Susan Keene, LCSW

Susan Keene is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) practicing in Utah with 18 years of experience. She centers her work in cognitive behavioral therapy, helping people examine how habitual self-talk and automatic thinking patterns contribute to suffering. Susan guides clients to notice how the more primitive or reactive parts of the brain can drive behaviors while everyday thinking often responds with shame and blame for things outside conscious control.

She emphasizes present-moment observation, exploring how past trauma may continue to influence current reactions, and using practical exercises to calm a triggered nervous system. Her clinical practice draws on direct experience with depression, anxiety, family conflict, and addiction alongside formal training, professional intuition, and occasional wisdom from varied spiritual traditions. Susan is not religious, yet she honors the sense of inherent worth she sees in people.

Susan recognizes how modern life fosters isolation and self-judgment, and she encourages clients to reconnect with a sense of value and possibility. She is candid that beginning therapy can feel frightening and that meaningful change usually requires active effort rather than an expectation that someone else will simply fix things. She encourages curiosity, perseverance, and growth rather than settling for a life of ongoing misery.

Susan typically prefers 45 minute sessions and checks the therapy platform daily except on Mondays or when ill. She notes some specific professional disclosures - she is not a morning person, has had limited success working with students from Rocky Mountain University while reporting better outcomes with their employees, and has found she cannot effectively help women whose partner is into pornography. Prospective clients are asked to read and sign the disclosure form, explore available classes and groups, try the video session test, and schedule their first appointment if they choose to proceed. Susan thanks readers for considering her as a potential therapist.

Evidence-Informed Approaches and Online Care

Susan Keene uses several practical, evidence-informed approaches to help people manage symptoms and build new coping skills. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and testing new ways of thinking and behaving - it is often used for anxiety, depression, and stress by helping clients change thoughts that drive distress. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) emphasizes skills for regulating intense emotions, tolerating distress, and improving interpersonal effectiveness - it can be helpful for people who struggle with strong reactions, anger, or relationship challenges. Mindfulness Therapy teaches attention and awareness practices that reduce reactivity and support more intentional responses to difficult feelings and memories.

Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Susan works with each person to assess needs, goals, and preferences and to tailor methods that fit their life and values. She supports experimentation and adjustment until a good match is found.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility - sessions by video or phone along with live chat and text-based messaging allow people to access licensed professionals from home or other convenient locations. These options make scheduling easier, support consistent care, and allow therapy to fit into busy or changing lives.