Janice McDermott , LCSW

Janice McDermott is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 31 years of experience helping people make meaningful changes. She has worked in outpatient and inpatient settings, addiction recovery centers, public and chartered schools, and private practice. Her background includes supervising new social workers as they completed licensure requirements. Ms. McDermott also authors books on healing and emotional growth.

She focuses on practical conversation and clear next steps. Sessions begin where the person is and move at a pace that feels doable. She pays attention to depression, anxiety, grief, relationship and intimacy concerns, and the wear of caregiving and compassion fatigue. People also bring issues like career crossroads, parenting stress, ADHD, addiction, or questions about life purpose.

Her style centers on listening and helping people name what they already sense inside. Therapy can include skill-building work, values-based choices, and exploring emotions to find better ways forward. She helps people notice what gets in the way and try different responses in everyday life.

Janice uses several recognized approaches to guide sessions, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Emotionally-Focused Therapy, Client-Centered methods, and existential ideas about meaning and choice. Those tools are used to address trauma, relationship problems, shame and guilt, and struggles with control or isolation.

People seeking support in Mississippi may find her direct, experienced presence helpful. The focus is on steady progress rather than perfection, with concrete steps to reduce distress and increase a sense of agency. She works with people across a wide range of concerns, including womens issues, and helps them move toward clearer priorities and manageable change.

Therapeutic approaches for online support

Janice commonly draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in online sessions. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people clarify their values and take small steps that align with what matters, which can reduce avoidance and increase meaningful action. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on noticing unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors to reduce anxiety, depression, and stress.

She treats the choice of approach as a collaborative decision. Together the therapist and client look at current problems, goals, and preferences to choose methods that fit. That can mean blending ideas from different approaches and adjusting over time as progress or new difficulties emerge.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls allow real-time conversation similar to an in-person visit. Phone sessions are useful when bandwidth is limited or for a shorter check-in. Live chat and text-based messaging make it easier to fit brief conversations into a busy day or to work through specific exercises between longer sessions. These options aim to make therapy more flexible and easier to use alongside work, caregiving, and other responsibilities.