About Ilene
Ilene Vallance, LMSW, brings more than three decades of mental health experience to her work in Michigan. She is a Licensed Master Social Worker and has spent 32 years providing psychotherapy in public and personal settings. Her approach is calm and nonjudgmental and she focuses on helping people feel heard and understood.
Ilene uses practical, down-to-earth techniques to help people manage stress and anxiety. She also helps with depression, sleep problems, grief, and the strain that comes with life changes.
Background and approach
Relationship concerns, parenting challenges, career stress, and compassion fatigue are among the topics she addresses in sessions. Her work draws on several approaches, including Somatic methods, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and client-centered listening. In sessions she blends these tools to match what each person needs, using both talk and body-aware strategies when helpful.
Ilene aims to create a validating space where people can explore worries and try new ways of coping. She offers flexible scheduling and a straightforward process for booking appointments. Her style is practical and supportive, geared toward goals people set for themselves.
Clients connect with her by choosing a session time and starting the intake steps. She works in English and delivers services to adults in Michigan using several online formats. The focus is on clear, useful steps to feel better and handle daily challenges.
How Ilene's Approaches Work Online
Somatic-informed work pays attention to how the body holds stress and emotion. It uses simple bodily awareness and movement alongside conversation to help people notice and shift physical tension that ties to anxiety, trauma, or sleep problems.Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, focuses on clarifying values and taking actions that matter. It helps when worry or low mood get in the way of living the life someone wants. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes listening and validation so people feel understood while they figure things out.
Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will work together with each person to choose which methods fit their goals, needs, and preferences. That collaborative process can include trying different tools and checking in on what is helpful.
Online work is offered through video calls, phone, live chat, and text-based messaging to provide flexibility. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, parenting, and daily life. Many people find that having multiple ways to connect helps them stay consistent and use skills between sessions.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 32 years
- Licensed
- Michigan
- Languages
- English