Margaret Swanson
Supportive guidance for everyday family life
- Credentials
- LICSW
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed in
- New Hampshire, Vermont
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Margaret
Margaret Swanson is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people facing stress, anxiety, grief, addictions, and parenting challenges. She practices in Vermont and draws on 25 years of experience to guide clients through emotional strain and life changes. Her work is straightforward and focused on practical steps that make day-to-day life easier for people feeling overwhelmed.
In sessions she listens closely and helps clients name what matters to them.
Background and approach
She blends talk therapy with concrete skills so people can try new ways of coping between meetings. The goal is clearer thinking, better communication, and more dependable routines at home and work. Her background includes long experience with mood struggles such as depression and bipolar disorder, trauma and abuse, and identity concerns including LGBT issues.
She also supports people dealing with caregiving stress, chronic illness, and complicated family situations. This range helps her adapt conversations to each person’s immediate needs. Margaret uses a mix of proven methods including cognitive behavioral work, acceptance-based ideas, attachment-focused listening, and emotion skills training.
She explains options plainly and helps clients pick approaches that fit their goals. Sessions move at a steady, realistic pace and focus on what will help most now. Therapy is collaborative and practical.
Margaret guides people toward clearer choices and healthier patterns. She encourages steady progress through manageable steps and tailored support suited to each person’s life and values.
Therapeutic approaches and online support
Margaret draws on cognitive behavioral therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in online work. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing small behavior changes to reduce anxiety and depression. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice painful feelings without getting stuck and choose actions that match their values, which can be useful for stress, grief, and life transitions.She treats approach selection as a shared process. During early sessions she talks with clients about their goals, explains how the methods work, and offers a plan that fits the person’s needs and pace. This collaborative planning helps people try approaches that feel practical and doable for their life situation.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to meet different needs. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy days, handle caregiving or transportation limits, and keep progress steady between in-person visits. The focus online remains on clear steps, communication skills, and coping tools that translate into everyday life.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Less about arguing with difficult thoughts, more about loosening their grip and acting on what matters to you anyway. Values and committed action carry the work, which suits conversation at a distance.
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.
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does she address?
What is her therapeutic style?
How much experience does she have?
What are her credentials and where is she based?
Which languages are supported?
Can people outside the country work with her?
What formats are available for sessions?
How does cost and getting started work?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- New Hampshire, Vermont
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Margaret
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point