Elizabeth Stivers , LCSW

Elizabeth Stivers is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) practicing in Maine with 16 years of experience. She offers direct, down-to-earth support for people facing stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and parenting or family-related concerns. Her approach is practical and straightforward, focused on helping people manage day-to-day challenges and make lasting changes. Stivers draws on a mix of approaches to meet each person's needs. She uses client-centered methods to listen closely and build on strengths. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps break unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns, and Emotionally-Focused Therapy supports clearer emotional connection in relationships. She also incorporates EMDR when trauma and abuse issues are present. Her background includes work in homes, community centers, hospitals, residential settings, outpatient clinics, and private practice. That variety informs how she adapts tools to different situations. She pays attention to both the individual and the wider family context when concerns involve parenting, blended families, adoption and foster care, or family of origin issues. Sessions emphasize practical skills such as healthier communication, coping strategies for life changes, and ways to manage caregiver stress or compassion fatigue. She helps parents and caregivers navigate adoption adjustments, foster care challenges, and fatherhood issues without using jargon. People who prefer a respectful, collaborative tone and clear, usable strategies may find her style helpful. Stivers offers services in English and provides sessions using video calls, phone, live chat, and text-based messaging.

How her approaches translate to online therapy

Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and building on what already works for each person. Online sessions let the therapist hear concerns and reflect them back, which helps set goals and prioritize what to work on. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) teaches practical techniques to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. In online sessions, CBT tools like thought records, behavioral experiments, and homework are easy to share and review together. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) supports processing traumatic memories; portions of this work can be adapted to a remote format when appropriate and when both therapist and client agree it fits the goals. Choosing the right approach is part of the process. The therapist and client talk through needs, goals, and preferences and decide together which methods to try first. That collaborative process can shift as progress is made or new concerns arise; she emphasizes flexibility and ongoing communication about what feels helpful. Online formats make therapy more flexible. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be simpler when bandwidth is limited or for quick check-ins. Live chat and text-based messaging work well for short updates, symptom tracking, or when someone prefers written communication. These options let people fit sessions into busy schedules, manage caregiving responsibilities, or continue work during life changes.