Dana Gaines

My clinical training includes Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing. I draw from these approaches in a flexible and individualized way, based on each client’s needs, goals, experiences, and readiness for change. This allows our work together to balance deeper understanding with practical strategies that can be used in everyday life.

My clinical style is engaged, approachable, strengths-based, and goal-oriented. I will listen carefully and meet you where you are, while also helping you look beneath the surface, consider new perspectives, recognize existing strengths, and identify practical ways to move toward your goals. I believe meaningful change often happens through intentional, manageable steps rather than expecting everything to change at once.

I especially enjoy working with adults and emerging adults experiencing life transitions, stress, anxiety, competing responsibilities, relationship or family challenges, career and academic concerns, identity development, and the pressure that can accompany high expectations.

I believe therapy works best when clients feel genuinely heard, respected, and comfortable being themselves. My approach is warm, collaborative, and practical. I strive to create a space where you can talk openly about what is happening in your life while also developing greater insight, identifying patterns, building on your strengths, and taking meaningful steps toward the changes you want to make.

My goal is for therapy to feel like a partnership—one in which you bring your knowledge of your own life and experiences, and I bring clinical expertise, curiosity, perspective, and support. Together, we can identify what is working, better understand what may be getting in the way, and create a path forward that feels both meaningful and achievable.

Your first session will focus primarily on helping me understand what brings you to therapy and what feels most important to you right now. My goal is to give you the time and space to share your concerns in your own words, without feeling rushed or pressured to have everything figured out.

During this first meeting, I will do a lot of listening and may ask questions along the way to better understand the context surrounding your experiences, concerns, and goals. Rather than trying to address everything at once, I want to develop a clear picture of what is most important to you and where you would like our work together to begin.

Toward the end of the session, I will reflect back and summarize what I have heard to make sure I am understanding you accurately. We can then clarify the areas you would like to focus on in future sessions and begin identifying what you hope to gain from therapy.

My hope is that you leave the first session feeling heard, understood, and with a clearer sense of how we can work together moving forward.