Gary Swan
Compassionate LCSW helping with life and relationship stress
- Credentials
- LCSW
- Experience
- 21 years
- Licensed in
- Wisconsin
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Gary
Gary Swan is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Wisconsin with more than 21 years of experience. He focuses on stress, anxiety, addictions, depression, and relationship concerns. He also helps with parenting, grief, trauma and abuse, anger, intimacy-related issues, and coping with life changes.
Gary emphasizes building trust and working step by step toward a more satisfying life. His style is warm and straightforward. He aims to create a space where people can talk about difficult feelings without judgment.
Background and approach
Conversations are practical and focused on real-life changes. He encourages small steps and steady progress rather than quick fixes. Gary draws from several established therapy approaches to suit individual needs.
He uses attachment-based ideas to look at how early relationships shape current trust and connection. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, helps people notice and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. He also incorporates elements of Dialectical Behavior Therapy to teach emotion regulation and coping skills.
Sessions are conversational and goal-oriented. Gary works with clients to identify what matters most and then practices skills that can be used between meetings. He often focuses on communication, motivation, and building confidence so changes last.
He also brings experience addressing substance use and co-occurring concerns. His work includes blended family issues, fatherhood challenges, codependency, and family of origin problems. Gary invites people to take the next step when they feel ready to start making changes.
Therapeutic approaches for online care and practical help
Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early bonds influence present relationships and trust. Online sessions can use this approach to help identify patterns in close relationships and practice building safer connections. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on spotting and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. It is often used to reduce anxiety and depression through clear strategies and exercises that clients can try between sessions. Dialectical Behavior Therapy, DBT, teaches specific skills for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and better communication. These skills translate well to remote work because they involve concrete practices a person can do at home.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with the client about symptoms, daily challenges, and goals, then suggest methods that fit those needs. Plans are adjusted over time based on what helps and what feels doable for the person.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect: video calls for face-to-face conversation, phone sessions when screens are not convenient, and live chat or text messaging for brief check-ins and skills practice. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy days, follow up after a session, and use strategies in real-life moments.
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
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also works with
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 21 years
- Licensed
- Wisconsin
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Gary
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point