Eli Cline, LMSW, LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent affirming therapist in Austin, Texas

Eli (They/Them)

(512) 607-9360 xt 62

eli Cline

LMSW

Licensed Master Social Worker
Supervised by Lisa White, LCSW-S

$120 / 55-minute session (Sliding Scale Available)

Insurances in Network:
Whole Foods Insurance
BCBS (PPO)
Aetna
United
Curative

Fields of Specialization:
- Teens and adults
- Eating disorders and body image
- LGBTQ+ affirming care
- Neurodivergence and late diagnosis
- Anxiety, depression, and burnout
- Identity and self-exploration
- Life transitions
- Highly sensitive people


I work great with...

  • Anyone whose relationship with food or their body has taken over. Maybe it started small and became the loudest thing in your head. Maybe you have been at this a while and are tired of the same loop. Together we'll look underneath the behaviors at what they have been holding for you, build skills that actually interrupt the cycle, and work toward a relationship with food and your body that takes up less room in your life.

  • Neurodivergent folks who want to finally understand how their own brain works. The world was not built for your neurotype, and you have probably spent a lot of energy translating yourself for people who never had to translate back. Whether you were diagnosed at six, at thirty-six, or figured it out yourself last year, this is a space where your brain gets to be a fact and not a flaw. We'll make sense of how you actually move through the world and build a life that fits it.

  • LGBTQ+ folks who are done explaining themselves before the real work can start. You deserve therapy where your identity is not the thing being examined. Race, gender, sexuality, age, class, all of it shapes how you move through the world and how you see yourself, and all of it is welcome in the room. Together we'll get into what you actually came here for.

  • Perfectionists running on empty. Maybe you are a student pulling another late night for a grade that will never feel like enough. Maybe you are years into a career you used to love and cannot remember the last time your own needs made the list. Together we'll find the root of it, name the habits that stopped serving you a while ago, and build real ways to step off the treadmill.

  • People in the middle of a big life change. New marriage, a breakup, a move, a career shift. Even the good ones come with grief mixed in, and that combination can be confusing to sit with. There is room here for all of it. Together we'll sort through the anxiety and the loss and the excitement, and help you step into what's next in a way that feels like you.

  • Highly sensitive people who feel everything at full volume. You notice what other people miss, you carry what other people set down, and you have probably been told you are too much more than once. You are not too much. Together we'll work on protecting your energy, setting limits that hold, and treating your sensitivity like the useful information it has always been.


Style & Approach

Therapy can be a place where you don't have to explain yourself before you can get to the real work. Whether you exist a little outside the mainstream or a lot, you get to skip the part where you translate your life into terms someone else finds comfortable. We start where you actually are.

The work starts with slowing down and listening to how you experience your own mind and your own life, not just your symptoms. From there we figure out together what "better" would actually look like for you, not what a treatment plan says it should be. The work draws from ACT, CBT, and DBT for practical tools, grounded in a strengths and values-based approach. When we reconnect with what matters to you, feeling better tends to follow.

There's also the bigger picture. What's happening in your life is rarely just happening inside you. The systems you move through, and the ways they push back on who you are, get named here too. You are not broken for struggling inside a world that was not built with you in mind.

Some of the approaches I Use...

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

  • Strengths-Based Therapy

  • Values-Based Therapy

  • Systems-Informed Practice


Fun Facts

My favorite Austin activity is swimming at Barton Springs in any season, winter very much included.

I am a total nerd about queer history. Our people, where we came from, all of it.

Creativity for me means making things without worrying much about how they turn out. Collaging, drawing, guitar, writing.

Self-care is music and a book, or just being outside.

My go-to comfort food is bean and cheese tacos.

Relaxing starts with putting my phone on do not disturb.


Education

  • B.S., Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, 2024

  • M.S., Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, 2025

Professional

  • Milieu Therapist, Eating Recovery Center, 2025 to 2026

  • Clinical Interventionist & Social Sciences Researcher, UT Austin School of Social Work, 2025 to 2026

  • Social Work Intern, Family Eldercare, 2025

  • Social Work Intern, Project Transitions, 2024


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Cathy Kaldy