- Stress and anxiety
- Blended family issues
- DBT and CBT methods
About Brenda
Brenda Hanson is a Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker (LSCSW) in Kansas and holds an Iowa Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW) credential, with 41 years of clinical experience. She works with adults facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, relationship and intimacy-related concerns, and a wide range of life changes including blended family issues.
She uses clear, straightforward conversations to help people sort immediate problems and make workable plans. Sessions focus on practical coping skills, improving communication, and identifying values that guide next steps. Brenda draws from approaches such as cognitive behavioral methods and acceptance strategies to help people change unhelpful patterns.
Her background includes decades of clinical practice with adults facing career transitions, caregiving stress, addictions, and chronic illness challenges. She also addresses attachment and abandonment concerns, body image and eating-related issues, and challenges tied to aging and serious illness.
In sessions she helps people break problems into manageable pieces. That can mean learning DBT skills for emotion regulation, using attachment-based ideas to understand relationship patterns, or client-centered work that focuses on what the person says matters most.
Brenda aims for practical, step-by-step progress rather than quick fixes. She supports people who are trying to balance new household roles, cope with separation or divorce, or manage grief and loss. The emphasis is on usable tools and clearer decision making.
How her therapeutic approaches fit online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on clarifying personal values and taking small committed steps toward them while accepting difficult thoughts and feelings. It can help when life changes or blended household roles feel confusing or overwhelming. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early and current relationships shape expectations and reactions. It can be useful for understanding loyalty conflicts, trust issues, and patterns that repeat in partner or parenting relationships. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps identify unhelpful thoughts and routines and replace them with practical strategies for mood, anxiety, and sleep problems.Finding the right combination of these approaches is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with the client to choose methods that match goals, symptoms, and daily life requirements. That means trying techniques, checking what helps, and adjusting the plan together rather than committing to a single method up front.
The biography does not list specific session formats, so confirm current session options before booking. Online sessions can fit into a busy schedule by removing travel time and making shorter check-ins or evening appointments easier to arrange. Video allows face-to-face interaction for skill practice and communication work, while phone sessions can be simpler when bandwidth is limited or a quick follow-up is needed. Discuss format preferences during the initial matching and scheduling step to pick what works best for everyday life.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
41+ years
Listed in
Kansas, Iowa
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does she address relevant to stepfamilies?
She helps with stress, anxiety, grief, relationship strain, blended family issues, parenting concerns, and communication problems that often arise in new household arrangements.
What style of therapy does she use?
Her style mixes client-centered listening with active skills training. She uses cognitive behavioral and acceptance-based techniques and may include DBT and attachment-informed ideas.
How much clinical experience does she have?
She has 41 years of clinical experience working with adults on life transitions, caregiving stress, addictions, and chronic illness among other concerns.
What are her credentials and location?
She holds LSCSW in Kansas and LISW in Iowa and practices as a licensed social worker based in Kansas.
Does she offer sessions in other languages or to international clients?
Sessions are offered in English. International clients are not currently accepted.
What session formats are available?
The original biography does not list session formats. Confirm current session options before booking to know whether sessions are in person, by video, or by phone.
How does payment and cost work?
Cost varies with location and sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
What should I do to get started?
Select the See online therapy options button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.
Online talk therapy is for adults and is not emergency care, mediation or legal advice. If you or a child are in danger, use the emergency numbers. Find someone else by name.