Rita Mahon, LICSW

Rita Mahon is a licensed clinical social worker who focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, relationship strain, grief, and trauma. She works with individuals facing mood concerns, addiction struggles, parenting and intimacy questions, and the everyday habits that shape thoughts and behavior. Rita speaks English and practices in Rhode Island as an LICSW with 18 years of experience.

Rita believes people know their own stories and brings a respectful, listening-first approach to sessions. She uses straightforward techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy to notice thought patterns and from client-centered methods to make space for each person's priorities. Sessions also draw on acceptance and commitment ideas to help people live by their values, and on dialectical skills when emotion regulation is a focus.

Her work often centers on practical skills you can use between meetings. That can mean small experiments to test unhelpful thoughts, grounding strategies for intense moments, or communication choices to try with others. Rita aims to make therapy feel useful in day-to-day life rather than only in the therapy room.

Over her career she has helped people cope with major life changes, career stress, caregiving strain, attachment concerns, and the effects of trauma and loss. She emphasizes collaboration - setting goals together and adjusting the approach as needs evolve.

To begin, she asks people to reflect on what they most want to change and what already helps them get through hard days. That groundwork guides how sessions are planned and which techniques are emphasized.

How therapy approaches translate to online work

Rita frequently draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in her practice. ACT helps people notice what matters to them and take small steps toward those values even when feelings are difficult. CBT focuses on identifying thought and behavior patterns and trying simple, practical experiments to change them.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Rita works with each person to figure out which methods fit their goals and day-to-day life, and she adapts techniques as progress unfolds. The plan is set together and adjusted over time based on what feels most helpful.

If you are interested in online therapy, confirm the available session options before booking since formats are not listed here. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy schedule, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and reduce travel time. It also makes it possible to practice skills in the settings where problems happen, so techniques learned in sessions can be tried out between meetings.