About Ellen
Ellen Dinsmore is a licensed independent clinical social worker with 15 years of experience helping people navigate stress, anxiety, depression, addictions, grief, ADHD, and life changes. She focuses on practical steps clients can use day to day. Her approach is collaborative and straightforward.
Ellen aims to make the first step feel manageable and real. Ellen uses an honest, down-to-earth style in sessions. She creates a space where people can talk without fear of judgment.
Background and approach
Conversations focus on problems that feel urgent now and on small changes that add up over time. Sessions mix listening with tools and experiments to try between meetings. Her work draws on methods that teach skills for managing thoughts, emotions, and behavior.
She helps people set clear goals and notice what gets in the way of progress. For people dealing with addictions or compulsive patterns, she uses techniques that build motivation and workable plans. People who reach out often want help with relationships, career stress, or major life transitions.
Ellen also supports those facing trauma, mood differences, identity concerns, and caregiving fatigue. She pays attention to the practical side of life while also holding emotional experience. Ellen holds a Minnesota LICSW, which reflects her clinical degree and licensed practice in the state.
She offers sessions in English and uses a mix of discussion, mindfulness, and skill-building. The aim is to leave each session with a clear next step and a sense of forward motion.
Therapeutic approaches and online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy focuses on helping people notice unhelpful thoughts and take steps toward what matters to them. It often helps with anxiety, stress, and making changes when old patterns get in the way. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches skills to change them. It can be useful for managing depression, anxiety, and everyday problems by practicing new behaviors and reframing thoughts. Finding the right approach is part of the work. Ellen will collaborate with each person to choose methods that fit their goals and preferences. That process may combine ACT, CBT, mindfulness, and motivational techniques so the plan aligns with real life demands. Online sessions include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video allows a closer conversational feel while phone calls use less bandwidth and can fit into a work break. Live chat or text messaging are useful for brief check-ins, step-by-step coaching, or when typing feels easier than speaking. These formats make therapy more flexible and help people keep continuity even with a busy schedule.Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Career difficulties
Also listed
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 15 years
- Licensed
- Minnesota
- Languages
- English
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