Dawn Shanklin, MD, LCPC, LMHC

Dawn Shanklin is a licensed therapist with more than a decade of professional experience supporting people through life·changing moments and persistent mental health challenges. She practices in Maryland and Massachusetts and brings an attentive, respectful, and compassionate approach to each therapeutic relationship. Dawn works with individuals facing anxiety, depression, stress, low self-esteem, compassion fatigue, and the ripple effects of difficult life transitions, helping them build practical coping skills and greater confidence in daily life.

Her work integrates several evidence-informed methods to meet each person where they are. She draws from client-centered principles that prioritize the client’s perspective, cognitive behavioral strategies that target unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, and psychodynamic ideas that explore underlying patterns. This flexible approach is intended to promote insight, reduce symptoms, and support sustainable change.

Dawn holds an MD, which indicates a medical degree, and she is credentialed as an LCPC (Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor) and an LMHC (Licensed Mental Health Counselor). She emphasizes sensitivity and collaboration, partnering with people to identify goals and practical steps toward improved well-being.

Client-Centered and CBT Support Delivered Online

Client-Centered Therapy focuses on the person’s own experience, offering empathy, active listening, and collaboration to help people explore their values and goals. This approach is well suited to concerns around self-esteem, life purpose, isolation, and adjusting to change because it centers the individual’s priorities and pace.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, helps identify and shift unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors that contribute to anxiety, depression, and stress. Practical techniques from CBT can support symptom reduction, improved coping, and clearer problem solving for workplace issues, social anxiety, and financial stress.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Dawn Shanklin works collaboratively with each person to assess needs, preferences, and goals, then adapts methods to fit what will be most helpful. Clients are active partners in shaping their care and deciding which strategies to try.

Online therapy offers flexibility to connect by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging, making it easier to fit sessions into busy schedules and to maintain continuity during times of change. These options expand access to licensed professionals and allow people to pursue consistent support from locations that work for them.