About
- Attachment-informed work
- CBT and DBT skills
- Parenting support
About Austa
Austa Murray is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) licensed in Illinois with 22 years of experience. She works with adults who are dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, parenting strain, relationship concerns, trauma and abuse, and issues around self-esteem and intimacy. She also supports people facing ADHD, bipolar mood challenges, and compassion fatigue.
Her approach is practical and straightforward. She begins where the client wants to begin and moves at a pace that feels manageable. Sessions focus on listening, building insight, and teaching skills that help with everyday family and parenting pressures. She uses attachment perspectives to understand how early relationships shape current patterns.
Murray combines client-centered conversation with cognitive tools that address unhelpful thoughts and patterns. She also draws on dialectical behavior techniques to teach emotion regulation and distress tolerance. Elements of the Gottman Method appear when talking about communication and relationship patterns.
In sessions she often helps people sort through blended family challenges, adoption and foster care issues, caregiver stress, and the complicated feelings that come with separation or divorce. She also supports people working through abandonment, codependency, and control struggles.
People can expect a mix of listening, gentle challenge, and skill practice. Murray frames work developmentally and with attention to trauma responses, so past experiences are used to understand present difficulties. The emphasis is on usable strategies to handle home life and parenting without heavy clinical language.
How sessions work
How her approaches translate to online work
Austa Murray uses attachment-based ways of understanding relationships, which means she looks at how early bonds influence current family and parenting patterns. This helps when addressing persistent communication problems and difficulties forming close connections. She also uses client-centered methods that prioritize what the client wants to address in each session. That approach keeps conversations focused on your immediate priorities and goals. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is used to identify unhelpful thoughts and try practical changes in behavior, which can be useful for anxiety, depression, and parenting stress. Choosing the best approach is part of the work. She will collaborate with you to decide which methods fit your needs, goals, and preferences. That decision can change over time as circumstances and goals shift. Confirm the available session formats before booking because the original biography did not list specific online options. In general, online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy around parenting, work, and caregiving duties. They can cut travel time, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and make it simpler to keep appointments during busy days. Licensed professionals can adjust pacing and use skills practice in virtual sessions to match what someone needs at home.Areas of focus
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
22+ years
Listed in
Illinois
Languages
English
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of family or parenting concerns are addressed?
She helps with parenting strain, blended family issues, adoption and foster care questions, caregiver stress, and communication problems at home.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
Her style is client-centered and practical. She listens, provides insight, and teaches skills to manage emotions and interactions.
How much experience does she have?
She has 22 years of clinical experience working in a range of mental health settings with individuals and groups.
Is she a licensed clinician and where is she based?
She is an LCSW licensed in Illinois and practices from that state.
Can she work with non-English speakers or international clients?
Sessions are offered in English and she is not accepting international clients.
What session formats are used?
Please confirm current session options before booking, as formats were not specified in the biography.
How much do sessions cost?
Cost varies with location; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Select the See online therapy options button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first 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.