Frances Higgins
Experienced therapist focused on relationships and parenting
- Credentials
- LICSW
- Experience
- 30 years
- Licensed in
- Massachusetts
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Frances
Frances Higgins is a licensed independent clinical social worker with three decades of experience. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship and parenting concerns. Her work centers on listening first and then choosing practical ways forward together.
She meets each person where they are and adapts methods to fit the situation. Her style is straightforward and warm. She draws from client-centered work to keep sessions focused on the person's priorities.
Background and approach
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy tools are used when helpful to change patterns of thinking and behavior. Emotionally-Focused and Attachment-Based approaches guide work around close relationships and healing after loss or abuse. Frances has worked with many issues related to grief, addiction, self-esteem, anger, and intimacy.
She also supports people facing adoption and foster care challenges, attachment concerns, autism-related issues, and blended family stresses. First responder issues, HIV/AIDS related concerns, and compassion fatigue are among other areas she has addressed. In sessions she combines short-term skills with deeper relational work.
That might mean practicing coping strategies one week and talking through relationship patterns the next. She draws on Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills when emotion regulation is needed. The aim is steady, usable change rather than complex theory.
Frances practices in Massachusetts and conducts work in English. She holds an MA and is licensed as an LICSW, MA LICSW 1018324. Her approach is collaborative and practical, with attention to what will help day to day.
Therapeutic approaches suited to online work
Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on patterns in close relationships and how early bonds affect current connections. It helps when relationship trust, attachment wounds, or caregiving dynamics are central concerns.Client-Centered Therapy puts the person's goals and experience at the center of sessions. The therapist follows the client's lead, offering reflection and support to build insight and confidence.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, teaches practical skills to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. It is often used for anxiety, depression, and stress management with clear exercises that transfer well to online sessions.
Finding the best approach is collaborative. Frances will discuss what feels most useful and may combine methods based on needs, goals, and personal preference. Together they decide how to proceed and adapt as progress is made.
Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. These options make it easier to fit sessions into busy lives and to continue work from different locations. Many clients use a mix of formats - for instance a video session for deeper work and messaging for brief check-ins. Licensed professionals can guide skill practice, process relationship topics, and teach coping strategies effectively through these formats.
Attachment-Based Therapy
Looks at how early bonds shaped what you expect from closeness, and how that plays out now with a partner, a parent, or your own children.
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.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating disorders
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Jealousy
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Trauma and abuse
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 30 years
- Licensed
- Massachusetts
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Frances
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point