Bridget Stevens-Murphy , LICSW

Bridget Stevens-Murphy is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker who brings a relational, strength-based approach to helping individuals and families navigate difficult life moments. She earned a Master of Social Work degree with a specialization in children and families from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002, and has substantial experience working both in the United States and abroad. LICSW stands for Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, a clinical social work license in Minnesota that reflects advanced training in assessment and psychotherapy.

Bridget describes herself as a warm, grounded listener who prioritizes making people feel comfortable, safe, and empowered in their therapeutic work. She works through conversation, reflection, and the therapeutic relationship to support clients in understanding themselves more fully and building more enlivening, enriching lives and relationships. Her practice is grounded in relational, holistic, person-centered, and strength-based principles, and she approaches clients with the belief that people are experts in their own lives and can benefit from an outside perspective to find resolution and acceptance.

Her clinical interests include adoption-related issues, attachment concerns, relationship and intimacy difficulties, infertility and fertility-related stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, life transitions, mindful living, and women’s issues. She is a Trust-Based Relational Intervention practitioner and has training in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which inform her work with individuals and families facing complex challenges. Bridget offers messaging, live chat, and phone sessions and typically checks messages twice each day, seven days a week, with limited availability for evenings and weekends.

Therapeutic Approaches for Online Relationship and Trauma Work

Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on how early relationships shape current patterns of connecting with others. In practice it helps people explore attachment styles, improve closeness and trust, and address issues such as abandonment, adoption and foster care concerns, and family-of-origin dynamics. Client-Centered Therapy centers the person and their experience - the therapist offers empathic listening and reflection to help clients access their own strengths and make choices that align with their values. This approach is helpful for stress, life transitions, self-esteem work, and relational decision making. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - CBT is a practical, skills-oriented approach that examines the connections between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It is commonly used to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, develop coping strategies, and address unhelpful patterns that contribute to relationship and work challenges.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process, and Bridget collaborates with each person to identify methods that fit their needs, goals, and preferences. She works alongside clients to adjust techniques over time so therapy remains relevant and effective for the changing moments of life.

Online therapy offers flexibility to engage by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging, making it easier to fit sessions into busy schedules and to connect from different locations. These options can support consistent access to licensed professionals and therapists while accommodating varied communication styles and practical needs.