Dianne Timmons
I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with nine years of experience treating depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, grief, trauma, life transitions, and long-standing patterns in how people relate to themselves and others. I see mental health as the ability to perceive reality accurately, including the differences between yourself and others, and to respond to it effectively. I tailor my approach to your needs, whether that's practical life challenges, rigid thought patterns, or emotional pain held in the body after trauma. I also help you untangle enmeshed family relationships: recognizing where your own feelings and needs end and others' begin, and setting boundaries without guilt. I draw on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, EMDR, and psychodynamic theory. Effective therapy, in my view, means both challenging the thinking and relational patterns that keep you stuck and learning to understand and regulate the emotions underneath them.
First session
I hope you'll leave feeling understood, and with a clearer picture of what's been keeping you stuck than you came in with. Even in a first session, I'll share some initial observations so you can get a sense of how we might work together.
Strengths
I'm an interactive therapist who listens with compassion, but I'll also tell you honestly what I notice in your thoughts and behavior, to help you find new ways to understand and respond to what you're facing. I'm equally willing to explore your emotional history in depth to help you understand where your pain comes from and find relief from it, both past and present.
Ideal clients
My ideal client is ready to look honestly at their thoughts and behavior in order to change what's holding them back. I especially enjoy working with two kinds of people. Some are overwhelmed by painful emotions and want to understand themselves and their relationships more clearly. Others find it hard to separate themselves from the people around them: they absorb others' moods, feel responsible for everyone's happiness, and lose track of their own needs.
Origin story
I knew I wanted to be a therapist as a teenager, largely because therapy had helped me. I majored in psychology with that goal. After college, though, I decided I needed more life experience before taking responsibility for other people's inner lives. I spent years working as a lawyer and marketing manager before returning to my original calling. My social work background includes experience with hospice and in skilled nursing facilities. These paths inform my work as I understand career pressures, change, loss, and reinvention from the inside.
Ongoing work together
Each session starts with what's on your mind that week, but we'll look at it in light of the larger patterns and goals we've identified together. For example, if you come in upset about a parent who keeps overstepping, we'll work on how to handle that situation, and we'll also connect it to the broader family dynamics we've been exploring, so that every week builds toward lasting change. Along the way, I may suggest things to try between sessions, and we'll check in periodically on what's working and what needs adjusting.
Treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I help Clients identify and change distorted thoughts and beliefs that negatively affect their understanding of themselves and others.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
I teach practical skills you may never have had the chance to learn for managing intense emotions and handling relationships more effectively, including how to communicate your needs clearly and set limits. I also help you honor your feelings while also understanding the broader landscape in which they occur.
Psychodynamic
I help you explore experiences and relationships from your past that are affecting your current emotional state and separate those experiences from present reality.
Location
Virtual sessions
Identifies as
Top specialties
Other specialties
Serves
Doesn't specialize in
Licensed in
- CaliforniaLicense 139849
- New YorkLicense 089078