Denise Stutes
Compassionate, practical therapy for life changes
- Credentials
- LISW
- Experience
- 5 years
- Licensed in
- Iowa
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Denise
Denise Stutes is a licensed independent social worker who brings a practical, person-focused approach to therapy. She uses clear, direct communication and a compassionate style to help people cope with stress, anxiety, grief, depression, trauma, addictions, and many life changes. Denise keeps sessions interactive and sometimes uses gentle humor to ease difficult conversations.
She has five years of experience working specifically as a therapist, and over two decades in the mental health field in roles across community programs, hospitals, domestic violence shelters, and corrections.
Background and approach
That range gives her familiarity with people facing severe physical and emotional trauma and complex life situations. Denise draws from Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Emotionally-Focused Therapy, Existential Therapy, and Mindfulness Therapy to shape treatment plans. She focuses on helping clients recognize their strengths, build new skills, and make practical changes that feel manageable.
She describes her work as empowering and nonjudgmental. People who contact her can expect a collaborative process where goals are set together and steps are adjusted as progress is made. The aim is steady growth rather than quick fixes.
Denise practices with an emphasis on clear communication and real-world strategies. Her practice is based in Iowa and she provides services in English. She works with issues related to family and parenting among other concerns, and she brings experience supporting people through relationship problems, caregiver stress, and life transitions.
Therapeutic approaches for online family and parenting support
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on creating an accepting space where the therapist listens closely and helps people identify their own strengths and goals; it can be useful when someone needs validation and clarity about next steps. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, breaks problems into thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and teaches practical tools to change unhelpful patterns, which can help with anxiety, depression, and stress.Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, try techniques, and adapt methods based on what feels most helpful. That lets sessions stay practical and tailored to the client's needs and preferences.
Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. These options make it easier to fit sessions around work, school, and parenting responsibilities. Remote formats also let people use therapeutic strategies in the moments they need them, and sessions can be adjusted to match the pace and communication style that work best.
Client-Centered Therapy
The direction comes from you rather than from a set programme. The therapist offers a warm, non-judgemental space to think out loud and work at your own pace. Online, this rests on the relationship rather than on being in the same room.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT looks at the link between what you think, how you feel, and what you do. You work on noticing unhelpful patterns and practising steadier responses. It suits online sessions well, because much of the work happens between appointments and can be talked through from anywhere.
Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
Attends to the emotions underneath a recurring argument or distance, and to the attachment needs driving them. Often used where a relationship keeps returning to the same painful loop.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Anger management
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Traumatic brain injury
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 5 years
- Licensed
- Iowa
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Denise
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point