Charlene Mabins

Charlene Mabins, LCSW, welcomes people who are feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, grief, or major life changes. She focuses on building a calm path forward and supports people dealing with self-esteem concerns, compassion fatigue, and LGBT-related issues. She frames the first step as meeting someone where they are and setting small, practical goals together.

Charlene works in Illinois and brings ten years of professional experience to her practice. She listens first and adapts conversations and plans to fit each person’s needs. Her style is straightforward and respectful, with an emphasis on clear steps people can use between sessions.

She draws on cognitive behavioral methods to help people notice unhelpful thinking patterns and test new behaviors. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ideas are used to clarify values and commit to actions that matter. Emotionally-Focused and dialectical approaches inform work on strong emotions and relationship patterns.

Sessions focus on what is most pressing for the person in front of her. That might mean learning coping skills for anxiety, planning for life transitions, or managing grief and caregiver stress. Charlene also helps people address issues such as attachment concerns, body image, chronic illness, and communication problems.

Her approach is collaborative: she helps people set practical goals and checks progress together. She aims to make therapy feel doable, with clear tools and next steps after each session.

How specific therapy methods translate to online sessions

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people name what matters most and take small actions toward those values while learning to live with difficult feelings. It can be useful for anxiety, grief, and coping with life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) teaches practical skills to spot and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, which often helps with stress and low mood. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) focuses on understanding strong feelings and how they shape relationships, which can help when attachment and communication patterns cause pain.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will discuss goals, try methods that match those goals, and adjust the plan as needed. This is a collaborative process meant to identify which tools and exercises make the most sense for the person’s situation.

Confirm the session formats before booking since specific options are not listed in the biography. In general, online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life - for example by removing travel time, allowing shorter check-ins during a break, or reducing the need to be on camera. Licensed professionals can adapt ACT, CBT, or EFT techniques to work over remote sessions in ways that focus on real-life practice and steady progress.