Benita Whitfield, LCSW, LICSW
Massachusetts · 26 years in practice
Benita Whitfield is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people facing stress, anxiety, relationship tensions, parenting strain, anger, and low self-esteem.
License and registration
- LICSW, Massachusetts
- LICSW127501 · expires July 2026
- LCSW, Illinois
- 149013710 · expires November 2027
- NPI
- 1699074054 · national provider identifier
- Years in practice
- 26
- Languages
- English
Details are as listed on the therapist's public professional profile. You can check the license with the issuing state board, and the NPI with the national registry.
About Benita
Benita Whitfield is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people facing stress, anxiety, relationship tensions, parenting strain, anger, and low self-esteem. She uses straightforward talk and steady support to help people feel heard and make small, usable changes. With 26 years of practice, Benita brings a calm, practical style to sessions.
She listens for patterns in attachment and emotion, and helps people notice how feelings shape choices. Many clients work on clearer communication and steadier emotional responses.
Background and approach
Her approach mixes emotionally-focused ideas with attachment-based and client-centered work. That means the focus is on current feelings, important relationships, and the person sitting in front of her. Mindfulness and skills from dialectical behavior therapy are offered when they help manage intense emotion or overwhelming stress.
Benita has worked across life stages and a range of life situations, including adoption and foster care concerns, caregiving stress, chronic illness, and body image struggles. She also addresses communication problems, commitment worries, and patterns like codependency or avoidant coping. Sessions are offered in English and are available to people in Illinois and beyond.
Benita combines practical tools, gentle challenge, and a steady focus on what matters to each person.
Focus areas and approaches
Everything Benita lists on their public professional profile, in their own terms.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- 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
- Dependent personality
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Phobias
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Visually impaired
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Benita names
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
Naming an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist lists and does not check training records.
Online support
Emotionally focused and attachment-based care online
Benita draws on Emotionally-Focused Therapy to help people identify and shift the feelings that keep them stuck. EFT focuses on understanding core emotions and how they affect actions, which can help when relationship patterns or emotional reactivity cause pain.She also uses Attachment-Based Therapy to look at how early bonds influence current responses. That work helps people see patterns in closeness, trust, and safety so they can try new ways of relating. Client-Centered Therapy rounds out the approach by keeping the person’s experience central and using empathic listening to guide change.
Finding the right mix of approaches is a collaborative process. The therapist and client review needs, goals, and preferences together and try tools that fit the situation. Adjustments are made over time so the work stays practical and relevant.
Online sessions are available by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different schedules and needs. Video is useful for deeper conversation and nonverbal cues. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or for quick check-ins. Live chat and text messaging allow shorter, flexible touchpoints during busy days. These options make ongoing therapy easier to fit into daily life.
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Questions people ask
What kinds of concerns can be addressed?
She works with stress, anxiety, relationship and parenting struggles, anger, and self-esteem issues, plus related areas like attachment concerns, adoption and foster care questions, caregiver stress, chronic illness, and communication problems.
What is her therapeutic style like?
The style combines emotionally-focused and attachment-informed work with client-centered listening. Mindfulness and DBT skills may be used to manage intense feelings and improve coping.
How much clinical experience does she have?
Benita has 26 years of experience working with a wide range of life challenges and transitions.
What credentials and region does she practice in?
She holds LCSW and LICSW credentials and practices from Illinois, with licensure also noted for Massachusetts in the background.
Which languages and international options are available?
Sessions are offered in English and she accepts international clients.
What session formats are offered?
Therapy sessions can be done by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging.
How does billing and cost work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
What does getting started look like?
Begin by selecting the Start Therapy button, completing a short matching questionnaire, and scheduling sessions according to therapist availability.
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