About Doris
Doris Gardner-Wilson is a licensed clinical social worker in Texas who helps people facing stress, anxiety, addiction, relationship strain, trauma, grief, depression, and life transitions. She brings 25 years of experience to straightforward, practical work. Conversations focus on what is happening now and what can change next.
Doris creates a calm space where people can speak honestly and feel heard. Her approach blends body-focused awareness with skill-based therapies. Somatic work helps people notice how stress shows up in the body and learn simple ways to ease physical tension.
Background and approach
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) offer tools for shifting unhelpful thoughts and building values-based action. Attachment-Based and client-centered methods guide how she builds trust in sessions. These approaches shape a collaborative, respectful relationship rather than a list of techniques.
Clients set goals and move at a pace that feels safe for them. Doris has worked across a wide range of concerns, including intimacy-related issues, anger, self-esteem, chronic pain, caregiver stress, and communication problems. She also has experience addressing more complex patterns like codependency, commitment worries, and co-morbidity.
Her style is direct but kind, focusing on practical steps people can use between sessions. To begin, people complete a brief questionnaire and schedule an appointment that fits their life. Sessions are available in formats that suit busy schedules and varied needs.
How somatic and skills-based work translate online
Doris blends somatic awareness and skill-focused therapies to help people manage stress and emotional pain. Somatic work invites attention to bodily sensations and simple movement or breathing practices to reduce tension and increase self-awareness. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice unhelpful thoughts, clarify personal values, and take small actions that align with what matters to them. Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on how early patterns shape current relationships and helps people build healthier ways of connecting.Finding the right approach is part of the therapy journey. Doris will talk with each person about their needs, goals, and preferences and together decide which methods to try. That collaborative process makes it easier to adapt techniques so they feel useful and realistic in daily life.
Online sessions offer flexible ways to work using video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face conversations when that feels important, while phone or messaging can fit busy schedules and quieter check-ins. These options make it possible to continue consistent work from home, during travel, or around caregiving and work demands.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Gottman Method
- Imago Relationship Therapy
- Jungian Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- Texas
- Languages
- English