About Gwendolyn
Gwendolyn Downing is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in Alabama with decades of experience helping people through hard moments. She listens without judgment and focuses on practical steps people can use right away. Many who come to her are dealing with anxiety, stress, grief, relationship strain, or addiction concerns.
She also supports people facing mood disorders, parenting pressures, and life transitions. She draws on a mix of approaches to match each person's needs.
Background and approach
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps people spot unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how past relationships shape current patterns and builds healthier connections. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) can be used when trauma memories are getting in the way of daily life.
Sessions are collaborative. The therapist helps set clear goals and offers tools to manage symptoms between meetings. Expect short-term skill-building and longer work when needed for deeper issues like trauma or complex grief.
Gwendolyn has worked in public agencies and in independent practice, and she has experience with referrals from employee assistance programs and family court systems. Her practice centers on the person rather than labels, and she aims to help people use their strengths to move forward.
Her work spans many concerns including depression, addictions, ADHD, compassion fatigue, body image, chronic illness, caregiver stress, and recovery from domestic violence. She communicates in English and practices in Alabama as an LPC.
How her approaches fit into online therapy
Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationships shape current patterns and helps people build more supported ways of relating. It can help when trust, abandonment, or communication problems cause repeated conflict or distance. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing small behavior changes to reduce anxiety and depression. It is useful for stress, worry, and mood management. EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is used to lessen the intensity of distressing memories so daily life becomes easier to manage.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will review concerns, goals, and preferences and recommend methods to try. Clients and therapist adjust the plan as progress is made, using short-term techniques or deeper processing when needed.
Online therapy offers practical benefits for people with busy schedules or who live far from services. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and observing body language. Phone sessions can be a better fit when video bandwidth is limited. Live chat or text-based messaging can be used for quick check-ins, brief coaching, or when writing out thoughts feels easier. These options make it simpler to keep regular contact and work therapy into everyday life.
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What this therapist works with
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 41 years
- Licensed
- Alabama
- Languages
- English
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