About Karen
Karen Haggard is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people cope with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and the everyday challenges of life. She brings 25 years of experience and a steady, empathic presence to short conversations and deeper work alike. Karen practices in Illinois and speaks English.
Her style centers on listening closely and adjusting techniques to fit each person. She uses straightforward tools to build better sleep habits, manage anger, and reduce overwhelm.
Background and approach
Karen also supports people dealing with relationship difficulties, intimacy concerns, addiction, and ADHD-related struggles. In sessions she blends practical skills and emotional exploration. Cognitive behavioral strategies are used to spot and change unhelpful thinking.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps clients clarify values and take manageable action toward what matters most. Karen also draws on attachment-based ideas to repair connection patterns that cause pain. Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills are taught when intense emotions make daily life hard.
The focus is always on doable steps clients can take between sessions. Her work often involves improving communication, addressing self-esteem, and navigating life changes like career shifts or caregiving stress. Parents who need help with parenting strain or blended family challenges will find concrete coping strategies.
Karen aims to create a respectful, nonjudgmental setting so people can try new approaches and build resilience.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, focuses on clarifying what matters to you and taking small actions toward those values while learning to live alongside difficult thoughts and feelings. It can help people who feel stuck or overwhelmed by competing priorities. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and teaches concrete techniques to change patterns that worsen anxiety or depression. This approach is useful for sleep problems, low mood, and stress management.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and daily life to decide which methods to try. That collaboration can include adjusting techniques as progress unfolds so the plan stays practical and relevant.
Online therapy offers several ways to connect. Video calls work well for in‑depth conversation and skill teaching. Phone sessions can be a quicker check-in or a lower‑bandwidth option. Live chat and text messaging are useful for brief coaching, mood tracking, or staying connected between sessions. These formats make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules and reach licensed professionals from different locations.
Questions people ask
What kinds of concerns does Karen address?
How would you describe her therapy style?
How much clinical experience does she have?
What are her credentials and where is she based?
In what languages can sessions be held?
Which session formats are available?
How is pricing handled?
What steps should I take to begin working with her?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- 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)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Gottman Method
- Hypnotherapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- Illinois, Texas
- Languages
- English
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.