Austa Murray, LCSW

Austa Murray is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with more than 22 years of experience. She focuses on common and painful problems such as anxiety, depression, stress, grief, relationship and intimacy-related issues, parenting concerns, and trauma and abuse. She also helps people coping with ADHD, compassion fatigue, and life transitions. Austa lists Thoughts and everyday habits among her areas of focus and aims to begin where each person is most comfortable.

Austa uses a calm, compassionate style and moves at a pace that feels right for the client. Sessions center on listening, building a connection, and developing practical skills. She draws on approaches that help people understand patterns in thinking and behavior and try new ways to respond.

Her work often looks at attachment and developmental issues when they relate to current struggles. She blends cognitive behavioral ideas with client-centered and solution-focused practices to create concrete steps people can use between sessions. She also incorporates elements from dialectical behavior ideas and the Gottman Method when relationship concerns are part of the picture.

People who reach out can expect a strengths-based approach that mixes teaching, reflection, and skills practice. Austa aims to help clients notice thoughts and everyday habits that keep problems stuck and to experiment with different ways of coping. She works from Illinois and provides services in English.

Her background includes individual and group work across a range of mental health settings. With long experience, she focuses on meeting people where they are and helping them build useful tools for everyday life.

How these approaches work in online therapy

Austa uses Attachment-Based and Cognitive Behavioral approaches along with client-centered principles. Attachment-Based work looks at how early relationship patterns show up now and helps people notice and change repeated ways of reacting in close relationships. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors to reduce symptoms and improve daily routines. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes empathy and a collaborative, respectful relationship that helps people feel heard and understood.

Finding the best approach is part of the work together. The therapist will collaborate with each person to match methods to their needs, goals, and preferences. That might mean mixing strategies from these approaches so clients get practical tools and time to reflect and process.

The practical benefits of online therapy can include easier scheduling and fitting sessions into a busy week, shorter check-ins when needed, and the ability to attend from different locations. Please confirm the specific session options available before booking so you know which formats are offered. Online work can make it simpler to practice new habits between sessions and to bring real-life examples into conversation.