About Lillian
Lillian Tsai meets people where they are and helps them take the next step. She keeps the first meetings simple and focused on what feels most urgent. Parents and individuals often come for help with stress, anxiety, grief, depression, trauma, relationship strain, or career challenges.
Lillian speaks English and Mandarin and works from New York. Lillian is a licensed clinical social worker - LCSW - with about 20 years of experience.
Background and approach
She has practiced in hospital settings, victim treatment centers, and child welfare agencies. That background shaped how she listens for safety, practical needs, and immediate coping skills. Her approach centers on the person in front of her.
She uses client-centered methods to follow each person’s priorities. When helpful, she adds cognitive behavioral tools to change unhelpful patterns and emotionally focused techniques to strengthen connection and feeling awareness. Lillian also draws on solution-focused and existential ideas to help people find meaning and workable next steps.
She helps people build on their strengths and set clear goals for change. Sessions aim to be straightforward, practical, and respectful of each person’s pace. People who need support with trauma, grief, postpartum stress, caregiver strain, or long-term illness often find this mix useful.
She offers sessions by video, phone, live chat, or text messaging so people can choose what fits their life. To begin, users complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule a time.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and following the person’s priorities. In an online session that means the therapist asks about the most pressing needs and tailors the conversation to what the client wants to address. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, involves identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors. Online CBT often uses short exercises, thought records, and practical homework that people can use between sessions.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will discuss goals, try methods that fit the client’s preferences, and adjust the plan as needed. That collaborative process helps tailor whether more emotion-focused work or practical CBT skills are used at any time.
Online formats offer flexibility to fit therapy into a busy life. Video calls support face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions use less bandwidth and can feel simpler for check-ins. Live chat and text messaging let people write out thoughts, share quick updates, or do short exchanges between sessions. These options make it easier to maintain continuity and practice skills when life is busy.
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does this therapist help with?
What is her general therapeutic style?
How much clinical experience does she have?
What credentials and location are listed for this therapist?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
What session formats does she offer?
How does pricing work for sessions?
How do I begin working with this therapist?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Midlife crisis
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- New York
- Languages
- English, Mandarin