- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- CBT techniques
About Barbara
Barbara Austin is a South Carolina LISW-CP with 25 years of experience. She works with people dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship strain, parenting challenges, and issues around guilt and shame.
She listens to each person's story and aims to understand how they have made their life work so far. Sessions focus on noticing patterns, naming what matters, and looking at small shifts that change day-to-day feelings. Conversations are practical and reflective rather than abstract theory.
Barbara draws on Attachment-Based, Client-Centered, and Cognitive Behavioral approaches to help people examine thoughts, behaviors, and relationship patterns. She uses Narrative and Existential ideas to look at meaning and life direction when that feels relevant. Methods are chosen to match what a person wants to try, not to fit a label.
In sessions she helps people identify unhelpful thinking, rebuild connection where it has frayed, and test new ways of responding. She also supports people who are wrestling with parenting stress, postpartum changes, family of origin issues, codependency, and intimacy-related worries. Discussions may include practical communication skills and new ways to understand painful feelings like shame.
Her way of working asks for courage and curiosity. The emphasis is on small, usable changes and clearer choices. People who come because guilt or shame lingers often find the focus is on recognizing how those feelings began and what might shift them going forward.
How her approaches translate to online sessions
Barbara combines Attachment-Based Therapy with Client-Centered work to focus on relationships and present experience. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early bonds shape current trust and closeness, which can help when shame harms connection. Client-Centered Therapy centers the persons perspective and supports exploring feelings at the person's pace.She also integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques to identify unhelpful thoughts and try new responses. CBT offers concrete tools for changing patterns of thinking and behavior that keep guilt and shame active. These approaches together allow both practical skill-building and deeper meaning-making in conversation.
Finding the right way to work is part of the process. She will collaborate with each person to choose approaches that fit their needs, goals, and preferences rather than imposing a single method.
The original biography does not list specific session formats, so please confirm current online session options before booking. In general, online work can make it easier to fit sessions into busy lives - for example a shorter check-in on a phone can be used when time is tight, or video sessions can allow more conversational depth when preferred. Many people appreciate the ability to schedule without travel and to continue steady work across life transitions.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
25+ years
Listed in
South Carolina
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does she help with?
She works with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship and parenting issues, and specifically lists guilt and shame among her focus areas.
How would she approach feelings of shame from childhood?
She uses Attachment-Based and Narrative ideas to look at family of origin patterns and how early experiences shaped current feelings.
What is her therapeutic style like?
Her style is listening first, then exploring alternate perspectives and practical shifts using Client-Centered and CBT-informed techniques.
What experience does she bring to this work?
She has 25 years of professional counseling experience working with a range of life stressors and relationship concerns.
What credential does she hold and where is she based?
She is licensed as an LISW-CP in South Carolina.
Does she offer sessions in other languages or to international clients?
Sessions are offered in English and she does not accept international clients at this time.
What formats are available for sessions?
The original biography does not specify session formats; please confirm current session options before booking.
How are fees and getting started handled?
Cost varies with location and sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time. To begin, select the See online therapy options button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, use the crisis numbers.