Gillian Van Dien

Gillian Van Dien is a Licensed Professional Counselor with 17 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, relationship problems, and trauma. She focuses on practical steps that reduce overwhelm and help people reconnect with what matters to them. Parents reading this will find straightforward language and a calm, steady approach to tense moments.

Gillian uses a mix of approaches to fit each person’s needs rather than a one-size-fits-all plan. Sessions emphasize clearer communication, stronger self-compassion, and small changes that build resilience over time. She often helps people handle grief, intimacy-related concerns, body image and eating issues, and the strain of caregiving or chronic illness.

Her work includes attention to attachment patterns and helping clients change long-standing behavior and thinking styles. She blends Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with client-centered listening to support practical change. Emotionally-Focused Therapy informs how she addresses relationship and intimacy concerns.

Gillian regularly supports adults and teenagers through life transitions like separation, career shifts, and midlife concerns. She also helps people dealing with abandonment, blended family issues, and compassion fatigue. Her approach aims to make daily life more manageable and purposeful.

Sessions invite collaboration and clear goals. Gillian guides people to notice habits that cause pain and try different ways of coping. The work is paced to each person’s comfort and focused on usable skills for everyday situations.

How Gillian’s approaches guide online work

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, encourages noticing painful thoughts without getting stuck and choosing actions that match personal values. It can help when anxiety, depression, or chronic stress make it hard to move toward meaningful goals. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns and teaches practical techniques to change them, which is useful for anxiety, low mood, and stress. Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on how early relationship patterns shape current connections and communication, and it can help with intimacy, abandonment concerns, and recurring relationship conflicts.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist works with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences. Treatment is collaborative and may combine approaches to match a client's situation.

Confirm the current online session options before booking so you know what formats are available. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into busy lives, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when schedules are tight. It also lets people use sessions to try out communication skills between meetings and bring in real-life examples from day-to-day situations.