About Gary
Gary Swan is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 21 years of experience practicing in Wisconsin. He helps people manage stress and anxiety, cope with addictions and impulsive behaviors, and work through relationship and intimacy concerns. He also supports people facing depression, grief, and major life changes.
Gary focuses on building trust slowly and creating a calm space where clients can talk without judgment. He listens plainly and reflects what he hears so people can make sense of their feelings.
How Gary works
He encourages small steps toward clearer communication and better self-esteem. In sessions he blends practical skills with deeper relational work. He uses cognitive behavioral ideas to spot unhelpful thinking patterns and emotion-focused methods to improve connection and trust.
He also draws on attachment-based thinking to explore how past relationships affect current ones. People often come to him for help with family stress, blended family issues, parenting strains, and challenges around fatherhood. He also addresses co-occurring concerns like drug and alcohol addiction, codependency, control issues, and impulsivity.
Gary describes therapy as a partnership. He helps clients set realistic goals and builds tools they can use between sessions. He invites people to take the next step at their own pace and supports gradual change over time.
Gary lists 9 ways of working on the entry:
What Gary works with
The areas below are the ones Gary selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 21 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Wisconsin |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Therapy approaches and online care
Gary often uses attachment-based ideas to look at how early bonds shape current relationships and trust. This approach helps people understand patterns of closeness, distance, and how those patterns affect friendships and romantic ties.He also draws on client-centered methods that put the person's goals and experience first. That means sessions focus on active listening, reflection, and helping people find their own answers rather than prescribing solutions.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. He collaborates with each person to decide which methods fit best for their goals, symptoms, and daily life. That choice can change as progress is made and needs shift.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is useful for a fuller conversation and nonverbal cues, while phone sessions can fit into a short break or when bandwidth is low. Live chat and text messaging are handy for quick check-ins, homework support, or brief coaching between sessions. These options aim to make therapy more flexible and easier to fit into busy schedules.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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