Saila Akhtar
Compassionate, practical support for life’s challenges
LMHC Florida
- Experience
- 8 years in practice
- Focus areas
- Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Family
- Approaches
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Client-Centered Therapy
- Languages
- English
About Saila
Saila Akhtar is a licensed mental health counselor who focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, addictions, relationship strains, grief, and other life challenges.
Background and approach
She brings eight years of clinical experience and a collaborative, person-centered attitude to sessions, aiming to create space for honest conversation and practical problem solving. Saila emphasizes respect, sensitivity, and compassion while tailoring her work to each person's concerns and goals.
Her practice draws on evidence-informed methods, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) alongside client-centered and dialectical approaches, adapting techniques to address mood disorders, trauma and abuse, parenting and family conflicts, substance use issues, and self-esteem or intimacy-related struggles. Saila has also supported people facing career difficulties, bipolar disorder, ADHD, and a broad range of family-of-origin and relationship problems.
She holds LMHC credentials in both Florida and New York and works with English-speaking clients in Florida. Interested clients can expect an interactive style that blends practical skill-building with empathic listening.
Saila frames therapy as a partnership that balances insight, coping strategies, and real-world tools so clients can move toward clearer choices and improved daily functioning.
Therapeutic Approaches and Online Options
Many clients begin by wanting clear tools to manage symptoms and closer alignment with their values; cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) offers concrete strategies to identify and change unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns and is often useful for anxiety, depression, and stress-related issues. Client-centered therapy focuses on providing empathic listening and respect so clients can explore their feelings and choices at their own pace, which is helpful when building trust and self-understanding. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) brings practical skills for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness that can be valuable for people facing intense emotions or relationship conflicts.Finding the right approach is part of the work together, and the therapist will collaborate with each client to determine which methods best match their needs, goals, and preferences. This collaborative process can combine elements of different approaches so treatment fits the person rather than a single technique dictating the path.
Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging, making it easier to fit sessions into busy schedules or to access care from home. These formats allow ongoing practice of skills, follow-up between sessions, and continuity of care while accommodating different communication preferences and life circumstances.
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Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
8+ years
Licensed
New York, Florida
Languages
English