Therapist profile
Alison McCandless, LCSW, CSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker - Stress and family concerns
Continue with AlisonAbout
- DBT skills
- CBT techniques
- Psychodynamic work
About Alison
Alison McCandless is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) licensed in Illinois and Colorado with three years of clinical experience. She has worked in community mental health settings and supports people facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, bipolar disorder, addictions, grief, and relationship or family concerns.
Alison’s work grew from practice with low-income communities in Chicago. She learned to address a wide range of problems, including mood and psychotic disorders, caregiving strain, workplace stress, and food-related issues. She also helps people dealing with attachment and abandonment concerns and chronic problems like hoarding or longstanding interpersonal conflict.
Her style mixes practical skills and conversation about what’s happened to someone in the past. She teaches coping skills and behavioral strategies from CBT and DBT. She also listens for patterns in a person’s history and uses psychodynamic ideas to help make sense of those patterns.
When appropriate, she brings motivational interviewing to conversations about change, such as substance use or lifestyle decisions. Alison uses a biopsychosocial approach to assess functioning and symptom patterns before suggesting next steps. Sessions tend to include skill work, history-taking, and collaborative problem-solving.
People who want straightforward clinical care and a focus on everyday problems at home or at work may find her approach useful. She practises in Colorado and carries the credentials LCSW and CSW.
How sessions work
How Alison’s approaches translate to online work
Alison uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy to help people handle distressing thoughts and emotions. CBT focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns, which can help with anxiety, depression, and mood issues. DBT teaches concrete skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and better interpersonal communication, useful for managing strong emotions and relationship difficulties.She also draws on attachment-based and psychodynamic perspectives to look at how past relationships shape current patterns. That work involves talking about history and noticing repeating patterns so practical changes make more sense. Choosing the right mix of approaches is collaborative; Alison will help figure out what fits a person’s goals and preferences as sessions progress.
Session formats are not specified in the biography, so confirm current options before booking. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy routine, allow for shorter check-ins when time is limited, and remove travel time. Licensed professionals often adapt skills work and history-taking to an online setting so people can practice coping strategies between meetings.
Areas of focus
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
3+ years
Listed in
Illinois, Colorado
Languages
English
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does she address related to family life?
She works with issues such as relationship strain, family-related stress, communication problems, caregiving stress, and concerns about parenting roles.
How would she describe her therapeutic style?
She combines practical skills training with exploration of personal history, using CBT and DBT strategies alongside psychodynamic listening.
What is her professional background?
She has three years of experience in community mental health, primarily working with low-income adults with a range of mental health needs.
What credentials and location are listed?
She holds LCSW and CSW credentials and is licensed in Illinois and Colorado and practices in Colorado.
Does she offer sessions in other languages or to international clients?
Sessions are offered in English. She is not accepting international clients.
Which session formats are used?
Please confirm current session options before booking, as the biography does not specify which formats are offered.
How are costs handled?
Cost varies with location; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
What are the first steps to begin working together?
Use the See online therapy options button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and schedule an initial session.
Details come from information the therapist supplied to BetterHelp. A license can be checked with the state board.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If anyone is in danger, use the crisis numbers.