About Mary
Mary Brahm is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) with 35 years of experience. She brings a direct, practical style and focuses on helping people facing addiction, depression, bipolar disorder, trauma, grief, relationship struggles, and parenting challenges. Mary draws on several evidence-based approaches to help clients move toward more satisfying lives.
Mary spent much of her career working with military and civilian populations, and that background informs her approach to first responder and veteran concerns.
How Mary works
She combines Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, cognitive strategies, and client-centered listening to meet each person where they are. Sessions are straightforward and goal-oriented, with an emphasis on building trust early. In the therapy room she helps clients identify triggers, shift unhelpful thinking, and practice new behaviors.
She also addresses co-morbidity, codependency, process and substance addictions, and workplace or caregiver fatigue. Practical tools, mindfulness exercises, and exploration of values are common parts of her work. Mary has a long history in community mental health and has led crisis interventions and group programs.
Her background includes experience with hospice and end-of-life counseling, multicultural issues, and prejudice-related stress. She aims to help clients find purpose, forgiveness, and more satisfying connections. Mary is licensed in Illinois as an LCPC.
Sessions are offered in English and available through video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging. To begin, a person selects the Start Therapy button, completes a short matching questionnaire, and schedules a time based on therapist availability.
Mary lists 11 ways of working on the entry:
What Mary works with
The areas below are the ones Mary selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Addictions
- Self esteem
- Bipolar disorder
Also listed
- Career difficulties
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intimacy-related issues
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LCPC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 35 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Illinois |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Approaches that guide online sessions
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify what matters to them and take small steps toward those values while learning to accept painful thoughts or feelings. ACT can help when someone is stuck in avoidance or struggling with low motivation. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and testing new behaviors to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and relationship conflict. It is often used for mood disorders and coping with life changes. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a trauma-focused method that can reduce the intensity of traumatic memories and associated distress; it is useful for people dealing with past abuse or severe shocks.Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences, and the problems you bring, then suggest a combination of methods that make sense. Over several sessions the plan can be adjusted based on what helps most, with clear focus on practical steps and values-based goals.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls let you use visual cues and work through exercises together. Phone sessions require less bandwidth and can fit into a work break. Live chat and text-based messaging allow short check-ins, journaling-style exchanges, or interim support between sessions. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent while fitting it into a busy life.
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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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