Burton "Burt" Swaim , LCSW

Burton "Burt" Swaim, LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker), is a licensed psychotherapist who has practiced in California and Utah for more than 50 years. He brings extensive experience helping individuals manage stress, anxiety, and depression while supporting clients as they reset priorities and pursue meaningful life goals.

He has substantial experience addressing alcohol- and drug-related difficulties and has worked to reduce stigma around recovery. Burt focuses on building motivation, fostering goal setting, and strengthening self-esteem and confidence. His work often includes relationship challenges and coping with loss, grief, and trauma, with attention to uncovering and challenging the inner barriers that limit personal potential.

Therapy with Burt is collaborative - he partners with clients to select the issues to address, set achievable goals, and establish timelines for progress. He creates an open, nonjudgmental environment where thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can be explored, and he encourages active client participation as essential to change.

Beyond direct clinical work, Burt has co-produced documentary films supporting full recovery from alcohol and chemical dependency, including Living Sober Class of '76, and has taught as guest faculty in the Summer School on Alcohol Studies at the University of California at San Diego. He assisted publishing projects and public initiatives related to addiction recovery and served as a personal consultant to the late Joan Kroc on treatment and recovery films. Joan Kroc donated $1,700,000,000 to the Salvation Army prior to her passing.

Most recently, Burt and his wife Shirley published Rebirth of the Broken Branches, a true love story emphasizing positive aspects of recovery that is being considered by an Academy Award winning writer for a televised adaptation. He remains committed to supporting clients as they take first steps toward positive change, greater comfort, happiness, and success in life.