About Sheila
Sheila Funk-Jansen is a licensed social worker who draws on 25 years of practice to help people facing anxiety, depression, grief, relationship strains, and life transitions. She holds a Master of Social Work and practices as an LCSW and LISW in Iowa and Illinois. Sheila focuses on meeting people where they are and helping them build resilience for the next step.
Her approach blends straightforward talk with practical strategies. She uses Client-Centered Therapy to listen and understand each person's experience.
How Sheila works
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps uncover unhelpful thinking and try small behavior changes. Motivational Interviewing and Solution-Focused Therapy guide short-term goal setting and readiness for change. Sheila has worked with people dealing with parenting stress, family conflict, intimacy-related issues, and career concerns.
She also supports those coping with addiction, caregiver stress, cancer-related challenges, aging and geriatric issues, and grief after separation or loss. Communication problems, codependency, and control issues are also within her focus areas. Sessions are paced to the individual and can include straightforward problem-solving, skill practice, or conversations about meaning and values.
Sheila emphasizes a respectful, nonjudgmental relationship as the foundation for progress. She aims for practical steps people can try between sessions. Sheila offers a flexible schedule that includes weekdays and some weekends.
People begin by answering a short matching questionnaire and then schedule sessions based on availability. She works in English and practices in Iowa as an LCSW and an LISW in Illinois.
Sheila lists 4 ways of working on the entry:
What Sheila works with
The areas below are the ones Sheila selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Blended family issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Registers | LCSW, LISW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 25 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Iowa |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How Sheila’s Approaches Translate to Online Work
Sheila uses Client-Centered Therapy to prioritize listening and understanding each person’s concerns. This approach focuses on building a strong therapeutic relationship, helping people feel heard and supported as they talk through painful topics.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is also a mainstay of her work. CBT breaks problems into thoughts, feelings, and actions and offers practical exercises to shift patterns that cause distress. It is useful for anxiety, depression, and stress-related issues.
Finding the right approach is part of the process. Sheila collaborates with each person to choose techniques that match their goals and preferences, adjusting methods over time. She works together with clients to set small, achievable steps and checks in about what is or isn’t helping.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or for a quick check-in. Live chat and text messaging support brief updates, ongoing coaching, or those who prefer written communication. These options make scheduling more flexible and help people fit therapy into busy lives.
Start online instead of waiting
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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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