About David
David Vaccaro is a licensed clinical social worker who centers sessions on the client's needs. He uses clear, practical methods to help with stress, anxiety, addiction concerns, depression, trauma, and phobias. He speaks plain language and focuses on steps people can try between sessions.
He has ten years of clinical experience and works from a collaborative standpoint. He listens first, then suggests approaches that match a person's goals and daily life.
Background and approach
Many people come with trouble sleeping, low self-esteem, grief, or trouble managing anger and relationships, and he helps them break problems into manageable parts. Therapy may include learning new thinking and behavior skills, trying brief focused experiments, and building calm practices for everyday life.
He also supports people facing caregiver strain, aging-related concerns, hoarding, substance use, and life transitions such as divorce or job change. Sessions are practical and goal-oriented without losing sight of personal values and strengths. Motivational interviewing is used when someone wants to make a change but feels stuck.
Mindfulness practices are offered to help with stress and intrusive thoughts. Outside of practice he enjoys running, travel, and time with his wife and their cat. He earned his graduate degree in mental health social work after studying psychology at Southern Illinois University.
He sees clients in Illinois and provides services in English.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Client-Centered Therapy puts the person's priorities first and focuses on listening, empathy, and building on strengths. In an online session this looks like the therapist asking about goals, checking in about what matters most, and shaping the plan around the person's life. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) breaks problems into thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and tries concrete exercises to shift them. Online CBT often uses short between-session tasks, thought records, and behavior experiments that people can try between video or phone sessions.Finding the right approach is a shared process. The therapist will discuss goals and try strategies together to see what helps most. If one method doesn’t fit, adjustments are made so work stays practical and focused on daily challenges.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is useful when visual cues help the conversation, while phone calls work well when bandwidth is limited or for a quieter check-in. Live chat and text messaging allow shorter check-ins, real-time coaching, or continued support between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or travel schedules and keep progress moving forward.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English
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