About Brenda
Brenda Hanson is a licensed social worker with 41 years of clinical experience. She offers calm, practical help for people feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, depression, grief, or ADHD. Brenda writes and speaks plainly, so parents can quickly see how she might help their child or themselves.
She focuses on real-life problems like workplace stress, relationship strain, sleep and eating concerns, and coping after loss. Sessions aim to build clearer routines, smoother communication, and steadier emotional coping.
Background and approach
Brenda works to help people find small, sustainable changes that make daily life easier. Her background includes long experience with trauma, addictions, bipolar mood concerns, and compassion fatigue among caregivers. She also supports people facing body-image struggles, chronic illness, cancer-related stress, and challenges tied to aging.
Her work pays attention to attachment patterns and problems that come up in blended families or during divorce. Brenda blends practical methods from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ideas and client-centered listening. She helps clients notice unhelpful thoughts, test new behaviors, and clarify what matters most to them.
The sessions are collaborative and paced to each person's needs. Brenda holds KS LSCSW and IA LISW credentials and practices from Kansas. She offers phone and video sessions as well as live chat and text messaging for flexible check-ins.
Her long experience aims to help people get unstuck and move toward steadier days.
Therapeutic approaches you can use online
Brenda uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people identify unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors that change how they feel. CBT is often used for anxiety, depression, sleep and eating concerns, and stress-related problems.She also draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which helps people clarify what matters most and take small actions toward those values even when feelings are strong. ACT can be useful for grief, chronic pain, and managing attention or mood challenges.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Brenda will talk with each person about their goals, preferences, and daily routines, then suggest methods to try. That plan is adjusted over time so techniques match how a person actually lives and what feels most helpful.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video works well for goal-focused sessions and real-time skills practice. Phone sessions are a good option when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in fits a busy day. Live chat and text messaging allow brief updates, coaching between sessions, and easier follow-up without scheduling a full call.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Systemic Therapy
- Experience
- 41 years
- Licensed
- Kansas, Iowa
- Languages
- English
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