Dr. Shakena Mabry, LCSW

Dr. Shakena Mabry is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who brings 12 years of experience to her Maryland practice. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, mood concerns, and addictions. She also supports those facing relationship strain, family conflict, low self-esteem, and life transitions.

Her approach treats each person as the expert on their own life. She listens for strengths and practical options the client can use between sessions. Conversations are straightforward and focused on small, workable steps toward feeling better.

Dr. Mabry draws on several therapy methods to meet different needs. She uses cognitive behavioral ideas to identify unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people clarify values and build a meaningful life. She also uses client-centered listening and techniques from dialectical behavior therapy and EMDR when appropriate.

People often come for help with grief, trauma and abuse, parenting strain, career concerns, or the burnout that comes with caregiving. She also addresses issues like codependency, isolation, sexual identity, and bipolar or mood disorder symptoms in practical ways.

Sessions aim to be collaborative and goal-oriented. Dr. Mabry helps clients set realistic steps, practice new skills, and check progress from week to week. To begin, readers should follow the site's Start Therapy process to see if she might be a fit.

How therapy approaches translate to online care

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings while choosing actions that match their values. It can be useful for anxiety, low motivation, and finding direction after big changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on identifying unhelpful thought patterns and testing new behaviors to reduce symptoms like anxiety and depression. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes empathic listening and letting the client lead the pace and topics of sessions, which supports people who need a steady, nonjudgmental space.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to see which methods fit their goals, needs, and preferences. That process can include trying different techniques and checking what helps most over time.

The biography does not list specific online formats, so confirm available session types before booking. In general, online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when schedules are tight. It also lets people use therapy from different locations as long as they can get to a quiet, interruption-free spot. Licensed professionals can adapt ACT and CBT tools for video or phone conversations and guide in-practice exercises between meetings.