About Cathleen
Cathleen Lilavois is a licensed clinical social worker practicing in New York. She brings four years of clinical therapy experience and focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, trauma and issues around parenting and self-esteem. Cathleen speaks English and works with adults and young adults who are navigating emotional strain and life transitions.
Her background includes work in child welfare where she supported those affected by abandonment, abuse, and attachment concerns.
Background and approach
That experience shaped how she listens for patterns that affect relationships and day-to-day functioning. She draws on practical skills to help people name what’s happening and take small steps forward. Cathleen often helps people dealing with mood disorders, Seasonal Affective Disorder, isolation, compassion fatigue, and workplace stress.
She also supports those coping with adoption and foster care histories, control and communication problems, and feelings of low self-love or confidence. In sessions she focuses on clear goals and manageable actions rather than long abstract talks. Her style is collaborative and straightforward.
She emphasizes the person’s strengths and works at a pace that feels doable. Cathleen aims to help clients build routines, coping strategies, and better ways to communicate. Therapy with her can include checking in about daily struggles, practicing new responses, and planning next steps for challenges like parenting stress or mood shifts.
She encourages people to try approaches and adjust them to fit real life.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Cathleen uses evidence-based therapeutic techniques that focus on practical change and emotional understanding. One common approach she uses helps people track thoughts and behaviors to reduce anxiety and low mood; it teaches simple skills for managing stress and shifting unhelpful thinking patterns. Another approach centers on processing trauma and attachment wounds by creating safety in the relationship and developing new ways to respond to old triggers; this is useful for people with histories of abandonment, abuse, or foster care experiences.Choosing the right approach is a team effort. The therapist will talk with the client about goals, what has worked before, and daily routines. Together they decide on methods to try and adjust them over time based on what feels most helpful and realistic.
Online therapy formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, which make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life. Video sessions allow face-to-face conversation; phone calls can be a good option when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers audio only. Live chat and text messaging are useful for brief check-ins, processing feelings between sessions, and for people who prefer writing. These options provide flexibility so therapy can continue around work, parenting, and other responsibilities.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Parenting issues
Also works with
- Experience
- 4 years
- Licensed
- New York
- Languages
- English