About Susan
Susan Schwerd is a Maryland-based counselor who helps people manage stress, anxiety, trauma, grief, and mood disorders. She uses practical coaching and therapy methods to address sleep problems, anger, self-esteem, career strain, and chronic illness concerns. Susan holds an MD and is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor with 24 years of clinical work behind her.
Susan draws on a psychodynamic foundation while mixing in solution-focused and hypnotherapy approaches. She aims to uncover patterns that keep people stuck and then tries short-term strategies to interrupt those cycles.
How Susan works
Sessions often include breathing and self-hypnosis techniques to reduce anxiety and manage chronic pain. Before independent practice, Susan worked in outpatient mental health settings and served in human resources for a decade. That mix led her to combine clinical care with practical coaching for personal growth and workplace productivity.
She has experience supporting people with long-term mental health conditions and with trauma related to military and disaster contexts. In online sessions Susan offers video calls, phone meetings, live chat, and text messaging options depending on the format chosen. Her approach is active and collaborative - she helps people set goals and tries concrete steps to meet them.
The work balances understanding past patterns with building new habits for present-day problems. Susan often integrates adjunct methods such as clinical hypnotherapy to complement talking therapy. Her style is steady and solution-oriented, aimed at helping people regain control and move forward from crises and chronic challenges.
Susan lists 3 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.
Also listed
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Sleeping disorders
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
Training and background
| Registers | MD, LCPC |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 24 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Maryland |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How hypnotherapy and solution-focused work adapt to online care
Hypnotherapy in her practice involves guided relaxation and suggestion exercises that teach self-hypnosis and breathing techniques to reduce anxiety and manage chronic pain. These tools can be practiced between sessions and often help people regain a sense of control over symptoms.Psychodynamic Therapy looks at recurring patterns and early influences that shape current reactions. In sessions she helps clients notice those patterns and connect them to present problems so they can choose different responses.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. She collaborates with each person to match methods to their goals and preferences. That means trying short solution-focused steps, deeper psychodynamic reflection, or hypnotherapy techniques when they fit the situation.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth or camera use is limited, and live chat or text messaging suit brief check-ins or ongoing support between meetings. These formats make it easier to fit sessions into busy schedules, continue work while traveling, or follow up quickly after difficult events.
Start online instead of waiting
Our partner service asks a few questions about what you are looking for and matches you with a therapist for sessions from home.
Book with SusanWe will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.
Common questions
What kinds of problems does she help people with?
What is her therapeutic style like?
How much clinical experience does she have?
Where is she based and what are her credentials?
Can I work with her if I live outside the United States?
What session formats are available for online work?
How are fees and subscriptions handled?
What steps do I take to begin working with her?
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.
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you. Entries are not assessed or endorsed by this directory.
Other entries for stress, anxiety
Supportive LCSW helping people build strength and clarity
Practical, trauma-aware therapy for everyday life
Practical, relational therapy for life transitions