Amanda Halawa-Mahdi, LCSW

Amanda Halawa-Mahdi is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Illinois with 23 years of professional experience working with individuals and families. She supports people facing stress, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, relationship and family conflicts, and challenges around motivation and life purpose. Her background includes extensive work with adolescents and their families within the juvenile justice system, where she has applied behavior-change strategies across a range of concerns from general defiance to serious criminal behavior, including sexual offenses.

Amanda is also trained as a Professional Coach through the Co-Active Training Institute, and she integrates coaching skills to help leaders and clients build confidence, clarify values, increase self-awareness, and strengthen decision making. Her practice emphasizes both therapeutic and practical tools, drawing on evidence-based approaches to address mood disorders, workplace issues, caregiver stress, communication problems, body image, forgiveness, guilt and shame, isolation, and self-love.

With deep experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion, she actively works to identify and reduce personal and systemic biases and to promote fairness in her work. Amanda approaches each person from a strengths-based perspective, believing that clients are experts in their own stories and that with support and courage they can move toward a more fulfilling life. She aims to empower and collaborate with clients as they take the first steps toward change.

Therapeutic Approaches in Remote Care

Amanda draws on client-centered therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and motivational interviewing to guide her online work. Client-centered therapy focuses on creating a respectful, nonjudgmental space where the client’s perspective and goals lead the process - it is helpful for building self-esteem, clarifying values, and repairing relationships. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) examines how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact and offers practical strategies to reduce anxiety, manage depression, and change unhelpful habits. Motivational interviewing is a collaborative, goal-focused conversational style that helps people increase their motivation and commitment to change, making it useful for addressing ambivalence and supporting behavior shifts.

Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the therapeutic process. Amanda works collaboratively with each person to identify which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences, adjusting the plan as progress is made and priorities evolve. Clients are actively involved in shaping the work.

Online therapy offers flexible options that fit busy lives - video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging allow clients to receive consistent support from licensed professionals without the need to travel. These formats make it easier to schedule sessions around work, caregiving, or school and to maintain continuity of care during transitions or changes in routine.