Dawn Byrne , MD, LCPC

Dawn Byrne is an MD and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) practicing in Maryland with 25 years of experience. She focuses on practical coping skills, addiction recovery, and relationship concerns. Dawn uses straightforward, client-centered work to help people make changes that feel manageable.

She has a long background in both clinical and workplace settings. Dawn has provided counseling in private practice, employee assistance programs, community psychiatry, and addiction recovery clinics. She also worked as a crisis interventionist in an emergency room and spent a decade as a corporate trainer teaching coping skills.

In sessions she combines clear problem-solving with skill teaching. Clients can expect help with setting boundaries, managing conflict, and building relapse prevention strategies. Dawn emphasizes small, doable steps that fit into daily life rather than abstract goals.

Dawn’s approach is practical and focused. She listens first, then helps people decide what changes they want to make. Therapy often includes learning self-management tools for anxiety, stress, and cravings, and practicing communication techniques to ease relationship strain.

She brings particular attention to issues that commonly affect women, including self-esteem, intimacy-related concerns, and caregiver stress. Dawn also supports people dealing with grief, trauma, mood struggles, and life transitions. Her goal is to give people skills they can use right away to feel more control and satisfaction in their lives.

How attachment work and CBT translate to online sessions

Attachment-based work looks at how early relationships shape current patterns. Online sessions can help people notice those patterns in their relationships and practice new ways of relating, especially around intimacy, codependency, and caregiver stress. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions. In teletherapy CBT is used to identify unhelpful thinking, try behavior experiments, and build coping tools for anxiety, panic, or mood challenges. Motivational Interviewing helps people find their own reasons to change; it is useful for addictions, relapse prevention, and moving toward life goals.

Choosing the best approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences. That means adjusting strategies over time and combining approaches when it helps the individual make steady progress.

Online formats offered include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to provide practical flexibility. Video is useful for full sessions and skill practice, phone can work when bandwidth or camera time is limited, live chat suits shorter check-ins, and messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into workdays, caregiving routines, or recovery steps while keeping the focus on skill-building and real-world changes.