Ethel Dickerson , LCSW

Ethel Dickerson is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Connecticut who focuses on women's issues alongside stress, anxiety, trauma, parenting challenges, grief, and depression. She brings 22 years of experience to sessions and aims to give each person her full attention and respect. Her approach is direct but warm, and she encourages people to be honest about what they need from therapy.

Ethel has worked in outpatient settings and with people facing homelessness. She has coordinated a trauma first responders' team and supported adults through grief and family challenges. That range of work informs how she listens and responds in sessions. She uses practical conversation to identify what thoughts or routines cause the most trouble.

In sessions she focuses on reshaping harmful thinking patterns into more helpful habits. She explains things plainly and helps people set small, steady goals toward clearer thinking. She emphasizes respect and nonjudgmental support while being honest when needed.

Her clinical methods include client-centered work, cognitive behavioral strategies, mindfulness, solution-focused techniques, and trauma-focused methods. These are tools she draws on to address worries, anger, self-esteem issues, parenting strains, and life changes.

Ethel also supports people dealing with family of origin issues, blended family concerns, caregiver stress, codependency, communication and control problems, divorce and separation, and challenges faced by first responders. She speaks English and works with clients in Connecticut as well as international clients by offering several online formats.

Approaches that translate well to online therapy

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and responding to what matters most to the client, creating space for people to say what they need and set their own goals. This approach helps when someone needs an empathic, understanding place to work through stress, grief, parenting concerns, or identity questions.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches concrete strategies to change unhelpful thinking. It is useful for anxiety, depression, anger, and everyday coping skills because it breaks problems into clear steps that can be practiced between sessions.

Trauma-focused methods concentrate on understanding how past harm affects current reactions and building new ways of coping. This work aims to reduce the hold of traumatic memories and improve day-to-day functioning after abuse, disaster, or first responder trauma.

Choosing an approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences, and adjust plans as progress is made.

Online therapy formats offered include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people use visual cues and simulate in-person conversation, phone sessions can be a shorter or lower-bandwidth option, live chat works for quick check-ins, and messaging is useful for ongoing feedback between appointments. These options aim to make therapy more flexible and easier to fit into daily life.