Mary Blankenburg, LISW

Mary Blankenburg is a licensed independent social worker with 35 years of clinical experience. She focuses on building a strong relationship first, then helping people sort through stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and other challenges. Her manner is steady and practical, aimed at making therapy feel manageable for a worried parent reading on a phone.

Mary has worked in community mental health, adolescent services, and maintained a private practice for many years. She draws on a mix of approaches including cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, attachment-based work, client-centered methods, and skills from dialectical behavior therapy. These are used in straightforward ways to address mood problems, trauma effects, addictions, relationship concerns, sleep trouble, and attention differences.

In sessions she helps people notice how their thoughts, feelings, and bodies interact. That can mean learning concrete skills for coping with panic, practicing breathing and movement to ease tension, or trying new ways to handle conflict. The focus is on small, clear steps that fit into daily life.

Mary pays attention to attachment and abandonment issues, body image, chronic illness and pain, and co-occurring difficulties like codependency. She also supports people facing career stress, compassion fatigue, and life transitions.

Her style combines warmth with practical problem solving. She encourages self-kindness and gradual change. For many people the work is challenging but leads to clearer coping and more steadiness in day-to-day life.

How online therapy and approach work together

Mary uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help people spot unhelpful thinking and try small behavior changes that reduce anxiety and lift mood. CBT focuses on practical steps like testing negative thoughts and building routines that support better sleep and daily functioning.

She also uses acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help people notice painful feelings without getting stuck in them and to clarify what matters most. ACT helps when someone wants to respond differently to stress or find purpose amid life change. Attachment-based therapy is used to explore patterns in close relationships and to work on feeling safer in connections with others.

Finding the right blend of approaches is part of the work. The therapist and client decide together which methods to try based on the person's needs, goals, and preferences. Mary adapts tools over time so the plan fits the client's pace and life demands.

Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy easier to fit into a busy schedule. Video works well for more in-depth conversations and skills practice. Phone sessions are useful when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Chat and messaging can suit brief check-ins, tracking progress, or ongoing skill reminders between sessions.