About Susan
Susan MacDonald is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) in Rhode Island with 14 years of experience. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and self-esteem challenges. She also supports those facing relationship strain and major life changes.
Susan’s style is straightforward and compassionate. She works to create an open, nonjudgmental space where people can talk about what is bothering them. Sessions aim to help people feel heard, clearer about their options, and more able to make changes that matter.
How Susan works
Her approach draws on practical methods that help with thoughts, behaviors, and emotional regulation. Susan uses techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy to address unhelpful thinking patterns. She also incorporates client-centered listening and mindfulness to help people stay grounded and notice what matters most.
For people struggling with recurring patterns, Susan offers tools from dialectical behavior therapy to manage intense emotions and improve coping. Motivational interviewing is used when someone wants to build momentum for change and strengthen their motivation to follow through.
Susan works with concerns such as codependency, communication problems, divorce and separation, family of origin issues, guilt and shame, loneliness, and questions about life purpose. She also supports people dealing with panic attacks, obsessive or compulsive behaviors, trauma reactions, and mood disorders. People who choose Susan typically want practical strategies plus steady listening.
She guides each person toward goals that feel realistic and meaningful, and she adjusts the work as needs evolve.
Susan lists 7 ways of working on the entry:
What Susan works with
The areas below are the ones Susan selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
Also listed
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Training and background
| Register | LMHC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 14 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Rhode Island |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Therapeutic approaches and online options
Susan often uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help people change unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns. CBT is useful for anxiety, depression, panic, and obsessive thoughts because it teaches practical steps to test and shift thinking.She also brings in client-centered therapy, which emphasizes listening and building a trusting relationship. This approach helps people feel understood and clarify what they want to change. Dialectical behavior therapy techniques may be used for intense emotions, building distress tolerance, and improving emotion regulation.
Choosing the right approach is collaborative. Susan will talk with each person about their goals and preferences, then try strategies that fit those needs. The process can be adjusted over time as progress and challenges appear.
Online therapy offers flexibility for busy schedules and different comfort levels. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited, and live chat or text messaging can be used for shorter check-ins or when written reflection helps. These options make it easier to keep continuity of care and fit sessions into daily 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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