Practitioner record · Checked 7 Oct 2026

Lisa McCarton has been in practice 20 years and is licensed in Virginia. Lisa lists stress, Anxiety, family conflicts and trauma and abuse among 43 subjects on the BetterHelp roster.

Everything below is either quoted from Lisa'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
43subjects listed
9approaches listed
2languages spoken

01 · Who Lisa works with

Lisa works with stress, Anxiety, family conflicts and trauma and abuse

Lisa lists 13 specialisms and 30 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Lisa chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

Specialisms
  • Stress, Anxiety
  • Family conflicts
  • Trauma and abuse
  • Anger management
  • ADHD
  • Relationship issues
  • Grief
  • Parenting issues
  • Self esteem
  • Career difficulties
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Depression
  • Coping with life changes
Also experienced with
  • Abandonment
  • Adoption and foster care
  • Antisocial personality
  • Attachment issues
  • Autism and Asperger Syndrome
  • Blended family issues
  • Communication problems
  • Control issues
  • Dependent personality
  • Dissociation
  • Divorce and separation
  • Domestic violence
  • Eating and food-related issues
  • Family problems
  • Impulsivity
  • Intellectual disability
  • Isolation / loneliness
  • Life purpose
  • Mood disorders
  • Narcissism
  • Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
  • Panic disorder and panic attacks
  • Personality disorders
  • Phobias
  • Post-traumatic stress
  • Self-harm
  • Social anxiety and phobia
  • Women's issues
  • Workplace issues
  • Young adult issues

02 · In Lisa's own words

What Lisa says about the work

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

Hello!

Welcome to the BetterHelp community! My name is Lisa McCarton and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, practicing in Virginia for 20 years. I have specialized in psychotherapy and social work with children, adolescents and families. I have been providing psychotherapy for a wide variety of issues and populations, to include: behavioral problems; trauma issues; family relationships; mood disorders; school issues; and sexual abuse issues, among other areas. I graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2000 with a Masters in Social Work. I began my post-masters clinical work in a residential treatment facility for emotionally and physically abused children. I provided therapy, as well as case management, for children and families.

I would describe my approach as goal oriented, and client centered. I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Problem-Solving Therapy and Strength-Based Approach. All of these modalities are hands-on, practical approaches to problem-solving. CBT treatment usually involves efforts to change thinking patterns and/or behaviors. The goals are to change patterns of maladaptive or unhealthy thinking in order to improve behavior and life situations. This helps people identify faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking and learn better ways of coping with life's full variety of stressors.

Difficult and painful times are part of the human experience. I understand seeking help can be a vulnerable step to take. Exploring the healing process or enriching one’s personal growth, first and foremost, requires establishing a trusting and an emotional supportive relationship. Change is not easy, but it is possible.

Lisa McCarton, on the BetterHelp listing · read 7 Oct 2026

03 · How Lisa works

The 8 approaches Lisa lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Lisa lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Lisa'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 Lisa runs a session.

Attachment-Based Therapy
Reads present-day relationship difficulty through the lens of how safety and closeness were learned early on. The therapeutic relationship itself is treated as part of the work, because it is where the pattern tends to show up first.
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.
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.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Works on the assumption that current patterns - in relationships, at work, in how you treat yourself - have a history, and that seeing the history loosens the pattern. Less structured than CBT, usually longer, and more interested in what comes up unbidden than in a weekly agenda.
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.

Also listed

  • Existential Therapy

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Lisa 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 Lisa'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 Lisa at this point.

  2. Naming Lisa specifically

    BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Lisa 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 Lisa.

  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 Lisa

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

  • “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Attachment-Based 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
Virginia
Licence
VA LCSW 0904005382
Licence number
0904005382
Licence expires
30 Jun 2027
NPI
1013206069
Years in practice
20
Gender
Female
Languages
English, Spanish
International clients
Not accepted
Listed since
15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Lisa'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 7 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 Lisa. 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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