Rodney Black , LCSW, LISW

Rodney Black is a licensed clinical social worker and licensed independent social worker - credentials shown as LCSW and LISW - based in Iowa with 31 years of professional experience. He has devoted much of his career to community-based settings, believing those environments offer the best opportunities to give back to people and communities that supported him and his family.

Raised in the Midwest, he has lived in California and South Carolina and served in the US military, including a deployment to Afghanistan where he served as the highest-ranking enlisted member of the Human Intelligence component of a Brigade Combat Team. Personal history informs his work: he grew up with a mother who experienced bipolar disorder and significant borderline personality challenges, has navigated divorce, recovered from addiction, and worked through codependency and other mental health diagnoses over time. He also credits friendships in the queer community for helping him process family wounds while raising a grown gay son.

Rodney frames therapy as an art form that blends trained skills with a collaborative, human-centered process. He emphasizes the importance of being heard and creating a space where a person’s truth can emerge through engagement with another human being. Drawing on his life experience and long clinical practice, he offers supportive, respectful care for people facing addictions, trauma and abuse, LGBT concerns, anger, self-esteem struggles, career issues, and life transitions.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Care

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify their values and learn practical skills to act in ways that matter to them, even when difficult thoughts or feelings are present. It can be useful for issues like addiction, life transitions, and persistent distress. Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on relationships and how early bonds shape current patterns - it helps people explore connection, trust, and family-of-origin dynamics that often underlie loneliness, intimacy struggles, or parenting concerns.

Finding the right approach is part of the work itself. Rodney approaches treatment collaboratively, using initial conversations to identify goals, preferences, and which methods fit best. He adapts techniques to each person rather than following a one-size-fits-all model.

Online sessions via video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging make it easier to access regular support from licensed professionals without needing to travel. These options provide flexibility for scheduling around work, family, or other commitments and allow therapy to continue during life changes or when in-person visits are not feasible.