About Richard
Richard McGraw is a licensed clinical social worker with 28 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and other life challenges. He has run a independent practice since 1997 and has a background that includes law enforcement, child protective services, medical social work, and hospice. He works from Missouri and offers services to people in English, including international clients.
His style is warm and interactive. He treats people with respect and sensitivity and avoids stigmatizing labels.
Background and approach
Conversations are practical and focused on concrete steps you can use between sessions. Richard primarily uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, but he adapts conversations and plans to match each person's situation. Sessions review current concerns, identify unhelpful patterns, and develop manageable skills for change.
Parents and caregivers often find the problem-solving focus helpful for day-to-day strain. He has worked with a wide range of concerns over his career, including relationship strain, trauma and abuse, addictions, grief, intimacy issues, parenting stress, anger, self-esteem, career transitions, bipolar disorder, ADHD, and coping with life changes.
He also addresses issues tied to adoption and foster care, abandonment, caregiver stress, and communication problems. People who connect well with him tend to want clear, direct conversation and practical strategies. He will collaborate on goals and check progress as therapy continues.
If someone wants an experienced clinician who emphasizes doable steps, he aims to offer steady, respectful support.
How therapy methods translate to online care
Richard primarily uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and behaviors and practicing small, concrete changes. CBT is practical and often includes homework like tracking moods or trying new responses to stressful situations, which works well in remote sessions.His approach emphasizes adapting conversations and plans to each person's needs. He will work collaboratively to find the right balance of techniques and pacing so therapy fits goals and life demands. That process involves checking in on what helps and adjusting methods over time.
Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction for deeper conversation, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat supports shorter focused check-ins, and text messaging makes it possible to exchange brief updates or questions between appointments. These options help people fit therapy into busy schedules, reduce travel time, and maintain continuity when life changes occur.
Questions people ask
What kinds of concerns does he help with?
How would you describe his therapeutic style?
How much clinical experience does he have?
Where is he based and what is his license?
Which languages and international options are supported?
What session formats are available?
How are costs handled for sessions?
How do I begin working with him?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 28 years
- Licensed
- Missouri
- Languages
- English
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