What is needing our attention today?
That’s where we begin.
SHARON MANNING, MSW, LICSW.
About This Practice
Over the past several years, psychotherapy has shifted toward large, platform-based models that operate across many states. While this has increased access, it has also changed how care is delivered—often emphasizing scale, centralized systems, and high patient volume. In some cases, care may be provided by clinicians who are licensed in a state but not based there, and who may be less familiar with local medical systems and resources.
My private practice is intentionally structured differently.
I am a lifelong resident of Massachusetts and have worked in the mental health field here for nearly two decades, including within a major hospital system. I understand how care is delivered across medical and mental health settings in this state, as well as how to navigate local systems and referral networks. My work has included supporting patients navigating complex transitions in midlife, where medical, psychological, and social factors often intersect.
Care here is not managed by a larger organization or external investors—it is direct, private, and grounded in clinical judgment developed over years of practice.
I provide evidence-based psychotherapy, drawing from established clinical approaches and applying them with careful attention to the individual. Treatment is tailored to your specific needs, pace, and goals, with the time and continuity needed to work at an appropriate clinical depth.
This is a small, independent practice by design. I work directly with each patient, offering a consistent therapeutic relationship and care that is responsive, individualized, and informed by direct familiarity with Massachusetts medical systems and referral networks.
Your information is handled with a strong emphasis on privacy. Records are maintained thoughtfully, and treatment decisions are made within the therapeutic relationship—not by external systems.
For many people, that difference matters.
Clinical Background
I’m a licensed clinical social worker with 18 years of experience working in both hospital and community-based settings.
People often come to therapy with a good understanding of what’s happening, but still feeling stuck in how to shift it. Others arrive without clear answers, but with a sense that something isn’t working. Both are part of the process.
In our work, we stay with these patterns closely—long enough to understand how they operate and what actually allows them to change.
My clinical approach has been shaped by experience across hospitals, outpatient clinics, substance use programs, and community mental health settings. This range informs how I think about complex presentations and how different factors—medical, psychological, and environmental—interact over time.
I hold an MSW from the Smith College School for Social Work, with training in psychodynamic therapy, systems thinking, and trauma-informed care. For more than a decade, I’ve been affiliated with Mass General Brigham, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital, where I’ve served as a therapist, preceptor, and supervisor for graduate-level social work students.
Within that system, I participate in a hospital-based menopause care working group, collaborating with medical and behavioral health colleagues to address the mental health dimensions of midlife and menopause.
Early training in cultural anthropology continues to inform my work, particularly in recognizing that people make meaning in different ways and that effective care needs to account for that.
I continue to pursue advanced training to ensure my work remains clinically rigorous and responsive to the needs of the people I work with.
My approach integrates several complementary modalities, including:
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Clinical Hypnosis
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy
Meditation and psychotherapy integration
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
These methods allow me to meet each client where they are—with flexibility, creativity, and a focus on sustainable healing.