Emily Hakkinen, LICSW

Emily Hakkinen is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) based in Vermont who helps people facing stress, anxiety, relationship strain, grief, low self-esteem, and challenges with motivation. She also supports those coping with life changes, addiction concerns, compassion fatigue, and issues related to ADHD. Emily aims to make the first step into therapy feel manageable and respectful of each person’s pace.

She builds sessions around open listening and practical conversation. Emily creates space for clients to say what matters to them and to map small steps forward. Sessions focus on what a person wants to change and on skills that can be tried between meetings.

Emily uses approaches that center the person’s experience and strengths. She draws on client-centered listening, brief solution-focused planning, mindfulness tools for emotion regulation, and motivational interviewing to help with readiness for change. Narrative techniques are used to look at the stories people tell about themselves and find new ways to see their situation.

Her background includes five years of professional practice in settings that exposed her to a wide range of life stressors and transitions. That experience informs a practical, down-to-earth style that balances listening with goal-driven steps. Emily works with people on caregiving strain, aging and geriatric concerns, attachment and abandonment issues, family problems, and end-of-life and hospice related matters.

Sessions are conducted in English. Emily is licensed in Vermont as an LICSW. If you are considering a conversation about stress, grief, caregiving, or life transitions, she offers a supportive place to begin.

Therapeutic approaches and online care

Emily often uses client-centered therapy, which means sessions focus on the person’s concerns and pace while the therapist listens and reflects to help clarify goals. This approach helps when someone needs a listening space to sort feelings and priorities.

She also uses mindfulness techniques to teach simple ways to notice and sit with emotions, and motivational interviewing to explore readiness for change and support practical steps forward. Mindfulness can help with anxiety and stress, while motivational interviewing is useful for building motivation around habits or recovery.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Emily will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their goals, needs, and preferences, and adjust the plan as progress is made.

Session formats are not specified in her biography, so please confirm current session options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit appointments into a busy life, reduce travel time, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and let people connect from locations that work with their schedule. Licensed professionals can adapt tools like mindfulness exercises, brief solution-focused planning, and motivational conversations to an online visit to keep therapy practical and focused.