Practitioner record · Checked 9 Oct 2026

Dawn Willey has been in practice 20 years and is licensed in Florida. Dawn lists stress, Anxiety, grief and self esteem among 60 subjects on the BetterHelp roster.

Everything below is either quoted from Dawn's own BetterHelp listing, taken from public licensing records, or written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such. Nothing here is an availability promise, a review, or a rating.

20years in practice
60subjects listed
7approaches listed

01 · Who Dawn works with

Dawn works with stress, Anxiety, grief and self esteem

Dawn lists 19 specialisms and 41 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Dawn chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

Specialisms
  • Stress, Anxiety
  • Grief
  • Self esteem
  • Depression
  • Coping with life changes
  • Addictions
  • Relationship issues
  • Family conflicts
  • Trauma and abuse
  • Intimacy-related issues
  • Eating disorders
  • Sleeping disorders
  • Parenting issues
  • Anger management
  • Career difficulties
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Coaching
  • Compassion fatigue
  • ADHD
Also experienced with
  • Abandonment
  • Aging and geriatric issues
  • Blended family issues
  • Cancer
  • Caregiver issues and stress
  • Chronic pain, illness, and disability
  • Co-morbidity
  • Codependency
  • Commitment issues
  • Communication problems
  • Control issues
  • Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
  • Divorce and separation
  • Drug and alcohol addiction
  • Emptiness
  • Family of origin issues
  • Family problems
  • First responder issues
  • Forgiveness
  • Guilt and shame
  • Hoarding
  • Hospice and end-of-life counseling
  • Impulsivity
  • Intellectual disability
  • Isolation / loneliness
  • Jealousy
  • Life purpose
  • Men's issues
  • Midlife crisis
  • Mood disorders
  • Post-traumatic stress
  • Pregnancy and childbirth
  • Self-love
  • Sex addiction
  • Sexual assault and abuse
  • Smoking / vaping cessation
  • Social anxiety and phobia
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Women's issues
  • Workplace issues
  • Young adult issues

02 · In Dawn's own words

What Dawn says about the work

Reproduced in full and unedited - not summarised, not tightened, not rewritten in a house voice.

Hello! Welcome to BetterHelp! You have taken the first major step toward making the changes necessary to experience emotional wellness and improve your quality of life. Simply by recognizing your need for counseling and reaching out for help, you are well on your way!

We all struggle with situations in our lives that can cause distress and at times can be too much to bear on our own. Having someone you can trust to talk through those challenges and receive guidance from can make all the difference in the world.

My name is Dawn Willey and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Florida with 20 years of experience providing counseling services for children, adolescents, adults, couples, families, elderly and disabled clients in a wide variety of settings. I am an enthusiastic, dedicated, empathic, intuitive, down to earth and straight forward counselor who loves helping people navigate through their difficulties, find solutions that will bring lasting change and bring greater fulfillment to their lives. It is my passion to partner with clients who are struggling and assist them in finding healthy ways to cope and thrive!

It will be my pleasure to work with you towards reaching your goals with the understanding that you not I are the expert when it comes to your own life experiences. You will be seen, heard, validated, treated with kindness and respect, held accountable for participating in your treatment and given practical feedback that will increase your ability to face whatever life brings with strength and confidence.

Dawn Willey, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026

03 · How Dawn works

The 7 approaches Dawn lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Dawn lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Dawn's - a general explanation of what each method is, so the list means something before you have spoken to anybody. They are not a claim about how Dawn runs a session.

