Mary Lee Palmer, LCSW, CSW

Mary Lee Palmer is a licensed clinical social worker with 41 years of practice in Georgia. She focuses on relationships and related struggles like infidelity, intimacy issues, and communication problems. Her style is warm and interactive, and she aims to meet people where they are.

She has worked in psychiatric hospitals and independent practice and has experience with people across the lifespan. Her background includes leading parent groups, adolescent groups, and family therapy in inpatient settings and directing child and adolescent services. This work exposed her to grief, trauma, severe mood disorders, and long-term medical conditions.

Mary uses a blend of approaches to match a person’s needs. She draws from client-centered methods to center the person’s priorities. She uses cognitive-behavioral ideas to address unhelpful thinking and behaviors and emotionally-focused techniques to strengthen bonds and intimacy.

She also incorporates mindfulness and psychodynamic perspectives to help people notice patterns and manage stress. Sessions aim to be practical and straightforward, with room for humor and warmth when it helps. Treatment plans are shaped together, not imposed.

Mary has worked with a wide range of concerns including addictions, anxiety, depression, parenting stress, bipolar disorder, and relationship conflict. She supports people through life changes such as divorce, caregiving strain, and blended family adjustments. Her approach is to listen, then help people find steps that feel doable.

People who want collaborative guidance and steady experience often contact her to address coping, communication, intimacy, or mood-related challenges. She accepts international clients and conducts sessions in English.

How therapeutic approaches translate to online care

Client-centered therapy emphasizes listening and following the person’s priorities. In practice this means the therapist focuses on what matters most to the client, helping them set goals and pace the work. It is useful for relationship concerns and life changes when someone needs an empathetic ear and practical direction.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) targets the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions. It uses specific techniques to change unhelpful thinking and to build new habits, which can help with anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and managing mood swings. Emotionally-focused therapy (EFT) concentrates on emotions and attachment needs to improve communication and intimacy in relationships.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Mary collaborates with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences. That may mean trying CBT tools for a few weeks, then shifting to emotionally-focused work around relationship patterns, or combining techniques to suit the situation.

Online therapy offers flexibility in how sessions happen.

Before starting online therapy, confirm the current session options, scheduling arrangements, and fees. Discuss what will help you take part comfortably and how to fit appointments around everyday commitments. Agree on the next steps with the therapist so you know what to expect.