Mary Gales-Wenz, LICSW

Mary Gales-Wenz is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) in Minnesota with 40 years of practice. She works with adults on issues such as stress, anxiety, addiction, grief, depression, sleep problems, anger, self-esteem, and career concerns. She also addresses trauma, bipolar mood concerns, compassion fatigue, and life transitions.

Her work history includes long-term roles in Veterans Affairs outpatient and inpatient settings in St. Cloud and Minneapolis. She spent two decades there and later provided mental health services at Hazelden Center for Youth and Families and Allina Behavioral Health Clinics. She has also supervised residential treatment for the Department of Corrections and worked in behavioral healthcare management for a Minnesota insurance company.

Mary has treated adults, seniors, and adolescents in settings focused on chemical dependency and mental health. That experience includes helping people with post-traumatic stress, anxiety, sexual and physical trauma, depression, and substance-related problems. She maintains a small private practice since 2009 and keeps up with current research and treatment ideas.

Her approach blends conversational, practical work with therapies that focus on feelings, behavior, and awareness of bodily experience. She uses Client-Centered methods alongside cognitive and skills-based techniques. She also incorporates mindfulness and emotionally-focused perspectives to help clients notice patterns and try different responses.

Mary takes particular interest in the mind-body connection and in approaches that help people understand how emotions, thoughts, and physical reactions link together. She has training in Accelerated Resolution Therapy and uses this alongside other methods to help people process difficult memories and recurring reactions.

How Mary combines practical approaches for online work