About Denise
Denise Smith Baril greets people with a calm, straightforward approach. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LCSW, based in Florida. She focuses on helping people cope with stress, anxiety, grief, relationship strain, parenting challenges, and life transitions.
Denise sees the person first and listens for practical strengths to build on. She starts by asking what matters most to the client and what feels hardest right now. Sessions aim to make daily life more manageable.
Background and approach
Denise uses clear tools and simple skills people can try between meetings. She explains ideas in plain language and checks in about what helps and what does not. Her work draws on attachment-based ideas to look at how close relationships affect feelings.
She also uses cognitive behavioral strategies to spot unhelpful thoughts and try small changes. Emotionally-focused and dialectical ideas are mixed in when relationships or strong emotions are central concerns. Denise has four years of professional experience.
Her background includes supporting people through trauma, caregiver stress, chronic illness, and major life changes. She also works with issues like ADHD, intimacy concerns, codependency, and forgiveness questions. Sessions are offered in English and are provided through video calls, phone, live chat, or text messaging.
Her license details include FL LCSW SW20152 and LA LCSW 17939. The focus is on steady progress rather than quick fixes.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Denise draws on attachment-based work to look at how relationships shape emotions and behavior. That approach helps when trust, closeness, or past relationship patterns are causing pain. She also uses cognitive behavioral therapy to identify unhelpful thoughts and try small behavior changes that can reduce anxiety and lift mood.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Denise will talk with each person about goals and preferences, then try methods that fit those aims. The process is collaborative - adjustments are made if a strategy does not feel useful or comfortable.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video sessions are useful for face-to-face conversation and nonverbal cues. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging can help people maintain momentum between sessions or check in when scheduling is tight.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Relationship issues
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 4 years
- Licensed
- Florida, Louisiana
- Languages
- English