- Years in practice
- 40
- Credentials
- LICSW
- Licensed in
- Massachusetts
- Languages
- English
- Focus
- Stress, Anxiety
- Focus
- Family conflicts
- Focus
- Grief
About Ellen
Ellen Silbert is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with 40 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, grief, parenting concerns, and relationship difficulties. She offers a calm, accepting presence and aims to help parents and individuals find practical ways to cope with life changes and ongoing challenges. Ellen works in Massachusetts and conducts sessions in English.
Ellen keeps sessions down to earth. She listens first and asks practical questions to understand daily routines, roles, and stressors.
Background and approach
Together she focuses on skills that can be practiced between meetings, such as coping strategies, communication changes, and steps for managing mood or addictive behaviors. Her background includes clinical work across many settings from labor and delivery to hospice care. That range of experience shaped her approach to both sudden losses and long-term health or caregiving strains.
She draws on forty years of direct practice to help people facing medical, emotional, or family stressors. Ellen uses straightforward, evidence-based methods like client-centered work, cognitive behavioral techniques, emotion-focused strategies, mindfulness, and motivational interviewing. She adapts tools to fit what a person needs right now rather than following a fixed plan.
This means sessions often mix problem-solving, emotion work, and practical homework. Sessions are available by video call, phone, live chat, and text-based messaging. Ellen notes that scheduling can be flexible and that messaging is checked regularly, which can make short check-ins or plan adjustments easier between live sessions.
What Ellen works with
Everything Ellen lists, in the therapist's own terms. Parenting is the reason this directory exists; the rest shows what else Ellen helps people with.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Parenting issues
- Coping with life changes
- Addictions
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
- Intimacy-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Sleeping disorders
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Depression
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Dependent personality
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Midlife crisis
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Approaches Ellen lists
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
Listing an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist names and does not check training records.
How Ellen’s Approaches Translate to Online Care
Client-centered work means the therapist follows your lead and focuses on what matters most to you. Sessions start by hearing your story and building trust, then shaping goals that fit your life. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at patterns of thought and behavior and teaches simple strategies to shift them, which can help with anxiety, depression, and sleep or eating concerns. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) helps people identify and name feelings and the interaction patterns that keep them stuck, useful for relationship strain and attachment worries.Choosing the right approach is collaborative. Ellen will talk with you about goals, try methods that match your needs, and adjust the plan as you go. Clients often mix techniques - skill practice from CBT, moment-to-moment feeling work from EFT, and a client-centered check-in to stay grounded.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy fit into busy lives. Video is useful when visual connection and deeper conversation matter. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth or camera use is limited. Live chat and messaging let people do shorter check-ins, share wins or setbacks between meetings, and keep momentum without scheduling a full session. These options aim to make it easier to keep therapy consistent around work, caregiving, and other commitments.
Questions people ask about Ellen
What concerns does Ellen commonly address?
Ellen works with stress, anxiety, grief, parenting questions, relationship issues, trauma and abuse, addictions, mood concerns like depression and bipolar, and many related struggles.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
Her style is warm and down-to-earth. She listens first, then offers practical skills, emotion-focused exploration, and steps you can try between sessions.
What kind of experience does she bring?
She has forty years of clinical experience across settings including labor and delivery and hospice care, which informs work with both acute and long-term life stresses.
What are her credentials and where is she based?
She holds an MA and is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) practicing in Massachusetts.
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Sessions are offered in English.
What session formats are available?
She offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different needs and schedules.
How is cost handled for sessions?
Costs vary with location and therapist arrangements; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
How do I get started working with Ellen?
Click the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule according to the therapist's availability.
More therapists for parents in Massachusetts
All in MassachusettsIvanilda Silva
LICSW
Massachusetts 17 years in practice
Compassionate LICSW using movement and therapy
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family
- Trauma and abuse
Kimberley Haley
LMHC
Massachusetts 20 years in practice
Experienced LMHC focused on parenting and life stress
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship
- Depression
Andrea Brant
LMHC
Massachusetts 13 years in practice
Compassionate practical support for stressed parents
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship
- Anger