationship and attachment concerns. She adapts methods to the person rather than following a single script.
Her practice pays attention to body-mind connections. That can mean breathing, movement, or mindful awareness exercises alongside talk-based work. These tools are offered to expand coping skills and self-care, especially for people healing from trauma or chronic stress.
Susan frames therapy as a partnership. She helps people set clear, manageable goals and tracks progress with practical steps. The emphasis is on finding balance and increasing wellbeing in everyday life.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Susan draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people clarify values and take small, practical steps toward them. ACT focuses on accepting difficult feelings while committing to actions that matter, which can help with anxiety, depression, and life transitions.She also uses Attachment-Based Therapy ideas to look at patterns in close relationships and early family influences. This work helps people understand how they relate to others and practice new ways of connecting. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is another core tool she uses to identify unhelpful thoughts and try different behaviors to reduce distress.
Choosing the right approach is a shared process. The therapist will talk with each person about their concerns, preferences, and goals, then pick or combine methods that fit. That collaborative planning happens in session and can shift as needs change.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people work face-to-face when schedules allow. Phone sessions can be a good option when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging offer flexible ways to touch base between longer sessions. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent around work, caregiving, or other time constraints.
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does she help with?
How would you describe her therapy style?
How much experience does she have?
What are her credentials and where does she practice?
Which languages are sessions offered in?
Can people outside the United States work with her?
What session formats are available?
How does payment and scheduling work?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Somatization
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 30 years
- Licensed
- Washington
- Languages
- English