Alison McCandless

Alison McCandless is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who brings three years of community mental health experience to her practice. She recently relocated to Denver, Colorado and holds LCSW credentials in both Illinois and Colorado. Alison has worked closely with people facing stress, mood challenges, anxiety, trauma, and other complex life concerns. Her work is practical and person-focused. She listens for each persons story and helps them connect current struggles to past experiences. Sessions often include building coping skills and learning new ways of managing intense emotions. Alison uses a biopsychosocial view to understand how life circumstances, relationships, and biology interact. Alison draws on several treatment approaches to match each persons needs. That can mean using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to spot unhelpful thinking patterns or Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills for emotion regulation. She also uses trauma-focused and attachment-based ideas to help people process painful events and improve relationship patterns. People who come to Alison often bring worries about depression, bipolar mood changes, anxiety, grief, substance use, and stress from work or caregiving. She also supports issues such as eating and food-related concerns, shame and guilt, hoarding, and questions about life purpose and money. Her style is nonjudgmental and hopeful. Alison spends time gathering history so clients can make sense of their experiences. She encourages collaborative goal-setting and practical steps between sessions to make everyday life more manageable.

How therapeutic approaches guide online work

Trauma-Focused Therapy helps people process painful or frightening events by gently addressing memories and reactions and building ways to feel safer day to day. It can be useful for post-traumatic stress and lingering effects of past abuse or injury.

Attachment-Based Therapy explores how early relationships shape current patterns of closeness and trust. This approach supports people who notice repeated relationship problems, abandonment fears, or difficulty relying on others.

Finding the right approach is a team effort. Alison will talk with each person about goals, history, and what feels most useful. Together they will try methods that fit the person's needs and adjust the plan over time based on what works.

Practical benefits of online therapy include fitting sessions into a busy life and reducing travel time. Online work can make it easier to schedule brief check-ins or regular weekly sessions around work or caregiving. Because the original profile does not list specific session formats, confirm current online options with the therapist before booking so you know what to expect.