Denise Stutes, LISW

Denise Stutes is a Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW) practicing in Iowa. She brings five years of direct therapy experience and over two decades in mental health roles to her work. Denise aims to help people facing stress, anxiety, loss, relationship problems, and midlife transitions. Her tone is warm and straightforward, with a mix of compassion and directness.

Before focusing on therapy, she spent years in community settings, hospitals, domestic violence shelters, and corrections. That background shaped how she talks about trauma, grief, addiction, and caregiving strain. She draws on a range of real-world experiences when helping clients sort through difficult life changes.

In sessions she leans on Client-Centered ideas and Cognitive Behavioral tools, alongside Emotionally-Focused and Mindfulness practices. Denise uses clear, practical language and helps clients notice strengths they may have missed. Humor and straightforward feedback are part of her style when appropriate.

She often works with people coping with career challenges, depression, bipolar concerns, anger, and issues of self-esteem. Additional focus areas include codependency, communication problems, divorce and separation, and forgiveness. She aims to help clients identify small, manageable steps toward change.

Denise encourages people to notice their strengths and to try new ways of responding to old patterns. She describes the therapeutic relationship as collaborative and supportive. To begin, clients follow the site’s Start Therapy steps to match and schedule a session.

How therapeutic approaches guide online work

Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and reflecting what the person brings. It helps people feel heard and encourages them to find their own solutions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps identify unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviors with simple exercises, which can help with anxiety, depression, and coping with life changes. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) looks at feelings in relationships and helps people notice and shift patterns in how they connect with others.

Finding the right approach is a shared process. The therapist will talk with the client about goals and preferences, try approaches that fit, and adjust based on what helps. Sessions are collaborative and paced to what each person needs.

The original profile does not list which online or remote session formats are used, so confirm the available session options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy week, cut down on travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when needed. It also makes it simpler to continue sessions during life transitions or when schedules vary. Licensed professionals can use these approaches in remote sessions to help people practice skills and try new responses between meetings.