Client-Centred TherapyPerson-centred · Rogerian
The therapist does not steer toward a technique or a diagnosis. They offer sustained, non-judgemental attention and reflect back what they hear, on the premise that people find their own direction when they are genuinely listened to. Often what people mean by “someone who just gets it”.
Cognitive Behavioural TherapyCBT
Structured, present-focused work on the loop between what you think, how you feel and what you then do. Usually means noticing a thought pattern in the room, testing it against evidence, and practising something different between sessions. Among the most heavily researched talking therapies for depression and anxiety.
Mindfulness-Based TherapyMBCT
Trains attention on what is happening right now - body, breath, the thought as it arrives - so distress can be observed rather than automatically acted on. Strongest evidence is in preventing depression from recurring, and it is usually taught as a practice you keep doing outside the session.
Motivational InterviewingMI
A way of talking about change with somebody who is genuinely in two minds about it. The therapist does not argue for the change; they help you say your own reasons out loud, which is the part that predicts whether it happens. Common around substance use and health behaviour.
Narrative Therapy
Treats the story you tell about your life as something that can be examined and retold rather than as the plain facts. Separates the person from the problem - “the anxiety” rather than “your anxiety” - to make room for the parts the current story leaves out.
Solution-Focused Brief TherapySFBT
Starts from where you want to end up rather than from how you got here. Sessions look for the times the problem is already smaller and work out what is different about those, so the number of sessions tends to be short and the work concrete.
Trauma-Focused TherapyTF-CBT · trauma-informed
CBT adapted for people whose difficulty is rooted in a frightening or overwhelming event. Pacing is the point: safety and stabilisation come first, the memory itself is approached gradually and only when you are ready, and the aim is that recalling it stops hijacking the present.

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Dawn practises through BetterHelp, so the route in is BetterHelp's. This is that sequence, written by Maker Therapy from the platform's published process - not a description of Dawn's own practice, and not a promise about how quickly anything happens.

  1. A questionnaire, not a booking form

    BetterHelp opens with a set of questions about what you are dealing with, what you want from therapy, and any preferences on the therapist. You are not booking Dawn at this point.

  2. Naming Dawn specifically

    BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Dawn is a step you have to take. There is a field for requesting a specific therapist during sign-up, and you can switch afterwards from your account. Starting from a link on this page does not by itself assign you to Dawn.

  3. If the caseload is full

    You will be offered somebody else rather than put on a waitlist. Worth knowing, because it is easy to assume a match is the person you asked for.

  4. The first conversation

    A first session is typically history and orientation: what brought you, what has been tried, what you want to be different. It is also where the questions in the next section belong.

  5. If the fit is wrong

    Changing therapist on BetterHelp does not need a reason. A first session that does not click is common and is not a verdict on therapy. That option existing is the main practical difference between a platform and a private practice.

05 · Before you commit

4 questions worth asking Dawn

Built from what Dawn actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Dawn's - Dawn has not seen them and is under no obligation to answer any of them.

  • “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Client-Centred Therapy. Which do you lean on with someone like me?”

    Those two point in different directions - one structured and led by the therapist, the other led by you. The answer tells you what the sessions will actually feel like.

  • “How do you decide when someone is ready to work on a traumatic memory itself?”

    Pacing is the biggest safety question in trauma work. A clear, unhurried answer here matters more than any credential.

  • “With 20 years in, what has changed most in how you work?”

    Long experience is only an advantage if it has been examined. This tends to surface whether it has.

  • “How do you handle the gap between sessions if something comes up?”

    On BetterHelp this varies a great deal by therapist. Better to know the rhythm now than to discover it on a bad week.

06 · Practical details

Credentials and licensing

Credential
LCSW
Licensed in
Florida
Licence
FL LCSW SW9781
Licence number
SW9781
Licence expires
31 Mar 2027
NPI
1316202153
Years in practice
20
Gender
Female
Languages
English
International clients
Accepted
Listed since
15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Dawn's name, credential, state, subjects, approaches and biography are read from BetterHelp's therapist roster, which Maker Therapy re-reads once a day; this page reflects the reading taken on 9 Oct 2026. The licence number and NPI are cross-checked against public registers.

The plain-English method descriptions, the first-session walkthrough and the questions are written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such wherever they appear.

Maker Therapy is not BetterHelp, does not take bookings, and has not met Dawn. There are no reviews or ratings on this page because we have no way to verify one. If you start therapy through a link here, we may be paid a commission - it does not change your price and it does not affect who appears here or in what order.

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