Austa Murray, LCSW

Austa Murray is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) licensed in Illinois with 22 years of clinical experience. She helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, relationship and intimacy concerns, parenting strains, grief, and issues related to ADHD and burnout.

She begins by listening to what the person wants to address and moves at a pace that feels manageable. Sessions focus on building a working connection so practical concerns can be discussed openly. The first meetings often clarify immediate needs and practical next steps.

Austa uses several approaches to guide sessions. She draws on attachment-based ideas to look at how early relationships affect current patterns. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques are used to identify thinking and behavior patterns that maintain distress. She also integrates client-centered principles so people’s own goals steer the work.

In practice she blends skill teaching with reflection. That can mean learning coping skills, practicing communication strategies, and naming unhelpful patterns that keep problems cycling. When trauma or developmental issues are present, she brings an awareness of those histories into the pacing and planning of sessions.

Her style emphasizes practical insight and concrete tools. People who want a mix of discussion, skill work, and planning find this approach useful. She also pays attention to life stresses like work, caregiving, and relationship changes when making a plan together.

How her approaches translate to online work