About Ryan
Ryan Sheehan is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Illinois. He helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and concerns tied to LGBT identity. He also supports those struggling with self-esteem, motivation, addictions, and major life changes.
Ryan focuses on practical, down-to-earth conversations. He treats each person as the expert on their own life and looks for existing strengths to build on. Sessions aim to be straightforward and focused on what will feel useful right now.
How Ryan works
He uses a mix of therapy styles to match individual needs. That can mean learning skills to manage difficult thoughts, noticing values that matter, or practicing new ways to connect with others. The goal is to reduce overwhelm and make daily life feel more manageable.
Over six years of practice he has worked with people facing grief, trauma and abuse, intimacy-related issues, parenting stress, bipolar mood concerns, and career-related strain. He also addresses specific topics like attachment struggles, caregiver stress, chronic illness, and issues linked to kink and alternative sex culture. Ryan holds LCSW licensure in Illinois and Virginia.
He offers sessions in English and uses methods like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Emotionally-Focused Therapy, and Client-Centered Therapy. He aims to help people take the first step toward a more satisfying life.
Ryan lists 10 ways of working on the entry:
What Ryan works with
The areas below are the ones Ryan selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Traumatic brain injury
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 6 |
| 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
How his approaches translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps clients notice what matters to them and take small steps toward those values, even when uncomfortable thoughts or feelings show up. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and practicing clear, teachable skills to reduce distress and improve daily functioning. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) concentrates on emotions and connection, helping people name core feelings and respond to them in ways that change relationships and self-understanding.Choosing the right approach is a shared process. The therapist works with each person to figure out which methods fit their goals and preferences, and adapts as needs change. That collaborative stance means techniques can shift over time until the best mix is found.
Online sessions use video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy flexible. Video lets people practice social skills and read facial cues, phone sessions can fit into a work break or reduce bandwidth needs, and chat or messaging provides quick check-ins or ongoing support between longer sessions. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent around busy schedules and varied life demands.
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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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